QUILCENE — The Olympic Music Festival presents the seventh weekend of its 31st season with violinists Noah Geller and Harumi Rhodes, violist Alan Iglitzin, cellist Jennifer Culp and pianist Julio Elizalde.
The pieces being performed are Haydn’s Piano Trio in G major, known as the “Gypsy Rondo,” Ravel’s Sonata in G major for Violin and Piano, Schnittke’s ‘Moz-Art’ for Two Violins, after Mozart K. 416d (1978), and Arensky’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 35a.
The program is called “Influences & Inspirations” to showcase how composers don’t necessarily have to be 100 percent original in their musical conceptions.
For example, the last movement of the Haydn trio draws heavily on gypsy fiddling; the Ravel Violin Sonata quotes American Blues; the Schnittke work for two violins creates a Picasso-esque cubist rendering of Mozart works; and the Arensky quartet directly quotes Tschaikovsky to generate a set of variations.
This weekend the Festival welcomes two new artists: violinists
Rhodes and
Geller.
Rhodes, described by The New York Times as a “deeply expressive violinist,” is a founding member of the Naumburg award-winning ensemble, Trio Cavatina.
Rhodes has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music, Bard, Caramoor, Bridgehampton, Moab, Music in the Vineyards, Mainly Mozart, and the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan. Currently, she is an artist member of the Boston Chamber Music Society, and regularly performs at Sanders Theater at Harvard University and Kresge Hall at MIT.
Geller is the concertmaster of the Kansas City Symphony; prior to this, he was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has performed at the Marlboro, Saratoga, Kingston, and Heartland festivals, and has appeared at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Lyric, Lyon and Healy and Dolce Suono Chamber music Series.
The Olympic Music Festival is located on a 55-acre farm 18 miles south of Port Townsend. Chamber music concerts are held in an early 1900s dairy barn, which has been converted into a performance hall with exceptional natural acoustics.
Concerts take place every Saturday and Sunday throughout the season, beginning at 2 p.m. The festival grounds open at 11 a.m. for early birds to wander the farm and have a leisurely picnic before the barn doors open at 1 p.m.
Patrons can choose to sit inside the barn or outside on the lawn where the concert is broadcast. The attire is pointedly casual for both patrons and musicians alike, encouraging a relaxed and fun atmosphere that is refreshingly different for those accustomed to more formal classical music venues.
Prior to the concerts, patrons are encouraged to visit our Milking Shed, where souvenirs, CDs, clothing, beverages, and snacks are sold.
Ticket prices range from $18 to $33 and may be purchased by phone (360-732-4800) or online at www.olympicmusicfestival.org.
