Joyce, Victoria, Laura

Behind the doors of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival sits a hard-working trio!  Executive Director Victoria Parker, Office and Marketing Manager Joyce Stone, and Festival Production Manager Laura Gibbons are dedicated to assure the success of the two-week Summer Festival, the concerts and educational programs throughout the year, and its strong tradition of volunteer participation and community support.
Serving on and working for regional and state-wide management teams, policy boards, and action committees, Victoria has gained a reputation for dynamic camaraderie, leadership and governance. Joyce brings a career in television marketing, as an award-winning writer and producer of news and entertainment promotion, public service campaigns, sales presentations and fundraising videos. Laura joined the staff in the summer of 2012, and brings a diverse communications and event production background, from award-winning talk shows to commercials, public affairs programming, public speaking and community events.
A few changes are in store in the next few months. Victoria and Joyce will be reducing their work schedule, and Laura will be increasing hers! It’s both a talent and budgetary win/win!  More talent, same bottom line. We’re all excited about this new chapter, and we want to let you know that our door is always open!

Elegant Salon Concert June 2^nd

Violinist Monique Mead, accompanied by pianist Deborah Rambo Sinn, will perform an intimate and elegant Salon Concert in the home of dear friends on Sunday, June 2 at 3PM in the afternoon. Concert hosts have opened their home and gardens to concert attendees for this spring performance in support of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival and for Monique’s return to visit the island.

A passionate ambassador of classical music, Monique has developed a multi-faceted career as a performer, presenter, pedagogues, and consultant.  Inspired by her collaborations with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Monique has devoted her career to building new audiences for orchestras, choirs, and music festivals in the United States and Europe. Her relationship with the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival includes visits as Musician-in-Residence coaching school and community musicians and island music groups. 2012 marked her 5^th appearance as a guest artist during the Summer Festival.

Deborah Rambo Sinn is the Founder/Director of the Olympic Music School in Sequim, WA. Most recently, she has written a book on music interpretation, Playing Beyond the Notes, (she will be at Darvill’s Bookstore in Eastsound on Wednesday evening, May 29^th for a book signing event) published by Oxford University Press. Deborah has given concerts and master classes on four continents and taught students from more than 14 countries. She holds a Doctorate and a Masters degree from Indiana University where she studied with Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio) and James Tocco. Dr. Sinn is a nationally certified teacher of music through Music Teachers National Association.

The musical and teaching collaboration on Orcas Island of these two talented musicians offers a rare opportunity for island residents to learn and listen, both!

Salon Concert Tickets: $75. Seating limited to 35.

Repertoire:

 Camille Saint-Saens   (1835-1921)

            Violin Concerto in B minor             

                        I.    Allegro non troppo        

                        II.   Andantino quasi allegretto

                        III.  Molto moderato e maestoso

 Intermission

 Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962)

            Sicilienne and Rigaudon                              

             Schön Rosmarin (Beautiful Rosemary)     

             Liebesleid (Love’s Sorrow)                        

             Liebesfreud (Love’s Joy)     

 Jules Massenet (1842-1912)

            Meditation from “Thais”                              

 Fritz Kreisler

            Miniature Viennese March                          

 George Gershwin (1898-1937) (arr. Jascha Heifetz)

            From “Porgy and Bess”                               

                        I.    Summertime/A Woman is a Sometimes Thing           

                        II.   It Ain’t Necessarily So

                                                                         Monique Mead, violin

                                                                        Deborah Rambo Sinn, piano

Sharon Abreu (pictured on slider) visits Kaleidoscope and Children’s House weekly while Anita Orne (pictured below leading one of her favorite songs about a moose) visits Salmonberry and Montessori. They are enthusiastically referred to as the “Singing Pied Pipers” when teaching our island young ones new and familiar songs.

Sharon, an acclaimed classical soprano, and Anita, of the popular fiddle trio JP and the OK Rhythm Boys, have jointly developed a list of songs that includes American folk tunes and a diversity of cultural traditions. You’d not be surprised to hear such home-grown classics as “Old MacDonald”, “This Land is Your Land”, (complete with sign language accompaniment) Row Row  Row Your Boat”, and “You are My Sunshine”. The children are now heard to use their new and increasing musical vocabulary such as ENCORE! to request repeats of favorites. Listening skills are practiced with these engaged young ones as they imagine forests and chilly weather on snowy days, for example, when  Sharon plays “Winter” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Classical music is woven in and among the 40 minutes of music times.

This shared canon of songs and lessons in musical language and listening are aimed at providing a continuity of musical experience for our youngest islanders. As they enter kindergarten they will have a common language to begin new friendships – their “library” of songs. The Chamber Music Festival introduced the instrumental Pied Piper program to Orcas preschools several years ago, bringing talented community musicians to show how their instruments look, sound and bring joy to their lives. The Singing Pied Pipers is a grand and important addition to OICMF’s Music Education on Orcas.

The Chamber Music Festival’s preschool Music Education is sponsored by several  generous community members. Most recently a distinct Music Education Endowment Fund was established to help sustain these important OICMF offerings. Interested in learning more and helping? Contact Victoria at 360-376-6636.

