Fox River Chamber Music Festival

Sunday May 28 is the kick off of the Fox River Chamber Music Festival (the website is just a place-holder for now, with any luck it'll be updated with more info soon) at UWO's Arts & Communication Center, running 5 days (5/28 through 5/30 and 6/2 and 6/3) and beginning at at 7:30p each night.

I know nothing about chamber music with the exception of a few pieces by Bela Bartok, so I'm not going to try to tell you anything about it. What I am going to tell you about is the first evening of the festival, which is one of those events that cross my desk from time-to-time and make me exclaim, "Gawd damn!"

Way back in 1920, an odd film was made. It was called "The Golem" and was a heartwarming story of a medieval rabbi who creates a clay man and by the power of black sorcery animates it to protect the Jewish people of his town. Of course, hijinks ensue, and everyone has a good larf in the end.

Or maybe that isn't the plot, exactly, but it doesn't really matter. The real reason to see the film is because it's one of those stylistic melanges that you only get when an art form is either very new and nobody knows what it's really all about, or when an art form is very old and you have to shake it up to keep it interesting. (See: this, and this, and this, and a whole lot of others.)

Anyway, it's a silent film, as well, and the FRCMF is sponsoring a group named Wizards to play a newly-written score while the film is being screened that night (5/28, that is). If you've never had a chance to see a silent film with live accompaniment -- go, you'll thank yourself later.
And that's only the first night. Night 2 promises to be at least as interesting with "A Multimedia event, including footage from Jean Cocteau's 1930 film 'Blood of a Poet', and the music of repressed Soviet composer Nikolai Roslavets." (from the press release) I honestly can't say the rest of the festival looks that interesting to me from there on out, but hey, I don't know anything about chamber music.

Happens at 926 Woodland Ave. in Oshkosh. Tickets are $15 adults, $10 students, and $7 seniors and children. Full festival passes available for the cost of four of the five nights.