ChamberFest Brown County ~by Ryan Stacy
T
hroughout the uncertain days of 2020, we knew that the world after COVID would be forever different than the one we had left in the Before Times. Some of the changes we’ve seen as our community continues to re-open have been lamentable, but Brown County’s first-ever ChamberFest— six days of live classical music at various spots around Nashville—is a welcome new development. Running August 17 through 22, the festival features top-notch musical talent from across the country, performing in the small-group format known as chamber music, as well as receptions, an educational lecture, and a documentary film. Among the performers are Grammy winners Pacifica Quartet, who take the stage at the Brown County Playhouse on Sunday evening of the festival; Fry Street Quartet, the New York Times calls a “triumph of ensemble playing,” plays the Nashville United Methodist Church Friday night. Others you won’t want to miss include IU Jacobs School of Music faculty member Futaba Niekawa, performing with
the acclaimed five-piece Volante Winds; a voice and piano duet featuring baritone Bruno Sandes; and a piano trio featuring Andreas Ioannides of Indiana State University’s faculty, who’s also ChamberFest’s Artistic Director. Other attractions at the festival speak to ChamberFest’s stated commitment to diversity and inclusivity, which were priorities in the planning process. A special performance for seniors is planned for Wednesday of the festival at the Brown County YMCA. Rising Tide: The Crossroads Project, a musical exploration-cum-documentary, screens at Brown County High School’s Auditorium on Thursday. Opportunities to interact with festival performers and fellow classical music fans are also on the agenda: the Hoosier Artist Gallery hosts an open house on Friday afternoon, and a reception at Brown County Art Guild follows Pacifica Quartet’s performance on Saturday night. Current fans of the genre and newcomers alike are in for a moving personal experience, Andreas Ioannides says. “To hear chamber
32 Our Brown County July/August 2021
music in an intimate space with beautiful acoustics is very memorable,” he promises. “It’s really beautiful music, but it’s also quite theatrical.” You might notice that ChamberFest 2021’s lineup reveals a particular focus on Beethoven. That’s because the 250th anniversary of the beloved composer’s birth was in 2020—but, with the pandemic still in full swing, there weren’t many opportunities to celebrate. Better late than never, Andreas says. He explains, “We tried to include at least one piece of his each day of the festival, and Roman Ivanovitch’s lecture on Saturday afternoon will be about Beethoven as well.” ChamberFest grew out of the efforts of Riversong, a nonprofit that began organizing music events in Illinois and New York a few years back. Andreas’s performance at one of them impressed Riversong co-founder Annie Hawk, who asked him to replace the organization’s departing Continued on 46
