Music festival's 2015 season "the best yet"

This year’s festival, the fourth in Chestertown and the fifth overall, was “the best yet,” Caitlin Patton, executive director, said in a phone interview Wednesday, June 17. She particularly praised the festival orchestra. She said artistic director Richard Rosenberg, who is also her husband, described conducting the orchestra as “like driving a sports car.”

Patton also said the administrative details of the festival went unusually smoothly. With so many musicians involved, there are a lot of moving parts, most of which have the potential to go wrong, she said. But this year, “the crazies were small,” she said.

In addition to the Mahler symphony, major works presented at the festival included Johannes Brahms’ “Requiem,” Robert Schumann’s “Symphony No. 4” and two works by Louis Morreau Gottschalk, a 19th-century American composer whose music Rosenberg has championed.

A number of chamber ensembles appeared throughout the two weeks. Also returning to the festival were the Mana Saxophone Quartet and Brazilian guitarist Camilo Carrara.

The festival also held open rehearsals, giving community members a chance to see the musicians fine-tuning their selections before the final performance. The Chester River Chorale, which performed in the Brahms “Requiem,” worked especially hard, holding two rehearsals a week to prepare for the final concert, Patton said.

The festival used most of the available venues in Chestertown, including Washington College’s Gibson Center for the Arts, several churches, Fountain Park, Garnett Elementary School, The Peoples Bank and K&L Services. Performances also took place in the Rock Hall firehouse, the Mainstay, St. Paul’s Church, the Betterton Community Center and as far away as Centreville, St. Michaels and Adkins Arboretum in Ridgely.

A final performance of the Brahms “Requiem” June 14, was at Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, Pa. Patton said the musicians enjoyed “the first festival road trip,” and the audience seemed happy. She said she hopes the festival will do similar out-of-area events from time to time in the future.

Attendance at the concerts was about the same as last year, Patton said. She said the Brahms performance at the Rock Hall firehouse was sold out. “I wish we had a bigger space” in the county, she said. But the audience being able to hear the massed orchestra and chorus up close made for a powerful experience, she said.

The festival brings together apprentice musicians, usually college age, who are ready to embark on professional careers, with more experienced players who serve as their mentors. Mentors also perform as soloists in some of the orchestral works. There were five new mentors this year, Patton said. She said all of them expressed interest in returning next year.

Apprentices get free tuition and are boarded in community homes or in Washington College dormitories. Some of the mentors have returned to the same local hosts year after year. Former town councilman Jim Gatto and his wife Pat, who host members of the saxophone group, gave a barbecue for the musicians Tuesday, June 8.

Apprentices need only to pay for transportation and food – although many took advantage of free lunches at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The church fed a record 138 musicians on June 9, Maria Rose Hynson said on Facebook the next day. Also, a number of local restaurants offered discounts for musicians taking part in the festival, and several stayed open late to accommodate performers looking for post-concert meals.

Also, Patton said, the festival achieved its goal of raising $25,000 to meet a challenge grant on the last day of performance. It was announced at the end of the final concert.

Patton said while she was sad to see the musicians leave at the end of the festival, she is already looking forward to next year.