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Chamber festival plans family oriented fundraiser

From Staff Reports
Published: Sunday, May 8, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — The Michigan City Chamber Music Festival will present the third annual “Chamberamathon!!!” fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, 121 W. Ninth St.

Open to families, the event is vital to the festival, which presents eight free performances every August in Michigan City. This year’s programs are Aug. 13-21, with more information available at www.mccmf.org.

The May 7 fundraiser highlights festival violinists Nicolas Orbovich and Zofia Glashauser, and works by J.S. Bach, Fritz Kreisler, Henryk Wieniawski, Henri Vieuxtemps and Pablo de Sarasate.

Glashauser is the South Bend Symphony Orchestra concertmaster and has performed worldwide. Orbovich helped found the festival and appears on multiple Grammy-nominated recordings.

The evening will include a silent auction during intermission. Refreshments are planned as well. Call 879-1901 or email nicsunnysophia@yahoo.com.

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When Nic Orbovich helped co-found Michigan City's Annual Chamber Music Festival a decade ago, he already knew this was an event that would last.

Ten years later, Orbovich, a concert violinist from Michigan City and still carrying the title of festival director, is the man leading thirteen musicians and guiding the way through nine days of programming for the decade-anniversary festival now through August 22.

"I moved to Michigan City just a short time after we launched this festival, and I had just come here after living in Chicago," Orbovich says.

"There was so much great art, theater and culture here, but not much in the way of musical experiences for audiences. And that's how this festival came to be."

Orbovich says he and the other co-founders met while he was with his wife at another music festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

"Even though the other co-founders weren't from Michigan City, they were familiar with our area because one of the founders' parents lives in the Long Beach area," Orbovich says.

The anniversary festival schedule includes a variety of programming:



• Aug. 15 - 7:30 p.m. - Trio for Strings - Sergei Taneiev; Knoxville: Summer of 1915 - Samuel Barber; and following intermission, String Quartet #8, Opus 110 - Dmitri Shostakovich, all at First Presbyterian Church, Michigan City.

• Aug. 16 at noon - "Concert for Children by Children" featuring performances by Children's Choir, student Violin Choir, and other area student performers at Michigan City Public Library.

• Aug. 17 - 7:30 p.m. - Quintet for Clarinet and Strings - W.A. Mozart; "Waldstein" piano sonata - L.v. Beethoven; and following intermission, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings - Johannes Brahms, at First Presbyterian Church, Michigan City.

• Aug. 18 - noon - A children's concert with a piano trio and narrator featuring selections like "HakenPalooza!!!," "The Sick Frog," "The Animals Which Escaped from the Zoo" and String Quartet and narrator performing "Kinderquartet" at Michigan City Public Library.

• Aug. 19 - 3 p.m. - Mephisto Waltz - Franz Liszt; 2011 Harold A. Smith Memorial Competition Winners; and following intermission the Quartet for the End of Time - Olivier Messaien, at First Presbyterian Church, Michigan City.

• Aug. 19 - 7:30 p.m. - Trio for Clar, Vla, and Pno, "Kegelstatt" - W.A. Mozart; Souvenir de Florence for String Sextet - P.I. Tchsaikovsky; and following intermission, selected Operatic Arias, at First Presbyterian Church, Michigan City.

• Aug. 20 - noon - A children's concert featuring "Opera and all that Stuff" with operatic arias with fun interaction at Michigan City Public Library.

All events are free. For more information, visit mccmf.org or call 219.879.1901.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/shore/entert...l#ixzz1V70iwtzJ

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Cause for celebration

Violinist Nic Orbovich is happy about the success of the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival. Photo provided
Chamber Music Festival celebrates 10th anniversary
By Andrew Tallackson
Staff Writer
Published: Friday, August 12, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — As the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary, Nic Orbovich couldn’t be happier with how successful the event has become.

The attendance at concerts, for example, is growing to where, one day, a larger performance venue might be necessary. Festival artists are choosing Michigan City as the place to debut original works.

And in an unusual twist, last year’s concertgoers were asked to participate in a poll to select which pieces, performed since the festival’s inception, should be presented this year as part of the 10th anniversary celebration. The result, Orbovich said, is that 80 to 90 percent of this year’s lineup hails from audience members, including Shostakovich’s “Eighth String Quartet” and Messaien’s “Quartet for the End of Time.”

“This shows our audience has a high level of sophistication,” the violinist said. “They have grasped what we do. Our big thing is to communicate to the audience about the music. Many of these pieces have fascinating stories behind them, and that really grabs people.”

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The annual chamber music festival runs Saturday, Aug. 13, through Sunday, Aug. 21, with all concerts at First Presbyterian Church, 121 W. Ninth St., and all children’s programs at Michigan City Public Library, 100 E. Fourth St.

Performances are free, and Orbovich believes that aspect, as well as the festival’s hard-earned reputation for bringing first-rate classical music to Michigan City, is what makes it thrive. Attendance at each First Presbyterian concert, he said, averages between 225 and 250 people.

The church has a seating capacity of about 320.

“In the next couple of years,” Orbovich said, “we may have to address the good problem of outgrowing our location.”

Another first for the festival? “Performance Today,” the classical music radio program heard on more than 260 stations and with more than 1.3 million weekly listeners, will record the concerts and rebroadcast them next year.

“That’s a very high honor for us,” Orbovich said. “I don’t know of any organization in the area that has been chosen for this.”

Orbovich also is excited that festival veteran Rudolf Haken chose Michigan City as the Indiana premiere for a new violin work, along with appearances from winners in the Harold A. Smith Memorial Youth Chamber Competition and a tribute to Italian arias performed by world-class soloists.

Each concert is followed by receptions catered by area restaurants, and which give musicians the chance to mingle with the audience. The artists, Orbovich said, have grown attached to Michigan City and its people, which is why they return year after year.

“I think we hit on something here that people were hungry for,” he said.

Contact Andrew Tallackson at atallackson@thenewsdispatch.com.

All performances are at First Presbyterian Church, 121 W. Ninth St.

Opening Night

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13

“Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, Opus. 47” — Ludwig van Beethoven

“Concerto for Five-String Viola Pomposa” — Rudolf Haken

“Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, D. 667” — Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15

“Trio for Strings in D Major” — Sergei Taneiev

“Knoxville: Summer of 1915” — Samuel Barber

“String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Opus 110” — Dmitri Shostakovich

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17

“Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) for Strings, Opus 4” — Arnold Schoenberg

“Mephisto Waltz No. 1” — Franz Liszt

“Sonata for Piano No. 21 in C Major, Opus 53” — Ludwig van Beethoven

7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19

“Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E-Flat, K. 498” — W.A. Mozart

“Souvenir de Florence for Strings Opus 70” — P.I. Tchaikovsky

Selected Italian arias.

3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21

“Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581” — W.A. Mozart

“London Trio” — Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

“Piano Trio No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Opus 1, No. 1” — Ludwig van Beethoven

“Quatuor pour la fin du temps” — Olivier Messiaen

Children’s Concerts

All performances are at noon at Michigan City Public Library, 100 E. Fourth St.

Tuesday, Aug. 16

“Concert for Children by Children”

Thursday, Aug. 18

“HakenPalooza!!!” with Rudolph Haken

Saturday, Aug. 20

“Yes, We Think We Can Dance!!” with Judith Joseph and Dance Arts Unlimited