A classical music festival is coming to Petersburg this week. This is the first year of the Devil’s Thumb Chamber Music Festival, a four-day festival that is bringing in an outside pianist and composer in addition to featuring local talent.
Stephanie Pfundt is the founder of the festival. She’s an award-winning operatic soprano, and has spent time as a composer and producer in Boston’s musical scene. Pfundt told KFSK’s Taylor Heckart that the festival is a way to give back to her home of Petersburg, which jump-started her love of the arts.
Events start Wednesday, May 20, and go through Saturday, May 23. There are free and ticketed events. You can find the full lineup of events and learn more about the performers at devilsthumbchambermusic.com
Listen here:
TRANSCRIPT:
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Stephanie Pfundt: I think it all started here in Petersburg. I was so grateful growing up to have lots of performance opportunities in the community, wonderful teachers, wonderful support for the school and arts and everything I was doing.
It’s been great to be part of that kind of younger energy and scene in Boston, and as I think about what I want to produce and what project I want to put my heart and soul into, it’s definitely starting a chamber music festival here.
Taylor Heckart: And if somebody does not know what chamber music even is, can you give a primer on what to expect?
Stephanie Pfundt: So, chamber music is any classical music that is not an orchestra, it’s meant for a small chamber. When the classical greats were kind of getting started in the Baroque and Classical period, I’m thinking of Haydn and Mozart, they had lots of regal beneficiaries, and they would perform for them in their homes at court, smaller chambers. So it’s smaller ensembles of classical instruments.
In classical music, there’s this fear that we are no longer relevant, and I think post-pandemic we’re seeing this kind of turnaround because people are so excited about live events. We’re so excited about the intellectual background of classical music, and the fantastical archaic historical stories that are being told in it.
Taylor Heckart: There are all sorts of things happening over the course of a few days, give us an idea of what this lineup is.
Stephanie Pfundt: Yeah, so I can start with our ticketed events. We have something called a masterclass on Thursday, May 21, at 4 p.m. in the Wright Auditorium.
My friend Artyom [Pak], the pianist, and Alexis [Lamb], the composer, will coach students on stage in front of the audience. It’s a really cool way to build classical music culture.
Both of these musicians and teachers are just so interesting to listen to, articulate, charismatic, funny. We get to learn about what musicians are thinking about when they learn a piece, the historical background of these pieces, the historical performance practice.
Taylor Heckart: And if I, as a community member, want to come listen to some chamber music, what are my options?
Stephanie Pfundt: I think the first thing is the masterclass. You’re going to hear wonderful local musicians, mostly students, do their own chamber music. And then, of course, our public concert, which is on Saturday, May 23, at the Petersburg Lutheran Church, at 3 p.m.
We will have Artyom, our amazing pianist, Alexis, composer and percussionist, and myself doing a really fun program. We’re calling it “Into the Tongass.”
At the end of the program, I’m singing some Stephen Sondheim, “Into the Woods,” a fairy tale mashup where we get kind of a different perspective on characters like Rapunzel and Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.
But then we also have compositions by Alexis and myself. Mine was written over the course of this last year with text that I wrote here in Alaska about wildflowers on a beach, and Alexis wrote one of her pieces, I think, in Tenakee [Springs], so I’m calling it “Into the Tongass,” kind of a spin on “Into the Woods.”
Taylor Heckart: And for you, this being the first year of this chamber music festival, what is your biggest hope?
Stephanie Pfundt: This year the hope is that people love the events, come to the events. We’re going to have a feedback form in the program, so that we can kind of digest it this summer and then fundraise for kind of the full vision of the festival next year. I’m just excited to have a reason to come to Petersburg and really invest in the community.
