Two "Signature" Events at 2015 Summer Festival
 
Transcendent Evening
It was a special honor when the
Mir� Quartet selected Orcas Island as the perfect setting for a much-anticipated event.  During our 2015 Season, the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival presented the pre-release of 
Mir� Quartet|transcendence, an incredible double disc set
(Blu-ray/CD) of Schubert's String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D887.  Last year the Quartet recorded and filmed the making of this iconic work in Seattle at Benaroya Hall on David Fulton's instrument collection, including several Stradivari and Guarneri.  Daniel Ching, William Fedkenheuer, John Largess and Joshua Gindele were supported by benefactor David Fulton in embarking on this beautiful and transcendent musical journey.

The evening included a live performance, a multimedia debut of this award-winning documentary, and a fascinating question and answer session with the
Mir� Quartet, OICMF Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann and OICMF Artistic Advisor Jon Kimura Parker.
photo courtesy Barry Carlton

Patrons were thrilled to be part of this one-of-a-kind event, and didn't want to see the evening end.  Our thanks to concert sponsors Lee and Stuart Rolfe, and reception sponsor Carl de Boor!

The Mir� Quartet also unveiled innovative educational aspects of this project: the "Play it Forward" education initiative, and "The Mir� Quartet Transcendence Education Contest," in partnership with Carnegie Hall.  To learn more about these programs, visit the Miro Quartet web site.

Kostov/Valkov CD Premiere
Opening night of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival was the perfect time and place for the CD release party of Lachezar Kostov and Viktor Valkov's KOSTOV-VALKOV DUO Transcriptions & Paraphrases for cello and piano.  The lines were long during intermission and post-concert receptions, as adoring fans looked forward to autographed copies of their CD.
This exciting duo have performed together since 2000, performing across the United States, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Japan.  Bulgarian cellist Lachezar Kostov has been hailed for the "awesome purity of his playing" and described as a "prodigiously skilled protagonist."  Winner of the 2012 New Orleans International Piano Competition, Bulgarian pianist Viktor Valkov
Photo courtesy Derk Jager
has been highly acclaimed by critics as a "lion of the keyboard."
The CD features Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 1 and 2 and Evocation a la Chapelle Sixtine, Buxton Orr's A Carmen Fantasy, Martinu's Variations on a Theme of Rossini and Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Figaro.

The CD was produced by Aloysia Friedmann and sponsored by The Anders Foundation, William and Valerie Anders.   



Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival
Aloysia Friedmann, Artistic Director

917B Mount Baker Road * PO Box 646
Eastsound, WA 98245
(360) 376-6636 * toll-free 1-866- 492-0003