QUILCENE — The Olympic Music Festival, a summertime series of classical concerts inside a century-old barn, is about to begin again with a new boss.
Internationally known pianist Julio Elizalde, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, is now the artistic director and successor to Alan Iglitzin, founder of the 32-year-old festival.
This opening weekend honors Iglitzin, who will join festival artists Korine Fujiwara, Harumi Rhodes, Charles Wetherbee, Jennifer Culp and Walter Gray to revel in the music of Brahms.
Today’s concert will showcase two string sextets starting at 2 p.m. on the farm at 7360 Center Road, off U.S. Highway 101.
The grounds open at 11:30 a.m. for early birds to stroll and picnic; then the barn doors open for general seating at 1 p.m.
Tickets range from $20 to $32 for most concerts, while those for the Summer Gala weekend are $60 and tickets for the Family Concert are $8.
Unconventional festival
The series is a fairly unconventional event as classical music series go.
The festival presents 24 weekend concerts now through Sept. 13 at the Olympic Music Festival farm, a 55-acre spread with the restored barn as its centerpiece.
The venue, about 18 miles south of Port Townsend, draws musicians from across the nation.
Patrons can choose to sit inside or outside on the lawn where the concert is broadcast. Either way, the attire for these concerts is decidedly casual for listeners and musicians.
And while reservations are advised for those who want to be sure of a seat inside the barn, lawn tickets are available at the gate only and never sell out, according to festival general manager Susan Miller.
New director
Elizalde holds a bachelor’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as a master’s degree and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Juilliard School in New York City. He’s since performed in many of the major music centers throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Then, three summers ago, Elizalde came out to the Olympic Music Festival farm to serve as co-artistic director.
In light of his promotion, he has assembled a season of the traditional chamber concerts — offerings of Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn — plus a pair of pops concerts on Fourth of July weekend, a Family Concert on July 19, the Summer Galas on Aug. 1 and 2, and two Celtic-folk concerts in September.
Independence Day pops
The Independence Day pops next Saturday and Sunday, July 4-5, will feature violinist Kristin Lee and cellist Dmitri Atapine joining Elizalde in playing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” and then some.
Here’s the itinerary for the rest of the season:
■ July 11-12: “Rare Masterworks: Mozart and More” with pianist Elizalde and flutist Sooyun Kim.
■ July 18- 19: “Breaking Boundaries”: Teddy Abrams and GardenMusic play classical works with jazz and world music infusion.
■ July 25-26: Mozart, Rachmaninoff and more with the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo.
■ Aug. 1-2: Summer Galas featuring Elizalde and Sarah Chang performing Vitali’s “Chaconne” in G minor, violin sonatas by Prokofiev and Franck, and Ravel’s “Tzigane.”
■ Aug. 8-9: “Heroic Beethoven” concerts with Elizalde on piano, violinist Caroline Goulding and cellist Karen Ouzounian.
■ Aug. 15-16: Dvorak’s Piano Quintet and Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence” featuring International Tchaikovsky Competition winner Itamar Zorman, violist Alan Iglitzin, cellists Alexander Hersh and Matthew Zalkind, and pianists Elizalde and Rieko Tsuchida.
■ Aug. 22-23: Chausson’s symphonic concerto, Mendelssohn’s string octet and other works featuring Naumburg Award-winning violinist Tessa Lark and violists Iglitzin, DJ Cheek and Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu.
■ Aug. 29-30: “Darkness to Light: The Quintets of Franck and Schubert” with Lark, Elizalde, cellists David Requiro and Meta Weiss, and others.
■ Sept. 5-6: Violinist Ray Chen joins Elizalde to offer the works of Beethoven, Saint-Saëns and others.
■ Sept. 12-13: The Jeremy Kittel Band presents “Celtic, Folk and Bluegrass Traditions.”
For complete details, phone 360-732-4800 or see www.olympicmusicfestival.org.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
