Grant brings chamber music to school

By FINN J. JOHN

Editor

The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, every year for the last 10 years, has brought world-class classical music to the island, to the delight of sold-out audiences.

Now, the festival wants to draw some water from that cultural wellspring and pour it out for Orcas Island's youth. With the help of two key grants it's received, it will now be able to do just that.

"We intend for this to augment the school music program," said Victoria Parker, executive director of the Chamber Music Festival. "The schools have a fine music program — we are inspired by the quality of the music program, and want to help with the classical music part of that."

The program, called "IM: In Music," will integrate the performances of the Chamber Music Festival with the kids' music curriculum.

In the classroom, music students will learn about the life and times of each composer being performed in the upcoming Chamber Music Festival, through lectures, readings, videos and classroom activities. They'll do some active listening to and discussion of CD tracks of the composers' works.

Then, over the summer, the students will be invited to attend the concerts they've studied. Kids in kindergarten through sixth grade will come to the festival's family concert; kids in seventh through 12th grades will come to the main concert series, or open rehearsals.

When they're back in school in the fall, the kids will refresh and discuss their experience at the festival and talk about what they've learned and how their classroom studies informed their experience of the classical music concert.

The program is made possible by two major grants — one from the Orcas Island Community Foundation and a larger one from the Gould Family Foundation.

In addition to the classroom integration, the grants provide for a $1,000 music scholarship for a graduating high-school senior, a visiting artist to come from a graduate school music program as an intern during the festival, and a classical music library for the schools.

Rick Gould, Orcas Island resident and one of the trustees of the Gould Family Foundation, said the grant was a perfect match for his group.

"We support innovative projects in the arts, and this fits the bill perfectly," he said.

"One of my observations is that the Gould family is involved in their communities wherever they live," Parker remarked.

The Gould Family Foundation's grant is for $8,500, which will be combined with the Orcas Island Community Foundation's grant of $3,800 to fund the program.

"It has always been the hope of (festival founders) Aloysia (Friedmann) and Jackie (Parker) to expand the scope of the festival in the community," Gould said.

"And into the schools especially," Victoria Parker added. "This does that."

Parker noted that tickets for this year's festival are selling briskly, but there are still good seats available. To get one or two, call the festival office at 376-6636.

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