Posters are up, tickets on sale, and anticipation is building for another fantastic Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival performance at Lopez Center, 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 11.
An outdoor reception to meet the four artists will follow the concert. Tickets are still available at the Lopez Farmers Market OICMF booth, online at lopezcenter.org, and at Paper Scissors, Lopez Bookshop, Blossom Organic Grocery, and Southend General Store, with any unsold tickets available at the door.
Prices are $25 adults, $10 youth 18 and under.
The festival celebrates its sixteenth season this August, and its second year on Lopez Island. This season Lopez will greet the reunion of three outstanding musicians: festival favorite and Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, pianist Jeffrey Kahane; international violin soloist and Conductor Emeritus of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Joseph Swensen; and New York Philharmonic Principal Cellist Carter Brey. Originally formed as a trio at the Spoleto Festival in Umbria during the 1980s, KahaneSwensenBrey will perform works by Mozart and Ravel. They will be joined by returning violist, OICMF Founder and Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann, for Brahms’ Piano Quartet in C minor.
This will be Friedmann’s third performance on Lopez, following a concert this past May with pianist Jon Kimura Parker, and in August 2012 with the Miró Quartet.
At the first OICMF Lopez concert last August, Festival Director Victoria Parker introduced the Miró Quartet at Grace Church, saying, “The time could be right” to develop new music-lover partnership programs in the islands.
Community response has proved her correct: “I expect a concert like this when I’m in London,” commented Cathy Doherty at the second OICMF concert held at Lopez Center in May. “But right here? On Lopez? What a treasure for my kids!”
J.C. Marean echoed her delight, saying “I’m truly amazed that I can get on my bike, pedal down the road, and go to an affordable concert by some of the world’s finest musicians – right here on our own little island!”
Their excitement is shared by the local OICMF Lopez Concert steering committee that includes islanders Gary Alexander, Ilene Bernstein, Mary Bywater Cross, Bill Clemens, Ginni Keith, Micki Ryan and Rich Strachan.
This committee works on ways to ensure continued audience and financial support for Lopez concerts, and on developing classical music education programs on Lopez in the future. We always welcome artist, concert and reception sponsorships or annual support to ensure that these concerts continue, grow, and remain affordable on Lopez.
Contact OICMF’s Lopez Concert Coordinator Micki Ryan at 468-4442, or Director Victoria Parker at the Festival office, 376-6636, (www.oicmf.org) for information on how your own part can grow.
