AIRDRIE - The Windwood Music Festival will be returning to Airdrie's parks and public spaces later this month, once again bringing classical music from out of the concert hall and to the masses.
From Aug. 18 to 26, classical music fans in Airdrie will have ample opportunity to listen to professional musicians at the top of their game strumming their instruments. The concerts will mostly be open-air, in settings such as Nose Creek Regional Park, Chinook Winds Regional Park, and Jensen Park, as well as the Airdrie Public Library, Good Earth Coffeehouse, and others.
Jana van der Linde, the events coordinator for the Windwood Music Festival, said last-minute preparations are coming along nicely for the event.
“The great thing about Airdrie is that there are so many people interested in helping out,” she said in an Aug. 9 interview. “The artists should all be in the city by Sunday evening, so we’re in the homestretch of welcoming them to Airdrie very soon.”
Last year's Windwood Music Festival was the inaugural event. Hosted in the middle of autumn, the series of open-air concerts in early October 2022 was the brainchild of former Airdrie resident Tong Wang, who now lives in Montreal, and her long-time friend Maitreye Muralidharan.
After the success of the inaugural festival, van der Linde said Wang and Muralidharan were eager to bring the event back to Airdrie this year, even bigger and better than the first one.
“Their entire ethos, their vision, their mission with what they’re trying to contribute through Windwood is taking classical music out of the concert hall and see how it can reach way beyond that to connect with people on a much more accessible basis,” she said. “It doesn’t always have to be a symphony in a concert hall, where we’re all dressed up. [Music] can be something that connects with you and moves you when you’re at a park on a walk, or just somewhere that is part of your every day.”
While the festival doesn't officially kick off until Aug. 18, van der Linde said it's technically underway as of Aug. 13, as the musicians have been rehearsing since then in Airdrie's parks, and introducing themselves to passersby to help promote the upcoming concerts.
The Windwood Music Festival will consist of both main-stage concerts and various creative projects spearheaded by each of the resident musicians. The opening concert, which will begin on Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Nose Creek Park amphitheatre, is titled A Windwood Fairy Tale. The curtain-raising concert will feature Muralidharan on the violin and Wang on the piano. The two will play works by Beethoven, Janáček, Wong, Wijeratne, Kats-Chernin, Hisaishi, Chu, and Fauré.
The festival's next big event will be a Masquerade ball at Brella Vida on Aug. 19, coinciding with the venue's grand opening along Kingsview Boulevard SE. According to the Windwood Music Festival's website, the event will include performances by all of the festival's resident musicians, who will play pieces composed by Brahms, Dvorak, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Ella Fitzgerald, and Edith Piaf.
Following those two kick-off events, the festival will continue daily with various concerts and creative projects, such as the “Food and Chamber Music Funfair on Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. at Nose Creek Park, the “Vignettes from Vienna” resident project on Aug. 22 at Cedarwood Station at 2 p.m., the “Bach the Human” resident project the same day at 6 p.m. at Living Springs Church, and a Renaissance Fair on Aug. 23 at 5 p.m. at the Jensen Park Gazebo.
Additional concerts and projects will be held in the following days, until the festival wraps on Aug. 26 with a salon concert and after-party at 138 Windwood Grove SW.
This year's line-up of resident musicians boast impressive resumes, according to van der Linde. Among the resident musicians who will be playing are Canadian Teresa Wang, Nao Kubota of California, Titus Young of Oregon, and William Chiang of Texas.
“When I think about this year’s festival, I’m just so completely overwhelmed by the caliber of artists who are coming to Airdrie,” van der Linde said. “When you look a little closer at these resident artists’ bios, what they’ve achieved in the music world, and what they’re bringing with their creative projects here, I think it’s a very unique opportunity to see a unique group of trained musicians together.”
For more information on the festival, bios on the participating musicians, and a comprehensive schedule of events, see windwoodfestival.com
“It’s just a wonderful celebration of the Airdrie community, having these people out in our beautiful parks and spaces,” van der Linde said. “You don’t want to miss it.”
