Festival connects audience, music

Posted

The Olympic Music Festival last year entered a new chapter of its history, and the transition and transformation it underwent were better than anyone could have hoped, said artistic director Julio Elizalde.

After 32 years of concerts in the barn on a Quilcene farm, the chamber music festival moved into a partnership with Centrum at Fort Worden.

“Our audience knew that the festival’s commitment to really quality, moving, memorable performances would not waver – regardless of where the music was being presented,” Elizalde said.

The summer chamber music concerts – featuring many luminaries of the classical music world – now are performed on the Wheeler Theater stage, a venue that Elizalde said offers not only a stellar piano but also amazing acoustics.

The 2017 festival launches on July 9 with an already sold-out summer gala featuring the third consecutive return of superstar violinist Sarah Chang, followed by 12 concerts presented over six weekends, July 15-Sept. 10, including a free concert for children and families Aug. 27.

“Every single week is a labor of love,” Elizalde said.

AUDIENCES

“I’ve always said I love no audience more than Olympic’s,” said Elizalde, a pianist who was first introduced to the festival and its audiences in 2008 as a performer.

When a scheduling conflict required that he replace a member of his trio one year, Elizalde caught the eye of then artistic director Alan Iglitzen as someone who could bring in bigger-name musicians with his connections to the classical music scene. In 2011 Elizalde joined the staff, and in 2014 he was named artistic director.

Elizalde has striven to built upon a standard of excellence maintained by the festival for many years and is continuing to connect with the audiences he loves

“We never tried to put on music that is like a beauty pageant,” Elizalde said. “We really believe it’s important to talk to the audience – to engage them.”

To that end, there are post-concert question-and-answer sessions during which the audience can learn about the pieces played, the musicians and their instruments.

And in the festival’s all-Beethoven closing weekend, featuring the Ariel Quartet, Paul Hersh, longtime Olympic Music Festival artist and Elizalde’s first college teacher, is offering pre-concert lectures on Beethoven’s string quartets, after which audience members have a one-hour lunch break before experiencing the music.“Those kinds of events are really going to make a difference for the audience.”

Elizalde also has expanded the Olympic Music Festival’s educational outreach.

A competitive fellowship program brings in up-and-coming young artists who are to play in a Mozart concert Aug. 12 and “Hungarian Fantasies” the following day. And for children, musicians from GardenMusic are presenting an interactive educational program that demonstrates how music can bring people together through caring and team work. The August 27 concert is free, Elizalde said, but reservations are required online.

LIFE-CHANGING

“Every year in my role as artistic director I try harder and harder to invite artists who normally wouldn’t come – partly because they’re just very busy.”

One musician whom he’s been trying to bring to the festival for several years is his final teacher at Juilliard, internationally acclaimed pianist Robert MacDonald, who’s “played in every major hall in the planet.” This year, MacDonald finally agreed to come, Elizalde said, and is making his Olympic Music Festival debut Sept. 3.

And every year, while he’s bringing in talented musicians, Elizalde is also endeavoring to gather and arrange the right people in ways that honor the pieces performed and also highlight the individual musicians.

The final concert features a pre-formed quartet that’s mastered Beethoven; other concerts bring together individuals in new and exciting connection-building collaborations, Elizalde said.

And while he’d be hard-pressed to choose a favorite, one piece he’s most excited to see performed is Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht,” or “Transfigured Night,” a string sextet to be performed Aug. 19.

“A lot of people will walk away feeling like their life just changed.”