Schedule:

Saturday, August 10, 2024

2:00 p.m: Wheeler Theater At Fort Worden
Classical Masterworks

Artists
Wonhee Bae  violin
Evan Johanson  violin
Coco Mi  violin
Vicki Powell  viola
Luther Warren  viola
Jennifer Culp  cello
Annie Hyung  cello
Amy Yang  piano

Program
Haydn  String Quartet In B Minor, Hob. III:68
Beethoven Piano Trio In E-Flat Major, Op. 70 No. 2
Mozart  String Quintet In G Minor, K. 516

Concert Details
The Olympic Music Festival’s 2024 summer season kicks off with masterworks from the Classical era! Haydn was the father of the string quartet and also Beethoven’s teacher. His string quartets are full of daring textures in combination with often unexpected humor and intimidated Beethovenas he began his career as a composer.

Sunday, August 11, 2024

2:00 p.m: Wheeler Theater At Fort Worden
American Legacy

Artists
Wonhee Bae  violin
Evan Johanson  violin
Coco Mi  violin
Vicki Powell  viola
Luther Warren  viola
Jennifer Culp  cello
Annie Hyung  cello
Julio Elizalde  piano
Amy Yang  piano

Program
Burleigh  Four Southland Sketches for Violin (Viola) & Piano
Dvo?ák  String Quartet in F major, Op. 96 "American"
Price  Piano Quintet in A minor (1936)

Concert Details:
Harry Burleigh was a Black American composer who beautifully incorporated spirituals into classical music. Dvo?ák spent nearly three years exploring America’s musical landscape, with the assistance of Burleigh—finding inspiration in the folk music of Native Americans and the powerful spirituals of African Americans. His "American" String Quartet has become one of the most recognized pieces of chamber music. In recent years, the music of Florence Price has received long overdue attention. The Great Depression produced major challenges for Price to overcome as a Black woman in classical music, but today, her music has returned to its rightful place among America’s greatest composers.

Saturday, August 17, 2024

2:00 p.m: Folk Melodies and Dances
Olympic Chamber Music Fellowship Week II

Artists
Evan Johanson  violin
Joseph Maile  violin
Coco Mi  violin
Angela Wee  violin
Juan-Miguel Hernandez  viola
Luther Warren  viola
Annie Hyung  cello
Matthew Zalkind  cello
Julio Elizalde  piano

2024 Olympic Chamber Music Fellow
Program
Françaix  String Trio (1933)
Beethoven String Quartet in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 "Razumovsky"
Brahms  Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

Concert Details:
Throughout the history of classical music, folk music has played a critical role in how composers include music from their home or find new bursts of inspiration from the exotic. Françaix melded the impressionism of early twentieth century France with the bustling sounds of Paris. Beethovenwas commissioned by the Russian ambassador to Vienna for a set of string quartets, each including a folk tune from the sponsor’s homeland. Brahms included one of his famous homages to Hungarian music in his famous Piano Quartet in G minor.

Sunday, August 18, 2024

2:00 p.m: Orchestral Soundscapes
Orchestral Soundscapes

Artists
Evan Johanson  violin
Joseph Maile  violin
Coco Mi  violin
Angela Wee  violin
Juan-Miguel Hernandez  viola
Luther Warren  viola
Annie Hyung  cello
Matthew Zalkind  cello
Julio Elizalde  piano

Program
Bacewicz  Quartet for Four Violins (1949)
Shostakovich  Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
Mendelssohn  Octet for Strings in E-flat major, Op. 20

Concert Details:
Polish composer Gra?yna Bacewicz created powerful post World War II compositions. Her Quartet for Four Violins demonstrates her creative approach to unusual instrumental mediums. Shostakovich endured brutal censorship under Stalin in the Soviet Union. His Piano Quintet is considered one of his crowning achievements in chamber music, finding a careful middle ground between nationalistic pride and sarcastic ridicule of the regime that tried to control him. Felix Mendelssohn wrote his extraordinary Octet at the young age of 16, proving that his genius was unparalleled during the early Romantic era. MET Opera Principal Associate Concertmaster Angela Wee (2022 Olympic Chamber Music Fellow in violin) makes her return to the OMF.

Saturday, August 24, 2024

2:00 p.m: Beethoven’s Complete Cello Sonatas

Artists
Matthew Zalkind  cello
Julio Elizalde  piano

Program
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5 No. 1
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5 No. 2
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 No. 1
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 5 in D major, Op. 102 No. 2

Concert Details
Over two decades, Beethovenrevolutionized the cello and piano by writing five astonishing sonatas for the two instruments. Beethovenwas surely influenced by his dealings with Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II, who was an amateur cellists and employed the Duport brothers in his court, two of the greatest cellists of the time. With the king’s high praise of Beethoven’s first two sonatas, Beethovenlater returned to the medium three more times, continually reimagining his approach to the instruments while his musical language became increasingly daring as his hearing failed. This program allows the listener to experience all three periods of Beethoven’s creative output, making for an emotionally overwhelming experience!

