QUILCENE — Concerts in the Barn will begin its seventh season of free chamber music concerts in its iconic barn in Quilcene on Saturday.
The concerts at the barn at 7360 Center Road in Quilcene all begin at 2 p.m. and will continue through Aug. 27. Patrons have the option of sitting inside on comfortable church pews or hay bales in the loft or listening outside on the lawn.
Those who arrive early — the farm opens at noon each concert day — can enjoy a picnic lunch on the tables set up for concert goers, stroll through the grounds and meet the farm animals. Horses, sheep, pygmy goats, chickens and rabbits are on the grounds.
“This year, performances will take place both on weekends and midweek,” said Leigh Hearon, volunteer director.
“We encourage patrons to consult our website (www.concertsinthebarn.org/summer-program) to make sure they don’t miss their favorite artists or repertoire,” she continued.
“This year, we have a lot of chamber music packed into five weeks on the farm.”
Although concerts are free, patrons are asked to reserve seating for each performance through TicketStripe, accessible on Concerts’ website at https:// ticketstripe.com/event-list/concerts-in-the-barn.
Attendees are encouraged to make donations of $20 for lawn seating and $30 for barn seating, but no one with a reservation will be turned away.
Non-alcoholic beverages, coffee, cookies and ice cream will be sold in the Milking Shed. Concerts in the Barn will sell wine from The Wine Seller and Finnriver cider in the wine garden in the orchard area. Bottled water will be available without charge.
Trio Hava — consisting of violist Elisa Barston, cellist Amy Barston and pianist Paige Molloy — will open on Saturday with a Fantasie by composer Florence Price, the first Black American woman to have her work performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and closes with Beethoven’s noble Piano Trio in B flat major, known as “the Archduke.”
Here is the lineup for the season:
• On Aug. 2-3, Kaimerata Concerts will focus on two works by Robert Schumann, a composer of the Romantic era.
Each year, Kaimerata co-founders Kai Gleusteen and Catherine Ordronneau build concerts around a specific composer.
This year, Schumann takes the stage, and in addition to performing his works, the two will provide a discourse on Schumann’s life, both personal and musical, to provide a better understanding of the man behind the music.
Kaimarate Concerts will perform this series in Barcelona as well as in British Columbia.
• On Aug. 5-6, Trio Hava will return to perform works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Dvořák — and more fiddle tunes from Scotland.
• On Aug. 16-17, Concerts in the Barn presents the Aletheia Piano Trio for its third season in the Barn.
Formed in 2013 at the Julliard School, the Trio rose to prominence with highly acclaimed performances at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center.
Praised for its “dazzling energy and expressivity,” the Trio will perform in the Barn for two midweek performances with works by Lili Boulanger, Andrea Casarrubios, Clara Schumann and Maurice Ravel.
• On Aug. 19-20, Concerts in the Barn will welcome back the Carpe Diem String Quartet.
“We mourn the passing of first violinist Charles Wetherbee, who succumbed to cancer earlier this year, but are heartened to know the Quartet, at Charles’s insistence, is still making music,” Hearon said.
Guest violinist Sam Weisner joins the group this summer to perform Mozart’s String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, and Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80.
And, Heron said, “in keeping with the Quartet’s desire to share new chamber music with its audience,” they are performing a work by Caroline Shaw, Blueprint for String Quartet, described by the composer as “a conversation with Beethoven and with the joys and malinconia of his Op. 18 No. 6.”
• On Aug. 26, musicians from Music on the Strait in Port Angeles will offer music that includes performances for violin and marimba and ends with Edward Grieg’s string quartet.
Grammy award winner violist Richard O’Neill will open the concert with solo repertoire, performed on the instrument once owned by Festival founder Alan Iglitzin.
• On Aug. 27, the Fulton Street Chamber Players will finish the season with works by Astor Piazzolla for four-hand piano, Felix Mendelssohn’s string quartet No. 2 in A minor, and Dvořák’s passionate, imminently lyrical piano quintet in A minor.
The six musicians who take the stage hail from Maine to Seattle, and together, have put together a program that ends the season on a very high note.
Accessible music
“When we began Concerts in the Barn in 2016, our primary goal was to make chamber music as accessible as possible,” Hearon said. “We want everyone, particularly families with children and senior citizens on a budget, to experience this great music and didn’t want the price of a ticket to get in the way.”
At the same time, she said, organizers want to pay artists at rates commensurate with other music festivals.
“With an all-volunteer staff, the donations we receive from private and business donors allows us to do that, while ensuring that anyone who wants to experience live chamber music has that opportunity,” Hearson said.
Concerts in the Barn is wheelchair accessible and accommodates people with all mobility issues; alert the Concerts office at 360-732-4000 in advance of arrival.
Details on programs, artists bios and free tickets can be found at www.concertsinthebarn.org.
