Meet the man who founded, directs and performs in the Olympic Music Festival: Alan Iglitzin.

A professional violist, Iglitzin has performed in concert halls across the globe and with other preeminent classical musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and Pinchas Zuckerman.

For the past 29 summers, Iglitzin and the festival have been bringing the world’s top classical musicians to the Olympic Peninsula for Concerts in the Barn.

“This festival is a high point of the year,” said Iglitzin. “This is top-quality music. People come from California, Idaho and Arizona specifically for the festival. They come from far and wide for the ambience, the joy of sharing this together. That’s very gratifying.”

This year’s festival has already concluded three weekend performances and has seven more to go. The same program plays both Saturdays and Sundays, and performances are held in a renovated barn at 7360 Center Road in Quilcene.

Iglitzin is featured on viola on the Saturday-Sunday, July 21-22 program titled “Carpe Diem Quartet.”

Festival history

The Philadelphia String Quartet, of which Iglitzin was principal violist, came to the Pacific Northwest in 1966 as quartet-in-residence at the University of Washington. A few years later, Iglitzin and the quartet came to Port Townsend as artists-in-residence through Centrum.

Iglitzin had been looking for a place on the peninsula for the quartet to rehearse and teach students. In 1977, on a rainy Seattle day, Iglitzin got a call about a property with an old, rundown barn in Quilcene that was for sale. He decided to make an offer.

While it wasn’t long after that that the sounds of the Philadelphia String Quartet rehearsing Bach or Mozart could be heard in that very barn, it took three years for Iglitzin to “civilize the place,” he said. The quarter’s first public performance in the space was held in 1983.

Folks in and around the Port Townsend area got wind that the quartet was playing in Quilcene, and requests to come and listen became frequent.

“Those requests gradually morphed into this festival,” Iglitzin said.

In 1984, the festival officially opened its doors and hosted three weekends of chamber music in the barn. This year, there are 10 weekends of performances and, in years past, there have been as many as 13.

According to the festival’s website, the events attract more than 10,000 people every summer.

Iglitzin’s journey

Born in 1931 in Harlem, N.Y., Iglitzin started playing violin when he was 6 years old. He went to the High School of Music & Art in Manhattan. After graduating, he continued at Long Island University and, later, did graduate work at Hunter College and the University of Minnesota.

“By that time, music has enveloped you,” Iglitzin said of his path as a musician. “You think of yourself as a musician. So, I went to play in the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.”

In 1953, he joined the Minneapolis Symphony and was its assistant solo violist for six years. During that time, he was also founding principal violist of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and, in 1954, he formed a quartet.

The first performances of the quartet were for an audience of about three – mainly families and friends. By the time Iglitzin moved on to Philadelphia, six years later, the quartet was playing sold-out shows, he said.

By 1960, Iglitzin joined the Philadelphia Orchestra, and was the assistant solo violist and principal violist of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. During this time, he was also a founding member of the Philadelphia String Quartet, made up of members from the orchestra.

Iglitzin was soon finding more enjoyment in playing without the interference of a conductor and with a smaller group of musicians. “Playing in quartets was more fun, and I spent all my time playing in quartets,” he said.

In 1966, Iglitzin, along with his family of three children and the quartet, left Philadelphia to become the quartet-in-residence at the University of Washington.

Iglitzin has been stationed on the West Coast ever since.

Honors earned

Iglitzin is the only two-time recipient of the Washington State Governor’s Award. He was honored with this award in 1972 and 1998.

In 2005, Iglitzin and his partner, Leigh Hearon, decided to marry. They held a traditional Hindu ceremony in Varanasi, India. Iglitzin and Hearon come from Jewish and Catholic backgrounds, respectively.

Since their marriage, they have lived on their property in Quilcene. Hearon tends to her two horses, and Iglitzin can occasionally be found stacking hay bales to prepare for the festival. His three children are in Seattle.

World premiere

This year’s programming is, as usual, filled with chamber music played by world-class musicians.

Special this year, Michael Brown, a highly acclaimed pianist and composer, debuts his piece “Dialogue for Violin & Cello” on the weekend of Aug. 25-26.

“That will prove to be exciting, to hear a piece never before played,” said Iglitzin.

One week before this premiere, Jennifer Culp returns to the barn after almost 20 years. “It’s a tremendous reunion,” said Iglitzin. “She played in the Philidelphia String Quartet and left to join the Kronis Quartet, and we haven’t played together in over 20 years.”

Culp was a staple of the festival from 1984 to 1991, Iglitzin said.

This year is also the first that Iglitzin’s colleague, Julio Elizalde, has worked under the title of associate artistic director for the festival. Iglitzin said that Elizalde’s contributions have made the programming more eclectic.

“[Elizalde] brings the top young players today from the East Coast out here. That’s helped us a lot,” said Iglitzin.

With all the work and all the years that Iglitzin has spent working on the festival, one might think that he would become complacent. On the contrary, Iglitzin’s endeavor to improve his musicianship keeps him humble and productive.

“I’m not the kind of guy to pat myself on the back,” he said. “I’m too busy trying to play music better each year.”

To find out more about this year’s festival, visit olymicmusicfestival.org.

Maggie Clifford loves barns, music and any situation that combines the two. To find out more about her loves, write to maggie.clifford@gmail.com.