The Olympic Music Festival (OMF) brings superstar violinists, a legendary jazz pianist and numerous other musicians to Fort Worden for the festival's 33rd year of world-class performances.

In partnership with Centrum, the festival's 2016 season offers 12 performances over six weekends and a special educational concert for children and their families. Concerts are July 16-17, and Aug. 13-Sept. 11, and take place at the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden in Port Townsend.

Since the beginning of his tenure as festival artistic director in 2014, Julio Elizalde has electrified audiences by presenting world-class artists on the Olympic Peninsula in programs that center around the classical chamber music repertoire and on occasion venture into styles such as American folk music and jazz.

“We received an overwhelmingly positive response to our more innovative programming in 2015, and I have made sure to find a balance between the festival’s beloved traditions and its vibrant future,” said Elizalde in a press release. “Although the 2016 summer season will be shorter in length than it has been in the past, we are incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderfully gifted artists joining us this summer.”

Elizalde succeeded festival founder Alan Iglitzin, who led the organization for 31 years.

OMF 2016 Summer Season tickets are available for purchase. Learn more at

olympicmusicfestival.org or call Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights this year include performances by returning violinists Sarah Chang and Ray Chen; the debut of numerous artists, including San Francisco Symphony principal violist Jonathan Vinocour and Brentano String Quartet founding first violinist Mark Steinberg; the return of OMF veteran and Louisville Orchestra music director Teddy Abrams; and an exclusive recital by jazz pianist and eight-time Grammy Award nominee Fred Hersch.

The first concert weekend of the summer season, July 16-17, features violinist Chang performing Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” a sultry, tango-inspired concerto for violin and string orchestra. Elizalde performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K.414 in an arrangement by the composer for string quintet, instead of full orchestra. Violinist Ilana Setapen and double bassist Nathan Farrington perform Bottesini’s Gran Duo Concertante, an operatic duet for violin, double bass and piano. Other artists include violinist Andrea Segar, former Kronos Quartet cellist Jennifer Culp and violist Mark Holloway, who makes his OMF debut.

MUSIC FELLOWSHIP

From Aug. 13 through 21, this year's Iglitzin Chamber Music Fellowship musicians are to perform alongside OMF festival artists.

Named in honor of festival founder Iglitzin, the fellowship program provides performance experience for extraordinary college-level musicians on the verge of professional careers who are selected following a highly competitive audition process. Iglitzin fellows perform with OMF artists and receive guidance in the form of private mentoring and group discussions. The 2016 Iglitzin fellows are pianist Rieko Tsuchida, violinist Hannah Tarley, violist Meredith Kufchak and cellist Yi Qun Xu. Tsuchida, Tarley and Xu are students at New York’s Juilliard School, and Kufchak is a graduate student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Returning OMF artists performing Aug. 13-21 include Naumburg Award–winning violinist Tessa Lark, Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition winner Itamar Zorman, Johannes String Quartet violinist Jessica Lee, Washington International String Competition–winning cellist Matthew Zalkind, and Concert Artist Guild Competition–winning pianist Michael Brown. Primrose International Viola Competition winner Dimitri Murrath and San Francisco Symphony principal violist Jonathan Vinocour make their debuts. Acclaimed virtuoso violin soloist Ray Chen returns to the OMF to make his chamber music debut.

During this two-week period, the programs are different on Saturdays and Sundays.

SMASHING SUCCESS

Following a smashing success in 2015, Musicians from GardenMusic return to the OMF on Aug. 27-28. Founded by OMF veteran artists and Louisville Orchestra music director Teddy Abrams, the Miami-based GardenMusic Festival presents unconventional programming that combines standards of classical music with numerous musical styles including jazz, folk and bluegrass. Abrams is joined by New York City Ballet Orchestra principal bassoonist Harrison Hollingsworth, percussionist Gabriel Globus-Hoenich, bassist and vocalist Nathan Farrington, violinist Lark and OMF’s Elizalde.

The Musicians from GardenMusic, led by Gabriel Globus-Hoenich, present a special educational concert for children and their families at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 28. Children of all ages are welcome. Tickets are $8 for general admission. The performance focuses on how music inspires the mind and brings people together. The interactive performance lasts about one hour.

CHAMBER MUSIC

Elizalde is joined by three artists making their OMF debut in a chamber music program, which is to feature beloved works by Brahms, Beethoven and Dvořák. Mark Steinberg is the founding first violinist of the Brentano String Quartet, which serves as quartet-in-residence at the Yale School of Music. Ayane Kozasa is a winner of the Primrose International Viola Competition and is a member of the Aizuri String Quartet, which is a quartet-in-residence at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Jean-Michel Fonteneau is a member of the cello faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is the founding cellist of the Ravel String Quartet.

The 2016 summer season closes with an exclusive recital by legendary jazz pianist Hersch. Hersch has built an international reputation for his astonishing gifts as soloist, group leader, and as a collaborator of noted performers such as Stan Getz, Renée Fleming and Audra McDonald. He has received eight Grammy nominations and has served on the faculty of the Juilliard School in New York. In 2006, Hersch became the first artist in the 75-year history of New York’s legendary Village Vanguard to play a week-long engagement as a solo pianist.

NEW HOME

Founded in 1984, the Olympic Music Festival was originally located on an 55-acre farm on the Olympic Peninsula 18 miles south of Port Townsend. The festival began as the summer retreat of the Philadelphia String Quartet. Soon after, it became a widely noted arts organization in the Pacific Northwest.

This summer marks the first season of the OMF in Port Townsend. Performances for the 2016 season take place at the Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden State Park in partnership with the Centrum Foundation.

Centrum was founded in 1974 and is situated within 434 acres of parkland, beaches and trails at Fort Worden State Park. The organization's founder, Joseph Wheeler, after whom the fort’s 280-seat theater, built in 1932 for the U.S. Army, has been named, began chamber music programming in Port Townsend from the inaugural year of Centrum's founding.