There’s nothing like performing before a live audience, says acclaimed violist Rachel Barton Pine, who will be doing just that Sunday for the “Welcome Back, Elgin!” celebration.
“Just having that large, enthusiastic crowd definitely gives you inspiration and to feel that everyone is feeling the music with you,” said Barton Pine, who will be performing inside the Hemmens Cultural Center and having her music relayed to the crowd gathered on the newly renovated Civic Center Plaza outside.
“There’s nothing like a big hall with that particular resonance and warmth and for the people in the audience to also be able to hear that sound,” she said. “And just the collective experience of a shared moment together.”
In addition to drawing people to the redesigned and landscaped plaza at 150 Dexter Court, the gathering is also celebration of a return to live performances, said Amanda Harris, assistant to the city manager for special projects and the arts.
“We’re really excited about this event, not just because we’re going to be back to seeing some live art but also because of the varied artists that are going to be involved,” Harris said.
The family-friendly event begins at 1:30 p.m. and will feature a variety of Elgin-based arts organizations and artists, including performances by the Children’s Theatre of Elgin and Ballet Folklórico Huehuecoyotl, live painting, roving hoop and balloon artists, the Side Street Art Mobile with brown bag art kits, food trucks and more.
“It’s going to be kind of artistic chaos,” Harris said. “It’s going to be great.”
A full list of artists and events can be found at the event’s Facebook page, facebook.com/events/186442716843558/.
The event culminates with Barton Pine’s 3 p.m. performance with Chamber Music on the Fox. Tickets are free but advance reservations are required at hemmens.org/tickets, with seats limited to six per person.
To allow for social distancing, empty seats will separate every group of tickets reserved, Harris said, and masks will be required.
“For anyone who wasn’t able to get tickets or might not yet feel comfortable attending something indoors, it will be streamed outside on the new plaza,” said Sara Sitzer, executive director and co-artistic director of Elgin-based Chamber Music on the Fox.
“People can bring a picnic or lawn chairs or just kind of wander around and enjoy the music that’s happening inside,” she said.
The event is not only “a big welcome back but also a thank you, Elgin, concert event that just recognizes everything this community has done to allow the people here and the organizations here to survive this pandemic,” Sitzer said.
Barton Pine, considered one of the country’s top violinists, will lead a quintet and sextet through several pieces, including Mozart’s “String Quintet No. 3 in C Major,” which she requested they play.
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“This is a particular Mozart quintet that I previously played at the Marlboro (Music School and) Festival in Vermont and I always wanted to do it again,” Barton Pine said. “So I’m really happy to be revisiting that.”
The quintet requires an extra viola, providing an example of the way Mozart “elevated the viola to equal status” with the violin, she said.
“When everybody has a voice, it’s a much more interesting dialogue,” Barton Pine said. “The viola with its mellow alto voice is a wonderful counterpoint to the violin and really just allows you to explore the different timbres of the members of the string family.”
In addition, the musicians will perform Tchaikovsky’s sextet in D Minor “Souvenir de Florence,” a difficult piece that isn’t played often because it requires extra musicians, Sitzer said.
“It’s just really, really dramatic and a great crowd-pleaser,” Barton Pine said. “All those element of Tchaikovsky that you associate with his most famous works. From the huge bombasts to the elegant moments and everything in between. So I think it will be a great contrast between the refinement of Mozart and the over-the-top reading of Tchaikovsky.”
The welcome back event is “not just a random concert but something that will mean a lot to so many people,” Barton Pine said.
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.