Booming from Blairsville: Chamber music festival returns

A tiny town is punching above its weight again by welcoming world-class musicians to a beloved festival. Blairsville, an Indiana County borough with about 3,200 residents, will host four public concerts June 19-28, with performances from celebrated artists including violinist Ariel Horowitz, violist Jack Kessler and cellist Gabriel Martins.

Operated by the Blairsville Chamber Music Society, the Blairsville Chamber Music Festival is a summer series showcasing top talent and a historic area, co-founder Avital Mazor told the Chronicle.

Started almost five years ago by Mazor, an Israeli-born violinist, and his wife, Blairsville native Sarah Marshall, the festival has grown annually by adding new pieces and delivering familiar favorites.

Get The Jewish Chronicle Weekly Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Likening the event to the Passover seder, Mazor said summer festivals generally possess a traditional element, with visitors returning each year hoping for both continuity and change: Just like Pesach, where it’s common practice to return home and “enjoy your meal with your family,” the occasion also invites seder hosts to “make some new dishes.”

This year, along with treating attendees to a repeat performance of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” — the concerto “draws a nice crowd each year” — an America at 250 concert will feature Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet and Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12. Unlike Beach, who was an American composer and pianist, Dvořák was a Czech composer; his string quartet, nicknamed the “American Quartet,” represents a work created by a “composer from outside the country trying to figure out an American musical language,” Mazor said.

Several concerts, Marshall said, will occur at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Built in 1830, the church operates “Laundry Love,” a free service for those unable to provide clean clothing and linens for their families due to economic duress.

Festival proceeds support the laundry program, Marshall said.

Relying on both indoor and outdoor venues, live musical performances will enable locals and visitors to enjoy a historic area. Home to gift shops, thrift stores and boutiques, Blairsville is a nearly 200-year-old borough located 42 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Marshall, a trained artist and fourth-generation baker who runs Market Street Pastries, said that when she and Mazor started the festival nearly five years ago, they thought “it would be a nice thing for the residents of Blairsville — which it is, obviously — but it seems like the majority of our crowd is coming from other places, even as far as Pittsburgh and beyond.”

Showcasing the town, its businesses and residents through music creates possibilities, Mazor said. “It’s our mission to be in the frontier,” he said. Hopefully by bringing people here they’ll see its beauty, “and will follow and want to help make Blairsville even better than it is now.”

Mazor’s route to rural Pennsylvania began in Israel. Born in Netivot, he played violin as a child; after his parents noticed his musical talents they took him to Jerusalem every week for lessons.

That practice continued “for a few years. Then, I moved to Jerusalem when I was 15,” he said.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Mazor continued his education in New York. He is currently a doctor of musical arts candidate at Stony Brook University; and, along with having treated listeners at the Blairsville festival, has performed at other venues, including, Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Royal Albert Hall, Heichal haTarbut Tel Aviv and the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Hungary.

While Mazor is eager to deliver another stellar festival, he hopes readers know that summer attendance isn’t the only way to enjoy and promote local chamber music. Along with concerts throughout the year, volunteer opportunities exist.

“We are a very small organization, and we would like to keep growing and be sustainable for the long term,” he said.

He’s amazed that what started as a pandemic project bringing fellow musicians to Blairsville has grown into a well-regarded festival.

“A lot of people at first thought we were crazy,” he said. “But we’ve been really successful and we get so much support from the community. I think it’s actually our following in what we believe in that makes other people believe in it too.”

The message, he continued, sounds as good as a pleasant chord. “If you believe in something just go ahead and do it.”

Tickets for the the Blairsville Chamber Music Festival are available at blairsvillecms.org. PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.