Chamber Music Festival blends music and education

LEAVENWORTH — This summer’s Chamber Music Festival at Icicle Creek Center for the Arts (ICCA)  will bring together professional musicians, faculty and emerging student artists for a five-concert series spanning July 31 through Aug. 14.

Audiences will get to experience chamber music across generations, as young musicians learn from and perform alongside accomplished artists.

The festival will open July 31 with the Kairos ensemble and internationally-acclaimed pianist Stephen Beus, who will be performing Beethoven and Schumann. Kairos has deep local roots, with its members having spent decades performing, teaching, and mentoring generations of chamber musicians across ICCA and Central Washington University.

Students from Kairos Chamber Music Immersive, including Central Washington University’s Central West Quartet, will perform works by Beethoven, Schubert and Debussy on Aug. 8. In the evening, Kairos and Beus will return with Ravel and Dvořák.

 ICCA’s Summer Strings program will continue the festival through Aug. 13 and 14, with professional faculty performing Thursday evening. On Friday, students will showcase their intensive week of chamber music study with free performances in the Snowy Owl Theater.

“What makes this festival special is the opportunity for young musicians to learn, rehearse, and perform alongside extraordinary professional artists. Audiences experience that full continuum, from established musicians at the height of their craft to the next generation finding their voice on stage,” said ICCA Director of Programming Rhia Foster.

A season pass for the festival will be available through July 30, offering access to all five performances for less than the price of four. Tickets, season passes, and more information are available at icicle.org.