Music Festival Returns to Oskaloosa

The 2018 Oskaloosa Music Festival kicked off with a jam session at Smokey Row on Wednesday, May 30. Photo by Hailey Brown.

The 2018 Oskaloosa Music Festival kicked off with a jam session at Smokey Row on Wednesday, May 30. Photo by Hailey Brown.

By Hailey Brown

(Oskaloosa, Iowa) –The ninth annual Oskaloosa Music Festival (OMF), also referred to as the Oskaloosa Chamber Music Festival, is officially underway. The event kicked off Wednesday night with a packed house at Smokey Row. People of all ages gathered around tables and booths to listen to classical music in an intimate and informal setting.

OMF chamber players dressed in a casual fashion for this laid-back performance, taking to the small stage at the local coffee shop just after 7:30 PM, sight-reading through a variety of songs. Musicians also entertained requests from the crowd.

OMF brings world-class performers from across the country to Oskaloosa each summer, providing a unique musical experience usually only reserved for major cities. Their mission is to, “provide education and entertainment to the local students and public by presenting some of the greatest, most popular and less familiar, art and music from the 18th to 21st centuries.” The hope is that exposing local students to this kind of music will, “inspire a life in the pursuit of music, not necessarily as a career path, but as a means for developing work ethic, goal setting, group collaboration, and self-expression.”

Benjamin Davis, Oskaloosa native and founder of the Oskaloosa Music Festival, said the festival has a packed schedule this year.

“We’ve got about ten days of music going on with an event going on every day for the next ten days,” said Davis.

The festival continues Thursday afternoon as OMF chamber players serenade residents of Crystal Heights Care Center in Oskaloosa. Musicians will then be back in action for the public during a picnic concert on the square Friday, June 1 from noon to 1:00 PM. Residents are invited to spend their lunch listening to the sweet sounds of strings at the bandstand in downtown Oskaloosa.

The first week of the festival will end with a masterworks recital at First Presbyterian Church in Oskaloosa on Saturday, June 2 at 7:30 PM. Open to the public, this is a more formal event and concert-goers are encouraged to dress up and show up for “some of the finest music ever written,” spanning from Schubert to Mozart and Beethoven and Brahms.

The second week of the festival will pick up with the String Chamber Music Camp, focusing on the study of chamber music for area middle and high school students from Oskaloosa, Pella, and Ottumwa. At the end of the week, all student groups will perform for the public. For more information or to view a complete schedule, visit www.oskaloosamusicfestival.com.

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