By Jill Overacker, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival

The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival is a two-week event featuring world-famous musicians and ensembles, alongside up-and-coming ensembles, and new in 2012, major collaborative works that benefit from a variety of artistic perspectives. Since its inception in 1993, The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival (the Festival), located in Southeast Michigan, has enjoyed much success. With world-renowned pianist, James Tocco, as Artistic Director, the Festival has been host to a number of talented musicians. It has garnered praise from local and national media, and it has served as a catalyst for many young ensembles launching into professional careers.

Though a secular event, the Festival was formed out of a partnership between religious and cultural institutions in the metro Detroit area. To this day, the founding religious institutions still sponsor the Festival and host many of the performances. The Festival operates as part of an administrative collaboration with Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings (DCWS) and Eisenhower Dance Ensemble (EDE).  Each organization maintains a separate board of directors, mission and artistic director, yet share administrative staff. In 2012, the Festival will team up with DCWS and EDE and other local organizations for artistic ventures that will include three monumental works. The $20,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight foundation will help support these major collaborative pieces.

The organizations will present significant works by Igor Stravinsky, a Russian-born composer who is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. For the “White Nights” themed festival, these large collaborative pieces will be presented on each of the three Saturday nights throughout the Festival. They will include:

• Saturday, June 9, 2012: Les Noces, performed by four festival pianists, the Michigan State University Chorale with soloists, and four DCWS percussionists;
• Saturday, June 16, 2012: The Rite of Spring, perhaps Stravinsky’s most famous ballet, with new choreography by EDE’s Artistic Director Laurie Eisenhower,  will be performed by Eisenhower Dance Ensemble and two festival pianists;
• Saturday, June 23, 2011: The Stravinsky Mass, performed by Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings and a choir led by University of Michigan Choral Professor Jerry Blackstone.

In addition to the three performances, a series of ancillary activities are planned to encourage audiences to explore the different disciplines. EDE will host an informal Rite of Spring open rehearsal for subscribers of DCWS and the Festival. The event will be interactive, with audience members encouraged to ask questions of Laurie Eisenhower and the EDE dancers. A similar open rehearsal for EDE subscribers will occur prior to an open rehearsal of Les Noces with James Tocco of the Festival.

It is through collaboration that the involved organizations will reach new audiences; and it is the hope that this experience will pave the road for future collaborative efforts between local groups and a stronger local arts community.