OICMF announces founder and Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann to step down following 30th anniversary season in summer 2027

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Submitted by the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.

The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival announces that violinist and violist Aloysia Friedmann, who founded the festival in 1998 and has led it as artistic director for nearly three decades, will conclude her tenure as artistic director following the festival’s 30th anniversary season in 2027. The OICMF board has appointed cellist Joshua Gindele to succeed Friedmann. Gindele is serving as associate artistic director for the 2026 season, becomes artistic director designate for the 2027 30th anniversary season and assumes the role of artistic director beginning with the 2028 season.

“Founding this Festival in 1998 allowed me to build on the musical legacy of my parents while creating something uniquely my own, and guiding it for nearly three decades has been one of the great joys of my life,” said Friedmann. “In music, a transition is the passage that links two sections of a work, a musical bridge, and that is how I think of this moment. I am not stepping away from Orcas Island or from the stage; I am entrusting the artistic vision of the Festival to Joshua Gindele, whom our audiences have known and loved since the Miró Quartet first appeared here in 2008. I look forward to celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2027 and to remaining part of this community for many years to come.” Friedmann will remain connected to the festival as an ambassador and will continue to pursue an active performing and recording career.

Friedmann grew up in Seattle and spent summers and holidays on Orcas Island with her parents, violinist Martin Friedmann and oboist Laila Storch. Informal concerts with family and friends, among them pianist Jon Kimura Parker and cellist Desmond Hoebig, grew into a tradition, and the idea of a festival took root after her parents bought a cabin on the island in the early 1990s. In 1997, she proposed a two-day event at the 213-seat Orcas Center, offering to singlehandedly manage every detail, including fundraising, and built the fledgling festival while continuing to perform as a freelance violinist in New York. The inaugural 1998 season sold out so quickly that a third concert was added to meet demand. Friedmann aimed to bring world-class musicians to an intimate island setting where deep friendships and meaningful artistic collaboration could flourish, a place where stunning natural beauty and a close-knit community come together to celebrate great music. More than 200 renowned musicians have performed at the festival, and OICMF has commissioned new works from composers-in-residence, including Jake Heggie, Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach), John Wineglass and Kevin Puts. The festival received the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming in 2003, and Chamber Music America’s CMAcclaim Award in 2008. Friedmann was named a Musical America Top 30 Professional of the Year in 2018.

Beyond the festival, Friedmann has built a wide-ranging career as a violinist and violist. She serves as associate concertmaster of ROCO in Houston, is a founding member of San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival and performs frequently with the Houston and San Diego symphonies. She made her recital debut at Carnegie Hall and recorded with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s alongside composer Astor Piazzolla and soprano Renée Fleming, performing under conductors including John Adams, Roger Norrington, André Previn and Robert Shaw. She gave the world premiere of Grammy Award-winning composer Jake Heggie’s “Meditation” with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and performed Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel on solo viola in the chapel itself. Her work ranges from Baroque to Broadway, including an onstage role opposite Dustin Hoffman in “The Merchant of Venice,” as well as appearances with Metallica, The Who, and The Eagles, and television broadcasts on “Live from Lincoln Center” and “Saturday Night Live.”

Joshua Gindele is a cellist and founding member of the two-time Grammy Award-nominated Miró Quartet, widely recognized as one of the leading chamber ensembles of its generation. He serves as professor of practice in cello and chamber music at the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. He has performed at OICMF since the Miró Quartet’s festival debut in 2008, and the quartet has been a fixture of the festival ever since, with highlights including a complete cycle of the Beethoven String Quartets.

“To have spent so many years on the Festival stage, surrounded by the warmth of this island community and the colleagues who have become lifelong friends, makes this moment feel less like a transition and more like a deepening,” said Gindele. “Aloysia has shaped this festival with thirty years of vision, generosity, and artistry, and I am honored beyond words to be her steward. I can think of no greater privilege than growing old in the service of this place and the people who love it, and I step into this role of Artistic Director not as someone arriving, but as someone who already feels entirely at home.”

Parallel with his artistic work, Gindele is the founder and president of Summit Artistic Partners, through which he brings together professional performance, artistic direction and long-term artistic vision. His work centers on creating meaningful performance experiences and collaborative programming that deepen the connection between artists, audiences and the communities they serve.

Gindele has extensive experience in nonprofit leadership and fundraising, with a longstanding commitment to donor stewardship and organizational sustainability. Together with his wife, Rebecca, he has mobilized significant funding for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and single-handedly raised $1.1 million to complete the $6 million capital campaign for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians headquarters, where he has served for four years on the board and as chair of development. He has also worked closely with the dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin on major fundraising initiatives benefiting both the university and community-based quartet programs and maintains enduring relationships with supporters across the country who advance dozens of arts and nonprofit organizations.

The announcement comes as OICMF opens its 29th summer season, running Aug. 7-22, on Orcas Island. The season presents five mainstage programs, each performed twice: “Dueling Strings,” “Embraced by Schubert,” “Orcas~trations: Four Piano Spectacular,” “Intonations” and “Love Triangle.” Repertoire includes Jake Heggie’s “Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope,” for mezzo-soprano, violin, youth violin and string quartet, with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; Schubert’s Trout Quintet; Dvořák’s American Quartet; and Brahms’ Viola Quintet No. 2. The 22 performing artists of the 2026 festival include the Miró Quartet, violist Antoine Tamestit and pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Free community events — Hamlet Concerts in remote corners of Orcas Island, Children’s Concerts on Orcas and Lopez and an Open Rehearsal for Seniors — round out the season. Complete programming can be found at www.oicmf.org.