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The Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, presented by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, has set its fifth season for August 2011, with concerts scheduled for Friday and Saturday evenings, August 19 and 20, and a Sunday matinee on August 21. All concerts will be held at the beautiful Fasig-Tipton Pavilion on Newtown Pike, in Kentucky’s famed horse country, just north of Lexington. Leading up to the weekend concerts will be master classes conducted by festival musicians and an open rehearsal by the ensemble. These events are held during the week at various downtown locations. Both the classes and the rehearsal are free to the public as space allows.
Musicians who have been a part of the festival since its inception will be back again. Lexington native Nathan Cole, recently named First Associate Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will again serve as Festival Artistic Director. Cole’s wife, Chicago Symphony violinist Akiko Tarumoto will play again as will Burchard Tang, violist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his wife, virtuoso cellist Priscilla Lee. The brilliant young pianist and international solo recitalist Alessio Bax will be back again as well. And this year, the festival is excited to welcome Joseph Conyers, recently appointed Assistant Principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
An original work for the 2011 festival is being written by Daniel Kellogg, who follows Daniel Thomas Davis, Clancy Newman and Roger Zare in preparing a world premiere for the Lexington audience. Kellogg is a multi-award-winning musician whom the Washington Post called “one of the most exciting composers around – technically assured, fascinated by unusual sonic textures, unfailingly easy to listen to, yet far from simplistic.”
The composer-in-residence component of the Festival has gained national attention in recent months with the announcement of an arrangement with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra whereby the two organizations will offer an opportunity for a single composer to write pieces for both a chamber ensemble and full orchestra. Kellogg will also compose an orchestral piece which will have its world premiere with the LPO in 2012.
Festival president Charles H. Stone, in discussing the joint collaboration, said “We have been looking for some time to develop a program which would benefit both organizations and shine a bright light on the musical life in Lexington, and we are very pleased with how this has evolved to become a composer-in-residence collaboration.”
“Our decision to highlight an original work from a young composer each summer has been very rewarding and we are so pleased to have our audiences appreciate and accept this new music. We want to become known as a venue where both traditional and not-so-traditional music can be enjoyed,” Nathan Cole said.
Jim Clark, president and CEO of LexArts, said, “As a founding sponsor, we are thrilled to see the progress that has been made in terms of both community support and artistic achievement. It is nothing short of astounding that such a young chamber music festival is commissioning new work by some of America’s finest young talent.”
