All about Beethoven at the Olympic Music Festival this weekend (July 11-12, 2009)

Photo courtesy of the Olympic Music Festival.

"Imagine a turn-of-the-century dairy farm nestled on 55 acres of tranquil farmland on Washington's beautiful Olympic Peninsula...the sounds of exquisite chamber music floating in the air." This weekend, imagine those sounds being the sounds of Beethoven, as the Olympic Music Festival presents its Beethoven Festival featuring the Festival Quartet.

Beethoven broke all the rules, and turned out pieces of breath-taking rightness. Rightness—that's the word! When you get the feeling that whatever note succeeds the last is the only possible note that can rightly happen at that instant, in that context, then chances are you're listening to Beethoven.

Leonard Bernstein, The Joy of Music

Alan Iglitzin founded the Olympic Music Festival in 1984. Back then it was only three weekends long, but today it lasts twelve weeks, with over 10,000 people attending each year. This is the 26th season of the Festival, which takes place in Quilcene "in an idyllic setting on a 100 year old farm." Performances begin at 2:00 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday through September 6th. According to the Festival website, the Olympic Music Festival was voted "Best Classical Music Festival" by readers of The Seattle Weekly.

Program for the Beethoven Festival, the weekend of July 11th & 12th, 2009:

• Beethoven: String Quartet in B flat Major, Op.127
• Intermission
• Beethoven: String Quartet in A Major, Op.132
• (Artists: Charles Wetherbee, violin; Korine Fujiwara, violin; Alan Iglitzin, viola; Clancy Newman, cello)

Ticket options are for seating inside the barn on pews or hay bales, or on the lawn directly outside the barn. Concerts often sell out, so barn seats should be purchased in advance. Barn doors open at 1:00 p.m. so spots can be reserved inside ahead of time, and promoters encourage festival-goers to picnic and roam the grounds before each concert.

Barn tickets are valid only for the date specified. Lawn tickets are good on any concert date." To order tickets in advance, go to brownpapertickets.com, select the concert day and date you wish to attend, and follow the online instructions -- or call the Box Office at 360.732.4800.

The Festival is in Quilcene, at 7360 Center Road. Quilcene is about a two-hour drive from Seattle via Tacoma and the WA-16 highway. (If traveling via the Washington State Ferries, please consult their website for ferry schedules, water crossing times, and related travel alerts.)

Performances are also broadcast by Classical KING-FM.

For more information, visit www.olympicmusicfestival.org (or the links provided below), email info@olympicmusicfestival.org, or call 360.732.4800.

Please note that dogs are not allowed on the Festival grounds.