More than a decade ago, a group of music enthusiasts dreamed of a summer chamber music festival in their community, the pretty village of Madeira Park on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast. They had the venue—a restored government Forestry building housing the Pender Harbour School of Music, surrounded by tall firs, its generous windows overlooking the lively harbour. They had a prospective artistic director: distinguished pianist Alexander Tselyakov had performed in Madeira Park not long before and thought it was a perfect location for a musical weekend. And they believed that audiences would be drawn to beautiful music performed in an intimate waterfront setting.
So in August of 2005, the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival was born. How quickly the years have flown! The Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary on the weekend of August 14–17, 2014. A stellar group of musicians performed at five ticketed concerts over four days, and at
the popular (and free) Chamber Music Doesn’t Bite concert. Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s piano quintet, In A World of Motion and Distance, commissioned by the festival for this year’s tenth anniversary, received its world premiere at the opening concert, performed by the Lafayette String Quartet and Alexander Tselyakov. Completing this year’s roster were violinist Gary Levinson, cellist Suren Bagratuni, flautist Eugenia Zukerman, saxophonist Julia Nolan, and pianist Baya Kakouberi.
The festival is held around the third weekend in August of each year. The generosity of an active cohort of Friends of the Festival and a group of volunteers makes the whole thing possible. For further information, please visit penderharbourmusic.ca.
