You’ll be hearing music everywhere: Lexington chamber festival returns full strength
The Chamber Music Festival of Lexington took only one year off for the COVID pandemic in 2020. But there is a difference between being able to simply put on a show and completely coming back.
In 2021, the festival that highlights music performed by small ensembles returned with three concerts featuring its core ensemble, and in 2022 it invited a composer in residence.
But this year, festival board president N. Gregory Pettit said, “again it’s over 10 days, as it was pre-pandemic.”
Those 10 days start this weekend with ensemble-in-residence WindSync, which is presenting pop-up concerts this weekend; the festival will continue through next weekend with main stage concerts with the same core ensemble that launched the festival in 2007.
The ensemble is led by festival co-founder and artistic director Nathan Cole, a Lexington native who was a violinist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when the event launched and is now the first associate concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
He is joined, as he has been almost every year, by violinist Akiko Tarumoto, assistant concertmaster of the LA Philharmonic; violist Burchard Tang who has been with the Philadelphia Orchestra for nearly 25 years; Priscilla Lee, associate principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra; and pianist Alessio Bax, whose career as a concert pianist has grown exponentially over the fest’s 15 years.
Despite all of their careers growing, the core keeps coming back. That Cole and Tarumoto, and Tang and Lee, are couples probably doesn’t hurt, but the festival offers other appeals some of which can be filed under “Southern hospitality.”
“When they come here we kind of embrace them the whole time,” Pettit said. “Over the years, they’ve made very fast friendships with folks on the board and supporters and we made sure they get the full picture of Lexington, whether it’s the latest distillery tour or a zipline. We’ve done all that and we just, for lack of a better term, we love on them a lot.
“They really feel at home here, and it’s almost as if they’re coming to summer camp.”
Well, summer camp with bourbon.
Joining the regulars this year will be:
Artist-in-residence Kenneth Olsen, assistant principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Composer-in-residence Alistair Coleman, whose resume includes commissions from a who’s who of musicians and major awards such as two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.
Coleman’s world premiere for the festival, the violin sonata “Morning, Chapter 30,” was inspired by the painting of the same name by artist R.H. Quaytman, which he encountered at the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md. That piece will be presented at the festival’s second main stage concert, Aug. 26 at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center. The third and final concert, Aug. 27, will feature the return of musicians from the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, one of several ways in which festival artists will be interacting with student musicians.
Changes for festival, Lexington Chamber Orchestra
While a lot of old features are returning to the festival this year, there are also new elements, including a new executive director: Cacey Clarke Nardolillo. While she is well known to Lexington arts fans as an acclaimed soprano, she said the Chamber Fest role reconnects her with her love of instrumental music nurtured growing up in Maysville and a recently discovered affinity for administration.
“Being able to use my knowledge in the arts and about music has been a lot of fun applying it to the Chamber Music Festival,” says Nardolillo.
It comes at an important time for the event. The festival merged with the Lexington Chamber Orchestra in 2019, but this will be the first season of activity for the ensemble, led by music director Marcello Cormio, also music director of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, and concertmaster Margie Karp.
Nardolillo says the orchestra’s fall concert will be announced at the festival, and the merger and year-round programming will allow the festival to expand its reach in a number of ways, both in terms of audience engagement and financial opportunities.
“One of the ideas of taking the Chamber Orchestra under the umbrella of the Chamber Festival is that it fills that niche in Lexington that was not being filled by a smaller orchestra,” Nardolillo says. “It also gives the Chamber Music Festival that opportunity to grow because of the year-round presence, so it supported the continuation of the orchestra because the Chamber Music Festival was established and financially secure, and taking that on is positive for both groups.”
Chamber Music Festival of Lexington
When: Aug. 19 to 27
Where: Performances by wind quintet WindSync starting with the Lexington Farmers Market at 10 a.m. Saturday; a cabaret performance with all festival artists at Al’s Bar Tuesday, and main stage concerts at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center Aug. 24, 26 and 27.
Tickets: Visit chambermusiclex.org for complete performance and ticket information and the festival’s Facebook page for information on pop-up concerts.
Other music news
Tickets for the Lexington Philharmonic’s 2023-24 season are now on sale, and the first season programmed by Music Director Mélisse Brunet is unlike any season the orchestra has presented before. In her second year in the post, Brunet has programmed a local vocal extravaganza Oct. 20, a Nov. 18 concert of the movie music of John Williams, a Valentine’s night concert of music by Aretha Franklin, and a homegrown grand finale May 18 with the world premiere of Lexington native and composer-in-residence Shawn E. Okpebholo’s “Two Black Churches for Orchestra.” Visit lexphil.org or call 859-233-4226 for more information and tickets.
If you have visited any major cities recently, you have probably seen ads on Facebook or other social media sites for Candlelight Concerts, performances by candlelight, often of music by pop stars like Adele, movie or video game music. Well, as Facebook may have already told you, the series is coming to Lexington. There are three concerts set for the Lyric Theatre with Halloween classics Oct. 19, Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” Nov. 16, and “The Nutcracker” and more Dec. 15. Visit candlelightexperience.com for information and tickets.
Christian Adair has been appointed executive director of the Lyric Cultural Arts Center. Adair, a former University of Kentucky track and field athlete, also was co-founder of the DiverCity Festival, participated in the Mayor’s Racial Justice and Equality Commission, and contributed to the LFUCG Parks & Recreation Advisory Board.