Sunday, August 25, 2024

2:00 p.m: Beethoven’s Complete Cello Sonatas

Artists
Matthew Zalkind  cello
Julio Elizalde  piano

Program
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5 No. 1
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5 No. 2
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 No. 1
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 5 in D major, Op. 102 No. 2

Concert Details
Over two decades, Beethovenrevolutionized the cello and piano by writing five astonishing sonatas for the two instruments. Beethovenwas surely influenced by his dealings with Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II, who was an amateur cellists and employed the Duport brothers in his court, two of the greatest cellists of the time. With the king’s high praise of Beethoven’s first two sonatas, Beethovenlater returned to the medium three more times, continually reimagining his approach to the instruments while his musical language became increasingly daring as his hearing failed. This program allows the listener to experience all three periods of Beethoven’s creative output, making for an emotionally overwhelming experience!

Saturday, August 31, 2024

2:00 p.m: The Final Romantics
Chamber Music Masters

Artists
Alexi Kenney  violin
Scott St. John  violin
John Largess  viola
Efe Baltac?gil  cello
Julio Elizalde  piano
Robert McDonald  piano

Program
Brahms  Six Piano Pieces, op. 118
Strauss  Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18
Dvo?ák  Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 87

Concert Details
As the nineteenth century became the twentieth, composers were beginning to drift apart while one faction held on to the romantic harmony that had become standard for decades, and the other began to explore the limits of harmony and question whether it even needed to exist anymore. Brahms was a powerful opponent to the Wagnerian influence in Europe, rejecting hyper expressive excess in favor of honoring Beethoven’s structural precision. His late piano works show a composer reaching the end of his career, combining his most intimate thoughts with unmatched compositional precision. Richard Strauss was known for his brilliant operas and his early Violin Sonata captures the inspired romantic melodies that earned him thunderous public acclaim. Dvo?ák’s folk-inspired Piano Quartet includes one of most magical slow movements in all of chamber music.

Sunday, September 1, 2024  

2:00 p.m: From The Wars

Artists
Alexi Kenney  violin
Scott St. John  violin
John Largess  viola
Efe Baltac?gil  cello
Julio Elizalde  piano
Robert McDonald  piano

Program
Clarke  Dumka for Violin, Viola, and Piano (1940)
Shostakovich  Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
Elgar  Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84

Concert Details
English composer Rebecca Clarke was one of the major female voices of the twentieth century—her music fusing the influence of impressionist France with the nostalgia of the British melody. Shostakovich was surely influenced by Beethoven’s structural elegance in his Cello Sonata in D minor, while still finding ways to sarcastically mock Stalin’s regime without suffering dire consequences. Sir Edward Elgar is one of the most famous English composers of all time and penned his Piano Quintet over many years, rendering wistful and melancholic music that differed dramatically from the modernism raging in Europe that served as a reaction to the world wars.

Saturday, September 7, 2024

2:00 p.m: The Romantic Piano
Season Finale: Virtuoso Piano Festival

Artists
Ran Dank  piano
Soyeon Kate Lee  piano

Program
Brahms  Selections from Waltzes for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 39
Schumann  Kriesleriana, Op. 16
Liszt  Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178

Concert Details
Power husband & wife piano duo team Ran Dank & Soyeon Kate Lee make their debut at the Olympic Music Festival for a spectacular Virtuoso Piano Festival! This program includes gorgeous romantic waltzes for piano duet by Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann’s evocative set of character pieces Kriesleriana, which begin to illuminate his struggles with mental illness, and Franz Liszt’s monumental Sonata in B minor.

Sunday, September 8, 2024

2:00 p.m: The Virtuosic Piano

Artists
Ran Dank  piano
Soyeon Kate Lee  piano

Program
Debussy  Petite Suite for Piano, Four Hands
Chopin  Nocturne in F major, Op. 15
Chopin  Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1
Chopin  Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, Op. 25 "Funeral March"
Rachmaninoff  Six Moment Musicaux, Op. 16

Concert Details
The 2024 summer season comes to a thrilling close with a concert of virtuosic piano music. Debussy’s Petite Suite for Piano duet is a moving set of character pieces representative of the composer’s most classic French style. Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B-flat minor was a transformational work of Romantic piano literature, including his most famous funeral march slow movement. Sergei Rachmaninoff is forever associated with the piano not only because of his famous career as a soloist but more importantly because of his revolutionary approach to piano writing. His Moment Musicaux present a passionate range of music from intimate romantic melodies to thunderous cascades of sound. Do not miss this exciting final performance of the season.

Date: August 10 - September 8, 2024

Location:

Wheeler Theate
25 Eisenhower Avenue
Port Townsend, WA 98368

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