Archipelago Collective’s Chamber Music Festival takes place Sept. 9–11

Contributed photo

Arch­i­pel­ago Col­lec­tive shares news about their return to Fri­day Har­bor this September.

This Sep­tem­ber marks Arch­i­pel­ago Collective’s eighth anniver­sary per­form­ing exhil­a­rat­ing clas­si­cal cham­ber music on San Juan Island. Our 2022 fes­ti­val week will present four con­certs in a cel­e­bra­tion of cham­ber music both old and very new.

Our musi­cians are unpar­al­leled vir­tu­osi who come from across the coun­try, and this year you’ll be able to hear them all around Fri­day Har­bor. Our home venue is Brick­works, where we’ll per­form three con­certs. We’ll also per­form at the San Juan Islands Muse­um of Art in an excit­ing pro­gram of con­tem­po­rary cham­ber music. In addi­tion, the young stu­dents at Fri­day Har­bor Ele­men­tary school will get to meet our musi­cians and share in their joy dur­ing an edu­ca­tion­al assem­bly. As always, our con­cert venues are small and inti­mate, bring­ing the per­form­ers and audi­ence togeth­er for a tru­ly col­lab­o­ra­tive experience.

This year’s pro­gram­ming includes tra­di­tion­al favorites like Brahms and Mozart, in addi­tion to works by liv­ing com­posers which we hope pro­vide the audi­ence with new and thought-pro­vok­ing expe­ri­ences. In col­lab­o­ra­tion with the San Juan Islands Muse­um of Art, we have com­mis­sioned com­pos­er Ha Yang Kim to write a piece that takes inspi­ra­tion from the nat­ur­al envi­rons of the islands, and uses the fer­ry sched­ules as a struc­tur­al back­drop. Our ensem­bles range from the beloved string quar­tet, to the less con­ven­tion­al clar­inet, bas­soon, and piano trio. The stage will be graced as well by harp and piano, in vary­ing combinations.

Tick­ets can be pur­chased online for $15-$25 each, or $80 for a week­end pass to all the con­certs. Arch­i­pel­ago Collective’s vision is to be an inte­gral part of the rich artis­tic com­mu­ni­ty on San Juan Island. Our annu­al cham­ber music fes­ti­val pro­vides top-tier pro­fes­sion­al musi­cians the time and free­dom to explore small ensem­ble music and delve into the cre­ative process. Through­out the week we per­form in var­i­ous venues at which inti­ma­cy and inter­ac­tion with the audi­ence are para­mount. In avoid­ing the tra­di­tion­al con­cert hall par­a­digm, Arch­i­pel­ago Col­lec­tive presents clas­si­cal cham­ber music in a way that invites audi­ence par­tic­i­pa­tion and inquiry.

Cham­ber Music 1
Fri­day, Sept. 9 — 7 p.m.
Brickworks
150 Nichols St., Fri­day Harbor
Jen­nifer Hig­don — Dark Wood — bas­soon, vio­lin, cel­lo, piano
Hen­ri­ett Renié — Trio for Harp, Vio­lin, and Cello
Felix Mendelssohn — String Quin­tet No. 1, Op. 18

New Waves
Sat­ur­day, Sept 10 — 2 p.m.
San Juan Islands Muse­um of Art
540 Spring St., Fri­day Harbor
​Alex Shapiro — Inter­mez­zo for Bas­soon and Harp
Frey Wha­ley-Cohen — Blu-Tack
Ha Yang Kim — World Premiere

Cham­ber Music 2
Sat­ur­day, Sept.10 — 7 p.m.
Brickworks
150 Nichols St., Fri­day Harbor
WA Mozart — Kegel­statt Trio, K. 498
Paul Schoen­field — Cafe Music — vio­lin, cel­lo, piano
Johannes Brahms — Clar­inet Quin­tet, Op. 115

Cham­ber Music 3
Sun­day, Sept. 11 — 2 p.m.
Brickworks
150 Nichols St., Fri­day Harbor
Mikhail Glin­ka — Trio pathé­tique — clar­inet, bas­soon, piano
Mur­ray Schafer — Wild Bird — vio­lin, harp
Antonín Dvorák — Piano Quin­tet, Op. 81

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