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Presenting chamber music in unexpected venues, from parks to coffee shops to bars, has become a hallmark of the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington. Pictured here is the festival’s outgoing executive director, Elias Gross. Photo by Skylar Davis
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JimmyKatz
The festival will be a coming-home party for Lexington native Zach Brock, who is this year’s artist-in- residence. Photo furnished
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Jacob Hand
2017 composer-in-residence Matt Ulery will present a world premeire composition at the festival. Photo furnished
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Chamber Music Festival executive director Elias Gross. Photo by Skylar Davis
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Innovative Houston-based string quintet WindSync has been the festival’s ensemble-in-residence since 2012. Photo by Skylar Davis
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Innovative Houston-based string quintet WindSync has been the festival’s ensemble-in-residence since 2012. Photo by Skylar Davis
What is chamber music? In its most technical sense, it’s a form of classical music composed for a smaller group of instruments than a traditional orchestra. But Elias Gross, executive director of the Chamber Festival of Lexington, provides a much better description of the genre, characterizing it as “a conversation amongst friends.”
“When you can sit close to the musicians, you hear the instruments sharing their thoughts and asking questions of each other,” said Gross, a classically trained musician himself who has been playing viola since the age of 7. “You can see the musicians exchange looks and hear them breathe, and you can see the interactions among them as they play.
“The intimacy creates an experience unlike that of watching an orchestra,” he continued. “There’s an energy and emotion in the room that is harder to experience in a larger show.”
The brainchild of Lexington arts patrons Charlie Stone and Charles Thompson, the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington began in 2007, in partnership with the festival’s artistic director, Nathan Cole, a Lexington native who also serves as first associate concertmaster for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. That first festival spanned three days, and up until the night before its first performance, organizers were unsure if their hard work would be rewarded with an audience. Those worries, however, proved to be unfounded, as the first Chamber Festival of Lexington saw a healthy crowd of music lovers at all of the weekend’s events.
Over the past decade, the festival has continued to grow in scope and length. In year two, the event engaged its first composer-in-residence, aimed to highlight young, rising composers from across the country. This move has allowed each year’s festival to present a world premiere of a new composition – a goal the original organizers thought was several years down the road. By year six the festival had stretched to five days, with the addition of open rehearsals and master classes, and added “flash mob”-style chamber concerts taking place at nontraditional locations such as coffee shops and bars. Adding to the line-up of notable international talent associated with the festival, an ensemble-in-residence also joined the growing group that year. By year eight, the festival had again expanded to its current length of 10 days.
Now entering its second decade, the festival is making some big and exciting changes. Perhaps the largest is the festival’s move from the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion to the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center. Says Gross, “The move to the DAC lets us be a part of our rapidly changing downtown arts scene – this location has an amazing staff that are skilled in the technical aspects, such as lighting and sound, as well as the service aspects, like box office and ushering. The talented folks at the DAC will allow us to professionalize our operation.”
Other benefits to the move downtown include the ability to attract walk-in traffic and to partner with local restaurants and bars to create dining and entertainment packages that benefit both the festival and surrounding businesses.
The festival continues to expand its series to locations outside the concert hall, with events this year scheduled on the lawn of Ashland: the Henry Clay Estate, the Thomas Hunt-Morgan House and the outdoor stage at Al’s Bar. This is the second year that Al’s Bar will host a concert for the festival, and Gross expects it to again be a great success.
Presenting a form of music often thought of as formal in casual, unexpected venues falls in line with the festival’s commitment to the future of chamber music and dedication to highlighting misconceptions about the art form.
“Classical music can be off-putting to people because of the way that we think about it and talk about it and present it, but it makes a huge difference to move it out of its traditional context,” Gross said. “Taking the conventional idea of chamber music and tearing it apart by presenting it at a bar that you know and love – or any location outside of the concert hall – is a great way to change the way people think about the art form.”
This year’s festival is also special because it brings another local back home to perform. 2017 artist-in-residence Zach Brock is a part of one of Lexington’s most musical families. His late grandfather, Fred F. Moore, was a trombonist and music instructor before opening Chevy Chase’s Fred F. Moore Music Store, currently operated by Fred Moore Jr., also a musician. Brock’s mother is a pianist and voice teacher, and his father plays both the trumpet and the guitar. Brock began playing the violin at age 4 and studied with the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra, moving on after high school to Northwestern University in Chicago and then on to establish his career in New York City. Brock currently plays with the internationally touring, Grammy-winning jazz and funk band Snarky Puppy.
Some things, though, remain the same. The musicians who make up the festival’s core ensemble – Cole (violin), Alessio Bax (piano), Burchard Tang (viola), Akiko Tarumoto (violin), Priscilla Lee (cello) – are the same five who have been with the festival since year one, and innovative Houston-based quintet WindSync have remained the ensemble-in-residence since the program was introduced in 2012.
For Gross, this year’s festival, with its rooted history, exciting changes and expanding opportunities, is bittersweet. At the conclusion of the festival, he will be leaving Kentucky to continue his education, studying for a Master’s in Viola Performance at the University of Delaware. Gross, who hails from Atlanta,, came to the University of Kentucky to study arts administration and viola, and worked for the Lexington Philharmonic prior to becoming the executive director of the Chamber Festival of Lexington.
When asked about his favorite parts of running the festival, Gross talks about working with the artistic director, Nathan Cole, and the composer-in-residence, who changes each year (this year, the festival welcomes Chicago based bassist/composer and bandleader Matt Ulery, who draws influence from jazz, classical, rock, pop and folk).
“My favorite moment of the planning season is the first time Nathan sends over the program, and we see what’s been percolating in his head over the course of the year,” said Gross.
Of his favorite part of the actual performances, Gross cited the moments when the composer-in-residence introduces the world premiere composition, explaining the influences and inspirations behind the piece.
“The experience of hearing a composer introduce their own work is not something that you could imagine touching your soul the way that it does,” he said. “As the piece unfolds, you can connect every part back to the story behind the work.”
Each festival director has contributed to the growth and expansion of the festival. Gross is no exception, and he’s proud of the ways the festival has grown during his tenure. He finds satisfaction in the increased accessibility to the festival as well as to chamber music in general, and the growth of the festival’s involvement in music education. The partnership with Al’s Bar is one he is particularly proud of, taking joy in the fact that the Lexington venue is happy to invite in a different type of performance than what is typically on its schedule.
While he has much that he can say about the festival, ultimately Gross invites Lexington to experience the festival first-hand.
“The Festival has a unique way of bringing music to life in Lexington,” Gross said. “Our audiences return for these performances trusting they will again walk away more curious and hungry for new musical experiences than ever before.”
Chamber Music Festival of Lexington
Aug. 24-Sept. 3
Concerts take place at various locations, including Downtown Arts Center, Al’s Bar, Thomas Hunt-Morgan House and Ashland: The Henry Clay Estate.
Visit chambermusiclex.org for full schedule and more details.