Annual chamber music festival is an homage to Aloysia Friedmann’s late father

This season’s lineup for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival is a very close to the heart of artistic director Aloysia Friedmann.

Her dad, Martin George Friedmann, a violinist, violist and teacher, passed away at the age of 89 this February.

“I am essentially dedicating the entire festival to my father,” Aloysia said. “The program reflects exactly what this festival is about: amazing variety, inclusive of many different types of artistic expression and it’s also extraordinarily personal. In that respect, it can’t get much better.”

The 22nd annual festival opens with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham. Local opera fans may remember her Metropolitan Opera performance in “The Merry Widow” when the production streamed live at Orcas Center.

“I am thrilled she will be on Orcas,” Aloysia said. “To have an artist of her stature in such an intimate space is going to be really special.”

Concert offerings

The 22nd annual festival has five 5:30 p.m. and five at 7:30 p.m. concerts. All 10 performances are preceded by a preconcert talk an hour before, given by world-renowned experts in their fields.

The first concert pair, “An Evening with Susan Graham,” on Friday, Aug. 2, and Saturday, Aug. 3, features Graham in “Les nuits d’ete” by Hector Berlioz and Gustav Mahler’s “Rückert Lieder.” Both composers are also featured in instrumental works: Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival” for piano four hands, with Jon Kimura Parker and Artem Kuznetsov sharing the keyboard, and Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor. The preconcert talks on the first two evenings are presented by Gerard Schwarz, former conductor of the Seattle Symphony.

On Tuesday, Aug. 6, and Wednesday, Aug. 7, audiences will be treated to “Violin Variations,” a concert of violin performances by Chee-Yun, Lilit Gampel and Charlotte Marckx. Also featured are Aloysia on violin, cellists Julian Schwarz and Olivia Marckx and pianist Artem Kuznetsov. The preconcert talks before this concert pair are with Classical KING-FM 98.1 Radio host and pianist Lisa Bergman.

The third concert pair, “Orcas~trations: Music, Magic, and Movies,” on Friday, Aug. 9, and Saturday, Aug. 10, will be a treat for vintage film-lovers, with clips from one of Orcas Island Film Festival’s 2018 features, “Saving Brinton.” The documentary tells the story of a collection of vintage films that were salvaged from the basement of an old Iowa farmhouse and given to Iowa historian Michael Zahs, who will also be the preconcert presenter. Three members of Red Cedar Chamber Music who played background music for the film will perform live while clips from the film are shown onscreen above the stage. This concert opens with a tango by Astor Piazzolla, played by virtuoso guitarist Mak Grgić and Los Angeles Philharmonic principal violinist Martin Chalifour, and closes with Antonin Dvořák’s Piano Quintet in A Major, with a sprinkling of magic during the concert by local magician Matthew Laslo.

On Tuesday, Aug. 13, and Wednesday, Aug. 14, the fourth concert pair istitled “Dedication: for Martin Friedmann” and opens with the Miró Quartet performing Mozart’s Quartet in B-flat Major, “The Hunt and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden.”

“My father was from Vienna. He loved Mozart, and his favorite composer was Hans Schubert. This is a personal homage to my father expressed through music,” Aloysia said.

Quartet members will be joined by Aloysia and Julian in “Arcana” by Composer Kevin Puts. Also on this program is Clara Schumann’s Scherzo for solo piano, performed by Kimura Parker, who is also artistic director for the festival. The talk for these two concerts, and also for the final concert pair, are presented by Canadian radio personality Eric Friesen, who hosted several CBC radio programs.

“World Premiere Finale,” the final concert pair on Friday, Aug. 16, and Saturday, Aug. 17, features the world premiere of “Home,” written for the Miró Quartet by Puts.

“The refugee crisis in Europe was his inspiration for this work. It requires the instruments to be tuned in a slightly different manner. We are all in for a remarkable piece of work. We are literally the first to have it, and it’s quite an honor,” Aloysia said.

Also featured in this final program are Chee-Yun performing the solo part on Chausson’s Concerto in D Major for violin, piano and string quartet, and the violin-guitar duo of Chalifour and Grgić performing an exhilarating set of Macedonian and Romani folk songs.

“If it seems like tickets to the concerts are sold out, never hesitate to show up and put your name on a waiting list,” Aloysia said. “Inevitably, people can’t make it for one reason or another. And we always add stage seats if possible too.”

Daytime lectures and workshops

The festival presents two daytime lectures this season, “Behind the Baton” with Gerard Schwarz, longtime director of the Seattle Symphony (Aloysia’s father played under him for years at the symphony) and “Meet the Composer” with Eric Friesen, who will interview this year’s world premiere composer Puts, as well as Jake Heggie, who has also composed world premieres for Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and just happens to be vacationing on Orcas.

On Monday, Aug. 5, at 1 p.m., Schwarz will speak about his long and illustrious career as a musician, conductor and composer. He recently wrote a book, “Behind the Baton” — same title as his lecture — that chronicles his career on the podiums of prominent symphonies around the world. The book will be available during the festival for purchase, and he will autograph copies for patrons.

Friesen will share the stage with two well-known contemporary composers, each of whom has won many awards for their compositions. Puts and Heggie have both written world-famous operas and modern compositions for soloists and ensembles.

All guitarists of all musical styles are invited to a guitar workshop with Grgić on Saturday, Aug. 10, at 1 p.m. His background in Eastern European folk music, classical guitar, Flamenco, jazz and popular music will lend a great foundation to this workshop. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he studied with William Kanengiser and Scott Tennant of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and Brian Head, artistic director of Guitar Foundation of America. Grgić plays an array of concert guitars from Germany, China, Bosnia and Slovenia as well as a historic 1966 Jose Ramirez, all in addition to other quirky refretted and remodeled guitars.

Hamlet and children’s concerts

The festival brings the entertainment to the residents of Olga, West Sound and Deer Harbor with a day of “Hamlet Concerts” on Sunday, Aug. 11. Aloysia and Kimura Parker are joined by violinists Robyn Bollinger, Chalifour, Chee-Yun, Gampel, cellist Julian Schwarz and guitarist Grgić. Even OICMF Executive Director Anita Orne makes an appearance in the “Hamlet Concerts,” playing upright bass in a live ensemble backing Laslo.

“Adam Stern has arranged music for the festival — four violins, one guitar, one piano, one cello, one viola and a double bass – and Matthew is doing an illusion to it,” Aloysia said.

The festival would not be complete without its traditional children’s concert and open rehearsal for seniors. Both are free, and tickets will be available at the door. The children’s offering is on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 1 p.m. and features fun and play with Chee-Yun, Gampel, Kuznetsov, Olivia and Charlotte Marckx, Aloysia and some magical surprises with Laslo. The seniors’ open rehearsal is on Friday, Aug. 16, at 1 p.m. and will feature performers and selections from the closing concert pair, “World Premiere Finale.” Several seniors enjoy lunch at the Orcas Senior Center before climbing aboard the senior services vans to make the short trip to Orcas Center, and the hall always fills with an abundance of island elders.