This years' festival will take place in Yellow Springs, OH in January 2018. The Cello Springs Festival was conceived as an exploration of the cello and the different ways this instrument connects people. The participating musicians will be given a forum for connection through the gift of time together with like-minded artists, with two weeks of practicing, workshops in areas of individual interest
and expertise, playing with one another, and performing a series of concerts spanning solo and ensemble cello repertoire.
Six cellists comprise the core group, with up to ten other cellists joining in as satellite players for larger ensemble concerts. These players have in inter-generational aspect, ranging from young professionals just beginning their careers to seasoned professionals. There is also an apprentice position offered to a dedicated young artist in the 10-18 age range. Growing from the cellist-to-cellist connection, Cello Springs aims to connect audiences with the cello repertoire, bring music to the retirement community, and support student musicians. The festival is anchored around four formal concerts in Yellow Springs, two on each weekend of the festival. We are exploring unexpected programming in diverse venues, with emphasis on financial accessibility. We are also planning varied short, informal performances through the area; in an art gallery, in a coffee shop, in a bar, and at the Glen Helen nature preserve, a fixture of the Yellow Springs environmental education community. Festival concerts will be donation suggested not-for-profit events. We are hoping to defray the expense of programs, renting spaces, etc. through donations and other forms of fundraising, but above all we are committed to offering free performances.
Much of the time, musicians are putting energy outward, attempting to produce the best possible performance or educational program. Cello Springs is meant to offer a public forum, but also to create the unusual opportunity for musicians to offer themselves and eachother mutual enrichment; practice time; renewal of inspiration and the vision of arts advocacy; nurturance of musical energy and development as interpreters across musical styles; intergenerational artistic interaction, mentorship, and learning. This opportunity to connect with like-minded musicians who thrive on project-based planning - and the artistic challenge of collaborating with those in other mediums of communication - brings together a collection of energetic individuals who have something to offer in all parts of the world in which we live and work. We hope that this chance to share ideas with other lovers of this instrument will create an environment of incubation for artistic energy that will feed expanding communities in the decades to come.
