Get out there and have fun

This year, Chamber Music Unbound has pulled out all the stops.

Having had a couple of years as a buildup, cellist Brian Schuldt and violinist Rebecca Hang, the husband-and-wife team who, with pianist Wen-Ting Huang form the Felici Trio, are bringing twenty-three artists to Cerro Coso College in July and early August for three weeks of music.

"By far this is the biggest festival we've put together," said Schuldt, who with Hang and Huang form the core of the non-profit Chamber Music Unbound.

"We're looking forward to bringing as many fantastic performers to Mammoth as we can in the three weeks, and really offer the audience a wide variety of repertoire as well."

To that end, the festival this summer will feature a world premier composed by cellist Emilio Colon, "Los Ninos y las Minarets," which was commissioned by the Felici Trio as well as donors from Mammoth and Bishop.

That Felici Trio will perform the composition as the centerpiece of the next-to-last concert of the festival, on Wednesday night, Aug. 1.

The festival features eight performances between July 18 and August 3. It also offers the weeklong Sierra Instrumental Seminar for music students fourteen years and older, along with two sessions of the Sierra Chamber Ensemble Workshop. That workshop is geared toward intermediate to advanced amateur players of strings, woodwinds and piano.

Many of the performers are longtime friends of Schuldt and Hang, who formed many of these relationships at Indiana University, where both of them studied.

Moreover, there are several husband-and-wife performers, which Hang said will make for a series of lovely concerts.

"Not to minimize the performers who come as single," she said with a laugh, "but it is wonderful to have people come whose relationship goes beyond the music making. That's part of the relationship. It's told in the music making.

"Couples can convey a kind of intimacy to the audience without being tacky or anything. They know each other; they know how to communicate with one another, without words.

"And they know how they work together. You don't have endless rehearsals. There are two or three rehearsals per piece and things fall into place quickly and beautifully."

And speaking of relationships, Schuldt said the festival has now reached an age that regular fans of chamber music in the Eastern Sierra have begun to form a fan base for some of the performers.

"They're recognizing and looking forward to hearing certain performers and certain concerts," he said, "and to have that kind of longterm relationship with our audience is what makes our residency special and our festival special."

In particular, Schuldt cited Corey Cerovsek, a violinist who on Wednesday, July 25 will play alongside Huang (piano) and Ron Selka (clarinet) in Bartok's Contrasts for Piano, Clarinet and Violin.

Also, Schuldt mentioned Nokuthula Ngwenyama, a violist and violinist who will perform alongside Cerovsek , Hang and cellist Mark Kosower on Monday, July 30, in Boccherini's String Quartet in C Major.

Combined with the fact that many of the performers know each other, the festival this year ought to be a particularly joyful experience for everyone, Hang said.

"We usually start out putting together the season with the work rather than the performers," she said.

This year it turned out the way around.

"It's very exciting to think that these wonderful performers are going to perform these great pieces of music here."