Friedmann, Artistic Director of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and Parker, Artistic Advisor, bring the world’s top performers to Orcas Island – and now to Lopez Island, too. This special May concert is a wonderful introduction to the summer Festival and one you won’t want to miss.  Following the concert, patrons can visit with Aloysia and Jackie, and enjoy wine and cheese. Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for students.  To purchase, go online www.lopezcenter.org or locally at Lopez Bookshop, Paper Scissors on the Rock and Blossom Grocery.

It will be a grand evening at The Grange when Jon Kimura Parker performs a special CD release concert! This is Jackie’s first solo recording in ten years, and features his own transcriptions of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Petrouchka. Released as a celebration of the centenary of the 20th century’s most famous (and infamous) work, The Rite of Spring, the concert will include Jackie’s description of how he came to tackle this monstrously difficult work, a complete performance of The Rite, and some of his secrets in bringing a whole orchestra to life at the piano. The program will also include short works including Vladimir Horowitz’s favorite encore, Schumann’s Träumerei.

Following the concert, Jackie will be available for a CD signing, and guest will enjoy delectable hors d’oeuvres from Orcas Village Store and Thurston Wolfe wine.  Tickets are $75.  To reserve, call the OICMF Office, 360-376-6636 or email joyce@oicmf.org.

“Serenade” by James Hardman

Islanders surely know the beautiful landscape scenes created by artist James Hardman.
In addition to the James Hardman Gallery at Orcas Island Artworks, his paintings are  displayed at the Lambiel Museum and in over 800 private collections. Now, the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival is proud to announce that Hardman’s work will be featured in its 2013 publicity and programs. Each year, the Festival selects images that convey a sense of our amazing place, and Hardman’s unique paintings fit perfectly with the Festival’s slogan “Classical Music With  A View.”  His unusual style uses a glazing method to create the colors he sees in nature, with hundreds of thousands of brush strokes in each picture. “The most important part of my workday is not spent in the studio, but out on my daily walk. This time in nature is essential not only for the scenes I observe, but for the renewal it brings to my senses,” Hardman says. The first publication to feature Hardman’s images will be the 2013 Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Season Brochure, which is mailed to all islanders in late March.  The Summer Festival takes place August 8 through 24.  For concert and artist information, visit www.oicmf.org. ]]> http://oicmf.org/orcas-artist-to-play-part-in-chamber-music-festival/feed/ 0 http://oicmf.org/american-record-guide-article/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=american-record-guide-article http://oicmf.org/american-record-guide-article/#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:16:23 +0000 kevinkd http://oicmf.org/?p=2119 Orcas Island Festival Turns 15
Two Heggie Premieres Triumph
by Melissa Bargreen  |  American Record Guide

When the big white and green ferry noses its way through a seascape dotted with green islands to the Orcas Island dock, you enter a new world with a different time zone. You’re on Orcas time now, pausing to drink in the vistas from every direction: rocky seascapes, rolling hills and wide valleys, dark green forests, little boats chugging past in quest of adventure or salmon (orboth).

August visitors usually keep an eye on the clock, though, because they don’t want to miss any of the start times for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival (“Classical Music with a View”). The creation of violinist-violist Aloysia Friedmann and her pianist-husband Jon Kimura Parker, the festival celebrated its 15th anniversary in August with the kind of imaginative and venturesome programming that has drawn great performers and eager audiences to the island every summer. This year the lineup included two world premieres by Jake Heggie, works in many forms (including jazz) inspired by Paganini’s Caprice No. 24, an intimate song evening with Frederica Von Stade, and a free concert on the Village Green with two pianos (Parker and Orli Shaham) and instruments with a program extending from Carnival of the Animals to a set of Broadway show tunes.

Chee-Yun visits with her sponsors

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The Miró Quartet, featuring Daniel Ching, William Fedkenheuer, John Largess and Joshua Gindele, was on island performing for Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s “Leaves of Gold” Fundraising Concert.  Island Sinfonia, comprised of both adult and student musicians, has orchestra members from Orcas, Lopez, Shaw and San Juan Islands.  They selected two works to perform for the coaching session: Dvorak’s Czech Suite and Copland’s Variations on a Shaker Melody. The Miró Quartet then offered guidance to the musicians, emphasizing technical, practical and listening skills. “I am so grateful for the insights they gave us to improve our playing. Besides being consummate musicians, they are such personable people. I look forward to putting their suggestions to work at our rehearsals,” Griffin said. 

Moana Kutsche, flute player, added “We were playing better almost immediately. The gentlemen of the Miró were exceptionally perceptive and helpful, and kind as well.  We gained a much greater awareness of what to listen for across the ensemble, and how the different parts combine to construct the whole piece.” 

The class was made possible with support from the 2012 Chamber Music America Residency Grant, in partnership with Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.  OICMF’s Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann joined the coaching session, as well as lending a hand in the viola section.  www.oicmf.org

We can’t thank the Miró Quartet enough for coming to Orcas Island in rainy December to perform for our “Leaves of Gold” Fundraising Concert.  It was a very special gift which overwhelmed concert-goers will long remember!