Mix of time-honored classics, newer works make for 'uniquely inviting' VIVO Music Festival
The VIVO Music Festival is back — and it promises to sound much as it did before the pandemic.
After two years of pandemic-era versions of the annual chamber music festival — in 2020, the festival went all-virtual, and in 2021, socially distanced outdoor programming was included — this year’s edition, set for Aug. 31 through Sept. 4, is very much a return to normal.
The festival will return to an all-indoor format, with concerts set at venues used by the festival in the past, including the Columbus Museum of Art and the Southern Theatre. And no virtual programming is anticipated.
“There’s no replacing live sound,” said festival co-founder Siwoo Kim, a 33-year-old violinist who spent his adolescence in Westerville and now lives in New York City.
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In all other ways, though, the festival — in its eighth year— remains the most cutting-edge classical-music offering in Greater Columbus. Kim and festival co-founder, 34-year-old violist and Upper Arlington native John Stulz, will be among a group of eight young guest musicians who will play both revered works from the past and exciting pieces of the present.
The combination, the organizers think, makes VIVO a uniquely inviting experience.
“We need to make it a welcoming environment,” Kim said.
Here are details on this year’s event.
When does the VIVO Music Festival begin?
This year’s VIVO Music Festival will kick off at 7 p.m. Aug. 31, at the Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St. The program “Schubert and Beethoven” will feature performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano” and Franz Schubert’s “Quintet for Strings” in the Schottenstein Property Group Pavilion.
The location within the museum was chosen for its intimacy.
“We decided to do a concert kind of in the round, so that all the audience members can be as close as possible to the musicians,” said Stulz, a member of Ensemble Intercontemporain, a music group in Paris.
Tickets cost $20, or $10 for students.
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New location chosen for concert
The festival, which prides itself on performing in new locations, will make its debut at the performance studio inside the new, five-story headquarters of WOSU Public Media, 1800 N. Pearl St., at 7 p.m. Sept. 1. The program “Beer and Beethoven” will boast musicians playing shorter works and brews for sale to all. WOSU on-air host Jennifer Hambrick will emcee the informal event, which Stulz describes as a perfect starting point for chamber-music newbies.
“We have some prepared pieces, we have some unprepared, some surprises, things like that,” Stulz said. “I think that most people will feel comfortable coming to a venue, having beer or a drink of choice, and kicking back and relaxing.”
Tickets cost $20, or $10 for students.
Finale to pay tribute to Chamber Music Columbus
Chamber Music Columbus, which invites national and international chamber music artists to the Southern Theatre, will soon begin its 75th season, and in recognition of the occasion, the far-younger VIVO will honor its older cousin with a concert at 2 p.m. Sept. 4, in the Southern, 21 E. Main St.
“So our season eight finale will be their season 75 opener,” Kim said.
Added Stulz: “We’ve always loved Chamber Music Columbus — a lot of our artists tend to come back through the year to play on the Chamber Music Columbus series.”
The program will feature staples of the chamber music repertoire, including Maurice Ravel’s “Piano Trio,” as well as a newly commissioned work by South Korean composer Jaehyuck Choi in tribute to Chamber Music Columbus founder James N. Cain, whose instrument was the clarinet: Choi’s new clarinet quintet will be heard for the first time at the concert.
The teaming of one longstanding chamber-music organization with a much newer chamber-music festival makes for the perfect mix, Kim said.
“It’s like chamber music between organizations and also across generations,” he said.
Tickets cost $25, or $15 for students.
Where can I buy tickets?
To buy tickets or get more information, visit www.vivofestival.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: VIVO Music Festival to showcase classical works from past and present
