The Olympic Music Festival

Solo

It was my good fortune to discover The Olympic Music Festival http://www.olympicmusicfestival.org/ their first season in 1984. Over the next 29 years those Concerts in the Barn have become a Northwest institution. It is truly magical to listen to timeless classical music in a truly pastoral setting.

A few years ago I wrote a number of songs about places and people and moments in the Northwest that have made my life better and given it meaning. One of the songs is about sitting in the hayloft at the Olympic Music Festival.

I would like to thank Alan Iglitzin for continuing to give us the experience of the festival and for letting my friend and colleague, Al Bergstein, come to a rehearsal and shoot some video that accompanies the music.

Here are the lyrics to the song. Please scroll down and enjoy the video.

This August Summer Day

There was something in the music on this August summer day
We sit here in the hayloft as the string quartet it plays
Music from Bach and Mozart that takes our breath away
Something in the music on this August summer day

It is music that’s most often heard in concert halls or church
Now filling up the country side with strains and sounds so pure
While sitting in this barn two hungry hearts are fed for sure
By music that’s most often heard in concert halls or church

The music sounding fresh and new though hundreds of years old
Music that first touched human hearts so very long ago
Will still be filled with magic centuries from now I know
This music that sounds fresh and new though hundreds of years old

It makes us feel a part of something bigger than ourselves
The music in this setting somehow ringing sacred bells
That both our hearts and spirits recognize and so can tell
It makes us feel a part of something bigger than ourselves

This music and this setting both speak of peace and love
Believing at this moment that surely is enough
I reach to take your hand and feel I certainly am touched
By music and this setting both speaking peace and love

There is something in the music on this August summer day
We sit here in the hayloft while the string quartet it plays
Music from Bach and Mozart that takes our breath away
Something in the music on this August summer day