Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival announces its 4th season

From the press release:

The Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival announces it’s 2019 season, featuring music and wine pairing performances over three weekends, August 3 rd -18th. The Festival brings world class chamber music into intimate, one-of-a-kind winery spaces to create unique concert experiences that enhance the beauty and craft of both. In 2019, the Festival will explore the theme of “Old World, New World” through the works of both well-known and emerging composers. Acclaimed violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery will serve as the Festival’s 2019 Composer-in- Residence, sharing insight into her music and performing with Festival musicians. Programs will also feature works by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, as well as women composers including Caroline Shaw, Elisabeth Jacquet, and Amy Beach, and celebrated Oregon violist and composer Kenji Bunch.

In 2019, the Festival continues its partnerships with signature Oregon wineries. The season kicks off with performances in the J. Christopher Wines barrel room on August 3-4. The second weekend features new winery partner Archery Summit Winery on August 10 th and a return to Elk Cove Vineyards on the 11 th . The season will conclude on August 17-18 with two performances at Sokol Blosser Winery . All performances include a wine tasting chosen to pair with each program and celebrate the craft of the host winery.

Old World, New World Both wine and chamber music celebrate the past and reinvent it for the future. The Festival’s 2019 season explores the connections between past, present and future in both wine and music. Each concert in the 2019 season pairs a masterpiece by one of the big “B’s” – Bach, Beethoven and Brahms – with works by brilliant living masters.

“This season we’re excited to continue celebrating pioneering voices by exploring the creativity and power that come from traditions handed from one generation to the next,” said Sasha Callahan, violinist and Festival co-founder. “There’s a special energy and vitality that comes from experiencing masterpieces of the past alongside fresh new works by some of today’s most exciting voices. It’s particularly exciting when the composer is present as performer and collaborator, which is a unique part of Festival concerts.” The season showcases both Jessie Montgomery and Kenji Bunch as performers and composers. It will be a powerful opportunity for audiences to hear these brilliant creative minds in conversation with the masters that inspired them to search for their own distinct voice.

“Music, like wine, comes to life in unique ways when enjoyed live, in the company of others,” said Leo Eguchi, cellist and Festival co-founder. “Yet it’s not often that audiences are given an opportunity to savor them together. This year’s programs strike an artful balance between the old masters and the need to express a new time and place. True craft and technique come from hard work and tradition, and it’s exciting to hear the connections between old and new.”

About the Festival’s 2019 Composer-in-Residence 2019 Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery is one of the most in demand composers living today, with a unique and powerful new voice. Drawing from her classical training as a violinist and also from growing up in her father’s NYC recording studio listening to jazz, rock, and music from around the world, Montgomery subtly evokes the rallies and protests her mixed race parents were engaged in on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1980’s into a vocabulary at once familiar and distinctly her own. Her music tells her story as an African American woman simultaneously in love with the classical tradition and eager to expand it to include her experience. As a violinist, she’s a member of the Catalyst Quartet and a collaborator with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble. Recent compositional milestones include residencies with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, and commissions from some of the world’s leading chamber ensembles.

Ticket Information Tickets are available at www.wvchambermusic.org . Tickets are $50 for general admission and $35 for members of each hosting winery’s wine club and include a wine tasting paired with each program. Tickets for students and youth are available for $20, and season subscriptions are available for $120.

Performance Details The Festival features performances on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for three weekends beginning Saturday, August 3 rd and closing Sunday, August 18 th .

Weekend 1: August 3rd-4th The Festival kicks off with opening weekend performances in J. Christopher Wines’ barrel room, located in Newberg, OR. Surrounded by J. Christopher’s maturing vintages, both concerts will be anchored by Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations, arranged for string trio, and complemented by Caroline Shaw’s Limestone and Felt and Missy Mazzoli’s Lies you can believe in. Shaw’s work explores the contemplative, sacred components of the Bach, while the Mazzoli plays with the more driving, rock and roll variations.

Weekend 2: August 10 th -11th The second weekend, Saturday, August 10 th at Archery Summit Winery in Dundee, and Sunday, August 11 th , at Elk Cove Vineyards in Gaston, will center around the sublime Op. 111 String Quintet by Johannes Brahms, as well as music by Amy Beach and Caroline Shaw. Performances will include works and conversation with Festival violist and composer Kenji Bunch

Weekend 3: August 17 th -18th The final weekend at Sokol Blosser opens with a rarely performed Sonata for violin and cello by the almost forgotten, extraordinary early Baroque master Elisabeth Jacquet. Concerts will then welcome 2019 Festival Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery for performances of two of her string quartets, Strum and Source Code. Jessie will join Festival musicians on violin as well as for conversation about her music. The programs will conclude with Beethoven’s transcendent Op. 132 String Quartet, his great prayer of thanksgiving written after recovering unexpectedly from a serious illness.

About the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival The Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival is a dynamic Festival of classical music concerts in Oregon wine country. Founded by violinist Sasha Callahan and cellist Leo Eguchi, the Festival is focused on bringing people together to experience the world’s greatest musical masterpieces alongside the Willamette Valley’s world-class wine. The 501(c)3 organization’s goal is to enrich the lives of Oregon and Willamette Valley communities through concerts that celebrate the beauty and craft of extraordinary wine and music hand-in-hand. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.wvchambermusic.org , or find WVCMF on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .