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For three weekends, Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival will tour Oregon wineries in a celebration of the intimate genre of chamber music. From Aug. 3 to 18, Sokol Blosser Winery, J Christopher Wines, and Archery Summit will serve wines to suit the music being performed.
Chamber music, pioneered by artists like Beethoven and Mozart, was a genre originally intended for wealthy patrons who could afford a private composition. Because of that, the arrangements were often more personal than what one would typically hear in a church. Over time, the genre came to encompass music played by small groups of musicians.
“The definition has a lot to do with the size of the ensemble playing, but for us the real meaning of it is the space,” festival organizer Leo Eguchi says. “The connections are a lot stronger when the groups are smaller and you can feel the energy in the room.”
Wines corresponding with the tone of the music being played will be served alongside the performances to add another dimension to both the wine and musical experiences. The festival hopes to create a space where people can enjoy the music and the wine without feeling like they don’t know enough about either.
“We were feeling like wine and music sometimes suffer from an obstacle of appreciation when people feel like they don’t know enough to appreciate the thing,” Eguchi says.
While classics from composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, and Haydn will be present, brand-new chamber arrangements by this year’s Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival composer-in-residence, Kevin Day, will also be performed. Five of his pieces will be played, two of which have yet to grace the ears of anyone but the performers and Day himself.
“Playing so much of his music is really exciting, particularly that he wrote a piece specifically for the festival called Transit,” festival organizer Sasha Callahan says.
Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival consists of one traveling group, with Callahan and Eguchi playing violin and cello respectively. “We all come together for the festival each summer and spend a lot of time together over these weeks playing music. We have a special bond over the nine years, so it’s been really wonderful,” Callahan says.
SEE IT: Sokol Blosser Winery, 5000 NE Sokol Blosser Lane, Dayton, 503-864-2282. 5:30 pm Saturday–Sunday, Aug. 3–4. J Christopher Wines, 17150 NE Hillside Drive, Newberg, 503-554-9572. 5:30 pm Saturday–Sunday, Aug. 10–11. Archery Summit, 18599 NE Archery Summit Road, Dayton, 503-714-2030. 5:30 pm Saturday–Sunday, Aug. 17–18.