GREEN LAKE FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

The Green Lake Festival of Music defines my summer, gives it immense cultural and social enrichment, and enlarges my appreciation for and understanding of chamber, choral, and piano performance. Over the past twenty-eight years, I have been privileged to serve on the Board on three different occasions, attended twenty choral concerts conducted by the internationally renowned Sir David Wilcox, heard numerous artists who have gone on to major professional careers, and bonded with members of both the Mirrecourt Trio and the magnificent Amelia Trio, currently with us every summer. Best of all is witnessing the growth and inspiration provided young people who attend the two-week Chamber Music Workshop every year. The final Chamber concert, in which the students perform on the last night of camp, is one of my favorites each year--awesome, breathtaking, and so promising for this nation's musical future. Stephen Alltop, the current choral conductor, is a genius in program planning and conducting, also a brilliant organist, harpsichordist, and pianist and utilizes all these talents during the four-day vocal workshop. On alternating years we hear the winners of the Hilton Head and Cleveland piano competitions, and this year were spellbound by a winner of the Van Cliburn competition. The atmosphere at concerts is always welcoming, beginning with delightful pre-concert interviews with the artists and a post-concert reception where one can meet and greet the evening's artists. Taking friends to concerts is a very special pleasure for me, especially since the quality of performance is so first-rate. Overall, my life is infinitely richer because of my immersion in all this astonishing Festival has to offer.