PORT TOWNSEND — For the first time, the Olympic Music Festival — which kicks off this weekend with two performances featuring violinist Sarah Chang — will be hosted at Fort Worden State Park.
For the previous 32 seasons, the festival had taken place at a historic Quilcene barn.
The 33rd season now will be at the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater at 25 Eisenhower Way.
“I know a lot of people will miss the barn, but the Wheeler Theater actually has really nice acoustics and I think it is going to be a better environment,” said Julio Elizalde, the festival’s artistic director.
“Purely in terms of acoustics, it is going to be a better environment. I think people are to hear a better range of colors that they didn’t get to experience previously.”
The Wheeler Theater has virtually the same audience capacity — 280 seats — as the barn in Quilcene, Elizalde has said.
And patrons can purchase tickets with reserved seating while continuing the tradition of pre-concert picnics at Fort Worden’s sprawling state park campus, he said.
Benefits
Moving to a major cultural center such as Port Townsend provides various benefits for patrons, Elizalde said.
“I think the change is opening a number of possibilities that we haven’t had the chance to really explore before,” he said.
“Port Townsend is such an artistic city. I think the people here very much value art in all of its forms, and I think the audience will not just have an opportunity to explore Fort Worden — and all of the hiking trails, beaches and all of the beauty that comes along with it — but also the town of Port Townsend.”
Port Townsend offers shops, restaurants, art galleries, a dock and marina to explore before or after the concert, Elizalde said.
“I think people are going to be able to plan an even more enjoyable trip and frame the concert with other things in the city,” he said.
Changing venues
Founder Alan Iglitzin in October told the festival’s board of directors he planned to retire as executive director and revert the festival grounds he owns — an iconic barn with hay bale seating for concerts — into private property, festival officials have said.
That led to a new partnership with Centrum, a nonprofit organization based at Fort Worden that organizes art festivals, workshops and performances year-round.
This partnership “is a natural fit for us, and we look forward to a richly diverse and artistically ambitious year of extraordinary music-making on our campus,” Robert Birman, Centrum executive director, has said.
“Centrum’s chamber music series is thriving in Port Townsend and Lucinda Carver — Centrum’s chamber music director — our staff and board all agree that working in partnership with OMF can only help broaden interest and appreciation for classical music in our region,” he said.
Featured violinist
Featured violinist Chang made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 8, according to her biography.
Now 35, she tours extensively throughout the year. She has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh and Detroit symphony orchestras.
Chang also appears regularly for concerts in Seoul, South Korea, and Hong Kong, and has performed in Zurich, Dublin, Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.
As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with such artists as Pinchas Zukerman, Wolfgang Sawallish, Yefim Bronfman, Leoif Ove Andsnes, Yo Yo Ma, the late Isaac Stern and members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Chang — joined by Andrea Segar and Ilana Setapen on violin, Mark Holloway on viola, Jennifer Culp on cello, Nathan Farrington on double bass and Elizalde on piano — will perform at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
“It is our first concert in this new venue and I think we are extremely fortunate that somebody with a huge international reputation such as Sarah Chang can come and share her talents with us,” Elizalde said.
Tickets are $65 each and available online at www.brownpapertickets.com, although Saturday’s concert already is sold out, Elizalde said.
The chamber orchestra will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major in the composer’s own arrangement for string quintet; Bottesini’s Gran Duo Concertante, an operatic fantasy for violin and double bass; and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, a sultry tango-inspired violin concerto based on Vivaldi’s famed masterpiece, according to the festival website.
“The program actually has three pieces that are normally performed with an orchestra,” Elizalde said.
Bottesini’s Gran Duo Concertante “is a piece usually played with violin and double bass with orchestra, and instead of an orchestra I will be playing it on piano,” Elizalde said.
“It is nice we can bring music that usually we wouldn’t be able to play and make chamber music versions of it exactly the way people used to 150 years ago. I think it is going to be very exciting to hear the virtuosity of all three pieces in a space like the Wheeler Theater.”
The festival lineup includes performances Aug. 13, 14, 20 and 21 by the Iglitzin Chamber Music Fellows; Aug. 27 and 28 by GardenMusic; Sept. 3 and 4 by Elizalde and three guest artists; and Sept. 10 and 11 by legendary jazz pianist Fred Hersch.
For ticket prices, visit www.olympicmusicfestival.org.
Upcoming performances are already selling quickly, Elizalde said, “so I think if people have an interest in a certain concert they should get tickets as soon as they can. It is moving very quickly.”
Festival history
Olympic Music Festival performances formerly were hosted inside a century-old barn located on an idyllic 55-acre farm about 18 miles south of Port Townsend at 7360 Center Road.
It was founded in 1984 by Iglitzin, a former violist with the Philadelphia String Quartet, according to a news release.
In 1966, Iglitzin and other members of the quartet moved to Seattle to become the University of Washington’s quartet-in-residence, a position it held until 1982.
Iglitzin also was a resident artist at Centrum and his experiences on the North Olympic Peninsula inspired him to find a local rustic retreat for his string quartet in Quilcene.
The property originally was owned by the Iseri family, Japanese Americans who built the farmhouse and barn, according to the release.
The Iseris raised cows and grew berries, and for decades provided dairy products and produce to local residents.
After President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942, issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the deportation and incarceration of Japanese Americans living on the west coast of the United States during the height of World War II, the Iseris relocated, and never were able to regain ownership of the farm, according to the release.
Forty-two years later, the barn was repurposed to host the Philadelphia String Quartet, and Iglitzin has said he soon discovered local audiences were immediately drawn to the idea of enjoying live music in such an idyllic setting.
The festival went on to become an established arts organization in the Pacific Northwest, drawing musicians each summer from across the nation to perform.
Since its opening season, the festival has grown from three weekend performances to 12, with about 5,000 visitors attending concerts in 2015, according to festival officials.
