With a tag line of “Bringing Chamber Music Home” Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s Salon Concerts are intended to be small, intimate chamber music concert experiences in alternative venues such as private homes, small studios, outdoor, or small group performance settings. The results create an opportunity for artistic programming that may be unique to a small venue and audiences of up to 35 when in a private home or up to 60 when offered in the OffCenter Stage at Orcas Center. Guests have found that Salon Concerts provide the option to hear both traditional and nontraditional chamber music that may include classical, jazz, world, or contemporary compositions and composers’ works. Elaborate hors d’ouevres accompany the Post Concert social gathering with the artists. The entire experience is presented inside stunning island views and the grace of a premiere Orcas home setting. When performed in the OffCenter Stage the “black box” is transformed with striking décor and a single cylinder of light that illuminates the artists, allowing the audience to feel the privilege of intimacy. Tickets are $75 per person. Contact the Festival Office to join the Guest List.
Here is an example of a past Salon Concert:
November 2014:
“Simply Jackie” Concert
Pianist extraordinaire Jon Kimura Parker will light up a dark November night with an incredible solo performance for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival. The “Simply Jackie” Salon Concert will take place Wednesday, November 12th at 7:00 pm at Orcas Center. The world of fantasy and “the fantastic” combine in this brilliant program, featuring the following works:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight” Quasi una fantasia
William Hirtz: Bernard Hermann Fantasy (Music from Mysterious Island, Psycho, and North By Northwest)
Franz Schubert: Fantasie in C Major, “Der Wanderer”, D. 760, Op. 15
Robert Schumann: Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17
“The word fantasy has inspired composers in many ways,” Jackie Parker says. “Schubert took the simplest possible theme and created his most overtly virtuosic work, the Wanderer Fantasy. Beethoven called his Moonlight Sonata an “almost fantasy”, alluding to the atmosphere created by the well-known first movement. William Hirtz weaved together multiple Hitchcock soundtracks by Bernard Hermann in his latest fantasy, and Schumann chose the fantasy form for what is often considered his most inspired work.”
“Both Schubert and Schumann’s fantasies are considered to be among their most technically and artistically challenging works. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata is among his most famous, and Hirtz’s stated intent in the Bernard Hermann Fantasy was to create a work ‘as effective as the Wizard of Oz Fantasy, a little easier on the hands, but in a virtuoso style.’ “
OICMF Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann says, ” You will be dazzled with Jackie’s brilliant technique, but long after the final notes of Jackie’s Fantasy program, you will be left with a sense of profound knowledge of having heard a true artist performing some of the most beautiful music ever written for solo piano.”
A reception of light hors d’oeuvres and Thurston Wolfe wine will follow the concert. Tickets are $75. To purchase, please email or call the office 360-376-6636. www.oicmf.org