If like me you have been haphazard or desultory about attending the marvelous Picnic Concerts by the Music Academy of the West Fellows (students), you’ll be glad to be reminded that we will have all day to catch up starting at 10 a.m. Saturday in Hahn Hall, when the annual Chamber Music Marathon gets under way.

Inevitably, the marathon’s program tends to recap at least the highlights of the summer’s Picnic Concerts — there being a limit to the number of ensembles even these talented young musicians may form and the number of pieces they are able to learn and rehearse together in the short time available to them.

There may be some surprises in the matter of repertory, but there will be none in the high quality of music-making throughout the event.

The marathon comes in two sessions: the morning beginning at 10 a.m. and the afternoon at 1 p.m. Tickets to the morning half are $9, and $13 to the afternoon. Those attending both sessions — an astonishing bargain in first-class music-making — will find it an excellent excuse for a picnic lunch at Miraflores.

For tickets, schedules, programs and other information about the event, or the Music Academy in general, click here, call 805.969.8787 or visit the Miraflores campus at 1170 Fairway Road in Montecito.

— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com.