They bounded on stage, clad in their traditional black, clutching their instruments, their extensions of themselves. The crowd roared with glee, eagerly anticipating what promised to be a rocking show. The five artists settled into their chairs, arranged their music and drew their bows. The Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival had begun.
Don't stop reading this purely because of the old-timer appeal of chamber music. While the roaring audience was mostly filled with the cultured, older residents of Charlottesville, the atmosphere and energy of the Festival and its artists is one that rivals the excitement of Warped Tour or Kenny Chesney. The musicians themselves looked like the epitome of chamber music rock stars, decked out in black; one had spiced up his traditional garb with red-and-silver designs on the right sleeve and snazzy red shoes.
In its seventh year, the Festival is a unique blend of the classic and the contemporary. A two-week long festival, with a total of five shows, directors Tim Summers and Raphael Bell bring together famous musicians from across the world to play a wide variety of pieces.
"It's two sides of the same coin; we read, take information [about a piece], and be crazy with it," Summers said. "We fit pieces together as a mosaic and choose pieces that don't necessarily work by themselves."
While several shows feature work by Mozart and Brahms, the Festival offers a different take on chamber music. The Thursday, Sept. 14 showing featured a world premiere piece written specifically for the Festival. The piece, "Only the Wind," highlighted the art of overtone singing and created a sound where the artists used their instruments in unique ways -- plunking at the strings, swiping the air with their bows, tapping the instruments rather than drawing the bow over the strings. Overtone singing is essentially the art of adding together different combinations and intensity of complex sounds via the singer's throat and the instruments in use. The audience gave the piece a standing ovation.
"The classics are still the core of the Festival, but we're going into wider and wider orbits; we're trying to find so many different things to shoot off," Summers said.
Thursday's showing also displayed the unique music brought from violinist Pekka Kuusisto's homeland of Finland; the quintet based the second part of the concert on Finnish tangos and folk music. Kuusisto's father arranged the final lineup himself.
"It's rare to have such a variety of different pieces" to play, Kussisto said. "It's pleasant and it feels important bringing something from my home country."
This particular show allowed the individual artists to showcase their own talents in various solo pieces. Violist Gareth Lubbe performed a solo sonata, highlighting the beauty of an instrument usually in the background. Double bass player Knut-Erik Sundquist performed a hilarious piece titled "Failing," where he was forced to read the lyrics of the music at a steady pace while playing ever-increasing complex spurts of music; the piece both entertained and impressed the audience as he continued to play faster and faster while attempting to read at a slow, steady pace.
"It was a great atmosphere, exactly like I had planned," Sundquist said. "The Finnish tangos were my idea; I love them so much! This group is fantastic together."
The Festival boasts the talents of 15 talented artists from around the globe, ranging from Finland to France, with extraordinary talents on stage and off. Conducting their shows with a relaxed, but intense amount of energy, the artists find ways to interact with the audience and each other while performing complicated pieces to the top of their abilities. These musicians are the stars of the international chamber music world. They each had a unique personality that shined while onstage, at once poking fun at one another while encouraging and cheering for each other.
"It's the magic meeting of audience with artist," commented one concert-goer.
Although attending a chamber music concert may not sound too appealing, the energy and atmosphere of the Festival is worth the strange looks you might receive when talking about your weekend plans.
The Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival is continuing this week with shows tonight at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Old Cabell Hall.
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