Violinist Nathan Cole addresses the opening night crowd of 350 people at the inaugural Chamber Music Festival of Lexington. Copyrighted photo by Pablo Alcala.
The day before it opened, the inaugural Chamber Music Festival of Lexington had sold less than 100 tickets for its opening night, prompting director Shannon Cline to worry she and the festival organizers had put in tremendous amounts of work and, "no one was going to be here." She could laugh about that Sunday afternoon as a crowd of 309 patrons filed out of the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion on Newtown Pike.
The three-day festival attracted healthy crowds each day and left the organizers enthusiastic about putting together a second edition next summer, with the same ensemble of young musicians, anchored by Lexington native Nathan Cole.
Festival visionary Charlie Stone noted that each day attracted different audiences.
The opening night, Friday, seemed to be a casual crowd of 350 catching favorites from Mozart and Beethoven. They clapped between movements and generally gave an enthusiastic reception to the first night offered by the musicians. Stone and others said Saturday's concert, which I did not attend, was a much more serious affair. (Pablo Alcala's photo, right, is of violinist Akiko Tarumoto, pianist Alessio Bax, cellist Priscilla Lee and violist Burchard Tang.)
"They really came to hear these guys play," Stone said of the audience of 369 that turned out for an evening of Brahms, with a little Bartok tossed in.
Sunday was obviously a casual affair, marked by copious numbers of kids in the crowd and the musicians in polo shirts and khakis for the guys and blouses and skirts for the ladies. They talked to the crowd about their music and their instruments, and their visit to Lexington. Apparently the worst thing that happened to them was Bluegrass Cat bit violinist Akiko Taramutos's hat off her head during a tour of WinStar Farm in Versailles.
The musicians also created some light and funny moments on stage. After playing Saint-Saens' The Swan, cellist Priscilla Lee was presented with a rose by her husband, violist Burchard Tang, in celebration of their first anniversary Sunday. Then, when the string quartet of Cole, Lee, Tang and Tarumoto played Astor Piazolla's Four for Tango, pianist Alessio Bax grabbed the rose and put it between his teeth while aping a tango.
All of the players donned sunglasses for Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze, arranged for string quartet. But the jocularity came in the midst of some stellar musicianship. Bax and Cole started the proceedings playing pieces by some of the most challenging masters of their instruments, Rachmaninoff and Paganini, respectively. Cole and Tang teamed up for the Handel -Halvorsen Duo for violin and viola, showing dazzling displays of fingerwork and coaxing a wide range of voices out of their instruments. Though traditional longhairs may have scoffed at the Hendrix, it was a tall order of precision musicianship.
Sunday's may have been a casual concert, but when it came to the music making, the players were never casual.
And that was a major key to this fest's success. While there are chamber concerts and even a chamber music series in Lexington, there was never a big chamber event, prior to this summer. The Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass in May and this weekend's festival put the genre on a larger stage for Central Kentucky audiences and showed it's great music, particularly when played by great musicians.
The musicianship which Lexington was made privy to this past week was truly historical. That we claim Nathan Cole as one of our own is truly something that all of us should cherish, celebrate, and wear like a badge of honor.
Posted by: Jason Meenach | August 21, 2007 at 04:55 PM
Rich, thanks so much for covering this event. It was nice to see that Lexington has a strong desire for great chamber music and hope next year's festival has even more concerts (and more education components!). It was funny to see your mention of Shannon, one of the big movers and shakers behind the scenes in Lexington's music community. How about a feature story about her?
Posted by: Joe Tackett | August 21, 2007 at 04:56 AM