New paragraphThree nights, three concerts
by Jenny Yarborough
Thursday, May 28, 2009



Long ago, kings and queens and other royalty hired and kept famous composers on staff, such as Mozart and Beethoven. These musicians would compose and play music in chambers of the castles or in churches. Only a few instrumentalists would play in these small settings and therefore each instrument had its own distinguished part or voice.

This particular type of music carries its own uniqueness. Because it is played in close quarters, usually in some sort of place with stoned walls. The music resonates like an echoed dance-song inside a cave.
Listening to this conversation between cello, piano and violin in the intimate atmosphere of a church, can transport an audience to another world.
Although our surrounding area has several music events taking place throughout the summer, there aren't too many of the classical type and there certainly are not any in the chamber music category, or at least there weren't in the past.

After about a year of brainstorming and organizing, Christine Farley, artistic director of Petite Arpeggio Chamber Music and co-chairman of the Kenan Chapel music series, along with fellow musicians have finalized plans for the Port City Chamber Music Festival planned for June 14-16.
This inaugural program will be held at 5 p.m. each night at a separate location - first at Kenan Chapel, then at Wrightsville United Methodist Church and lastly at First Presbyterian Church. Farley said, "The locations were basically chosen for a variety of three locations - one at the beach, one here (Landfall), and one downtown." She added, "If it wasn't for Doug Leightenheimer (First Presbyterian Church director of music) and Julia Jewell (Wrightsville United Methodist Church director of music) cooperating with us, this never would have gotten off the ground."
The event organizers held a fundraising prelude at Barry and Janet Burkholder's home where Farley said they raised enough money for housing the visiting musicians and a little to build on next year. The point of this effort is to bring chamber music to the public for free.
Because of limited seating, tickets for the first concert may be picked up at the Northeast Regional Library beginning June 1. No tickets are necessary for the following two concerts.
Farley said, "One of the big things about this kick-off was that it was really obvious to me that this has to be a cooperative effort within the community, with UNCW, with chamber music, and also with the city. So in the future that's the direction we're going to go, is to make this kind of series where everybody has a little bit of involvement and to keep it as simple as possible."
Farley said the group hopes to grow in the following years and cover other artistic genres such as dance, opera, theater and visual arts. "It's not just going to be Port City Chamber Music Festival it will be an effort where we might have something at Airlie, we might have something downtown, all within the same week. And also most of these things will have guest artists but also support the local artists as much as possible."
Chamber music is on its way. Each night of the festival will be completely different from the last. A variety of musical scores will be played and musicians will take time to explain the selections and their origins.
To learn more, visit www.portcitychambermusicfestival.com.

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