Walla Walla’s chamber music festival features love, stars and living composers

Chamber music is a relatively intimate form of classical music. Think: fewer than thirteen performers, no conductor, small venues. And it will be all over Walla Walla this week at the winter session of the city’s chamber music festival.

Held every January and June, the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival is in its 18th year. But it’s still finding ways to innovate: For the first time in its history, a treble voice quartet will perform. 

Liz Pearse is a member of that quartet, Quince, as well as its artistic director. Even if people think they don’t like classical music, Pearse believes they should give it another try. 

“It’s like saying you don’t like ice cream because a couple flavors weren’t your bag,” Pearse said. “There’s so many different flavors or sounds or textures to the world of contemporary classical music.” 

Chamber music is generally performed with one musician per part. So, while there might be two violinists, they each have their own parts — unlike in a symphony, where there could be many violinists playing the same part at the same time. 

Timothy Christie, the festival’s founder and artistic director, said the event brings together musicians from all over, some of whom have never played together before. 

“They make music that can only happen during that time when those ingredients are in place,” he said. “And so the performances are ephemeral.” 

Most of the festival’s performances, which begin Thursday, are not in traditional concert halls. For example, there’s a kids concert at the public library, as well as an open rehearsal at Dama Wines on Main Street. 

“ Sometimes we can come off, as classical musicians, as powdered wigs and tuxedos,” Christie said. “Whereas seeing us in a T-shirt and jeans, and working through this glorious repertoire, it helps make it more approachable.” 

Listeners don’t need to worry about knowing Bach from Beethoven, either, as most of the upcoming pieces were written by living composers. 

As Quince’s Pearse put it: “Most of the music we sing is written by people we can email to ask questions.” 

On Friday, the quartet will sing David Lang’s “love fail,” which was written in 2012. Because of its length, Pearse said they don’t get to perform that piece often. 

“ It’s an hour-long meditation on love stories and how there are no really happy love stories,” Pearse said. “We don’t have to have a happy ending to have a beautiful life or a beautiful experience. And I think the music captures that so well.” 

Then, on Sunday, Quince will perform “Stellar Atmospheres” by the composer Molly Herron, who will be in attendance. The piece uses words from the early-1900s dissertation of a groundbreaking female astronomer. 

“ This woman’s studying the gaseous makeup of stars, which I think is a really unusual text for vocal music, but it’s so beautiful,” Pearse said. 

That performance, as well as the festival’s other main events, cost $30 per ticket. But the open rehearsal and kids concert are free. 

“We really try to make it as accessible as possible in every sense of that word,” Christie said. “What’s excellence if it’s cordoned off for only a few people to appreciate?”