The Oskaloosa Chamber Music Festival Prepares For Fourth Annual Performance
The Oskaloosa Chamber Music Festival (submitted photo)
The Oskaloosa Chamber Music Festival (OCMF) is preparing for its fourth annual performance series. Benjamin Davis, Oskaloosa High School Alumnus and Musical Director of the Oskaloosa Chamber Music Festival, has announced that fifteen professional musicians from all across the United States will converge in Oskaloosa for concerts and educational opportunities for local student musicians. These performing and teaching artists will give interactive presentations for elementary and middle school music students to get them excited about all of the possibilities that lie in music making. They will also be working alongside high school students throughout the week in a side-by-side collaboration with the OCMF Chamber Players that will culminate in the final performance on Saturday evening.
In addition to these opportunities for local musicians, the OCMF Chamber Players will be rehearsing intensely on some of the greatest chamber music throughout history. They will be preparing works by Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Barber and more. The week will culminate in two free public performances. The first will be 7:30 P.M., Friday, May 24th at Smokey Row. This “performance” is really a jam session where the performers will dig through stacks of music and sight read whatever strikes them as fun in the moment. The audience is encouraged to sip on the great coffee at Smokey Row, have a bite to eat, talk to their friends and cheer as much or as little, as they like.
On Saturday, May 25th at 7:30 P.M. at the First Presbyterian Church, 405 High Ave. East, there will be a formal concert of the aforementioned repertoire and the side-by-side piece with the high school students. Both events are completely free and open to the public. Donations will be graciously accepted. These donations are a key factor in covering travel expenses for these amazing musicians traveling from across the country to be in Oskaloosa. These performances are truly unique to the Oskaloosa Community, and as audience members from previous performances will tell you, they will produce beautiful music and should certainly not be missed.
