Music Festival Takes Root and Flourishes

Launching, nurturing and sustaining a major cultural event is a lot like having and raising a child: Both require patience, stamina, great expectations and good fortune. And both can be smugly satisfying or humbly disappointing.

In the case of the Ventura Chamber Music Festival, both mother and child--or in this case, city and event--are doing just fine, a particularly proud accomplishment when you consider this was one baby that wasn’t altogether planned.

“They just put on the event, not sure if it would take hold or not,” said Josef Woodard, who wrote today’s Centerpiece story on the festival (Page 36), which kicks off its fourth season next Thursday and runs for 11 days. “As it turned out, the festival arrived at precisely the right moment, just as the city of Ventura was involved in a concentrated renovation process. This was just the kind of respectable event people needed to rally around.”

All of which explains why the festival has worked on a local level. So how do you explain why big names from the classical music world, such as Christopher Parkening, have taken such an interest in our local event?

“The classical world thrives on the idea of new festivals popping up--even in an unexpected place like Ventura,” said Woodard. “It keeps music alive. It also gives music lovers a good excuse to hang out around downtown.

In addition to the music, which can be heard in venues all around Ventura, this year’s festival, which sports the subtitle, “Window to the World,” flings open both its doors and its windows to broader cultural interests. Art exhibits (see Josef Woodard’s Sights column, Page 37), food events (see Leo Smith’s Tidbits column, Page 44) and educational outreach program offerings abound.

We can all feel like proud parents.

Meanwhile, if the weather holds, this weekend would be the time to look for wildflowers, since you won’t have to look far. The heavy rains have provided a great show this year. For details, see Jane Hulse’s Jaunts column (Page 7).