Seattle & Olympia, WA – Continuing under the leadership of Artistic Director and violinist Kristin Lee, Emerald City Music (ECM) presents fourteen concerts during Season 08 between October 2023 and May 2024 at its two signature venues – in Seattle at 415 Westlake and in Olympia at The Minnaert Center for the Arts – as well as at Olympia’s Washington Center for the Performing Arts in November and Capitol Theater for a special performance in May. Emerald City Music is the Pacific Northwest home for eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. Known for a casual environment combined with award winning artists, ECM has gained recognition since its founding in 2015. The Seattle Times says of ECM: "ECM isn’t falling back on the tried-and-true, under the assumption that a new listener is an unadventurous, easily frightened-off listener. Instead, they’re betting that the tried-and-true could be precisely one of the barriers to sparking interest that classical-music organizations need to overcome." The concept of the concert series as a platform where artists and audiences transform one another breathes life into every element of what ECM does – from the casual open-bar setting of its flagship Seattle concert experiences, to the bustling community that faithfully assembles in its concert halls in Olympia and beyond. At Emerald City Music concerts, the audience’s presence matters, transforming the artists, the community, and the future of classical music.
Emerald City Music’s focus during Season 08 is on connection – between performer and audience, between genres, and across time periods. “Our theme this season is ‘connection,” explains Kristin Lee. “My goal was to connect the dots of time, genre, art forms, and more – hence juxtaposing jazz and classical in our opening program, Gamelan and classical in our December concert, film with storytelling in our May concert, music mentor to mentee (Calidore Quartet and Abeo Quartet) in our March concert, and cultural exchange through a brand new, world premiere work in February. By creating programs that highlight these connections, we ultimately connect the people in the audience with those on the stage.”
From exploring the evolution of improvisation from baroque to jazz, to hosting major ensembles such as the New York Classical Players, the University of British Colubmia Balinese Gamelan Ensemble, two string quartets – the Calidore Quartet and the Abeo Quartet – and more, this season is packed full of opportunities to connect with music and with one
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