CWU students and faculty perform at world-renowned Italian music festival

A delegation from the Central Washington University Department of Music traveled to northern Italy this summer for an intensive experience called the Zephyr International Chamber Music Course and Festival.

Held in the villages of Frabosa Soprana and Moneglia from July 21 to August 5, the festival was founded with the goal of providing a cohort of 12 young musicians with a genuine and powerful glimpse into the world of chamber music, while networking with their peers from around the globe.

The group from CWU included students Ella Melin and Elliot Matteson, both pianists under the tutelage of CWU Professor of Piano Yerin Kim, who also serves on the permanent faculty at Zephyr. Melin, a CWU sophomore who was still in her freshman year when she applied, said getting accepted to the festival was a pleasant surprise.

“After I heard about it from Dr. Kim, and saw that it was in Italy, I applied not expecting to get in,” she said. “Once I got the email that I was in, I called my parents right away.”

Matteson found enrichment and perspective in the entire process, beginning with the work that went into applying in the first place.

“It was a fantastic experience being able to put the time and effort into making those recorded auditions perfect,” he said. “It was stressful at first, but ultimately a great learning experience.”

Once in Italy, Melin and Matteson were greeted by a highly skilled faculty of professional musicians from around the world, including CWU Visiting Professor of Violin of Violin Brendan Shea, who is also Kim’s husband. The ensuing two and a half weeks consisted of concentrated rehearsals and instruction, along with intermittent performances for crowds of varying sizes.

Performing for different crowds in different locations helped instill in Matteson a newfound appreciation for the rigors of life as a professional musician.

“The festival taught me what was necessary to put together a performance in a short amount of time, and being able to do that under pressure,” he said. “It was a very valuable experience, and one that I’ll be taking with me into this school year. I’m already feeling the benefits.”

Likewise, Melin felt that the experience gave her fresh perspective on a medium of classical music she hadn’t fully engaged previously.

“I’m going into this school year with a new appreciation for chamber music, which wasn’t really something I’d done before,” she said. “It’s all about listening to each other and coming to an agreement about expression and articulation in a small group.”

For Kim, the opportunity to join her students as a featured guest performer was a particularly special occasion, as the Zephyr festival was one of the first international events she attended when she was in college.“This festival is especially dear to me because it is one of the first summer festivals that I went to as a college student a few decades ago,” she said. “To have my students from CWU selected to participate is so meaningful. I am grateful to be able to share stages with my students overseas and I hope that they will cherish it as well and keep growing. And maybe one day, they will have their own students in festivals that they perform and teach at.”

When performing abroad, students are inevitably exposed to new perspectives about their craft. Kim explained that getting out of one’s comfort zone and into the broader musical landscape is vital for students to succeed as professional musicians.

“It is extremely important for students to experience different styles, ideas, and culture, especially in music, where different countries have such varied approaches to pedagogy and performance,” she said. “I was born and trained in my early years in Seoul, South Korea, where technique and form were emphasized. I also had an opportunity to be exposed to music education in America, where tone and style was emphasized.”

For Matteson, the Zephyr festival marked the beginning of a new chapter in his career as a musician.

“The experience pushed me to understand the perfection necessary to create music at a high level and perform in a new kind of setting,” he said. “It put me in a real-world situation where I was forced to prepare, and to be able to pull a performance out of my back pocket on very short notice. It was wonderful.”