Burrillville’s Grace Note Farm to host classical music festival
PASCOAG - Grace Note Farm and The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council welcomes a full capacity of attendees to its fourth season of its annual music festival held July 3,4,10 and 11 at 2 p.m.
The Summer Chamber Music Festival comprises four programs that include duets and group performances by si[ professional musicians, according to the inn's website.
These musicians include violinist David Bernat who is also the acting associate artistic director.
"It doesn't get any better than David,” Virginia Sindelar, the inn's owner and artistic director, said of Bernat who has been performing at the inn for the past four years.
The other musicians include pianist Jiarong Li, violinist Cameron Chase, cellist Audrey Chen, bassist 1ina Bernat, and special guest violinist
Joseph Lin, who is a faculty member of Julliard School of Music.
Sindelar said she selects the musicians through viewing their performances online or by knowing them personally.
She added she will provide the performers with all their needs, including feeding them, lodging them in the inn, and picking them up from the airport.
The musicians will perform pieces by well-known composers, including Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, and Dvorak.
As well as performing, the musicians will also speak about themselves, music, and about the pieces, according to Sindelar.
Tickets for the performances can be purchased online through Eventbrite or calling the inn at 401-567-0354. Tickets are $30 each or $25 each when two or more are purchased, according to Sindelar.
With COVID-19 safety guidelines changing in Rhode Island, the inn is able to host a full capacity of guests for its music festival, which is 50 guests seated and during the summer when there is nice weather, additional guests outside on the sundeck, according to Sindelar.
Last year, the performances had been held virtually due to COVID-19 safety guidelines until August when small groups gathered for in-person performances, according to Sindelar.
She said in previous years, the events would reach full capacity, but she has since lost contacts and is beginning to “rebuild” her network of people.
Sindelar is a musician herself, having been professionally trained on the flute at Julliard School of Music.
Following 1987, Sindelar said she needed “lifestyle changes” when she was hit by a car and could no longer perform in concerts
Since she could no longer pursue her love of music, she said she followed her second love of horses and purchased the farm.
Originally, the farm had only been used to host trail rides until a guest suggested Sindelar open a bed and breakfast, she added. After adding a couple of stalls and a guest barn, Sindelar did just that and opened Grace Note Farm up as an inn approximately 20 years ago.
The name “Grace Note” is a music reference in itself, according to Sindelar.
“A grace note is a small note attached to a big note, and it’s played quickly,” she said. “But the fact that I’m a small farm attached to a great, big forest struck me as appropriate.
“I wanted to always remember my musical connection,” Sindelar added.
She said she began hosting the music festival in the spring of 2018.
“This is a music series unlike anything in Rhode Island or anywhere,” Sindelar added. “It’s a farm and natural environment with wild animals and farm animals here. It’s a homestead farm that’s never been destroyed.”
“It’s a wonderful place to hear beautiful music,” she said.
The inspiration for the festival had been a combination of events, she added.
Firstly, when her granddaughter was younger, Sindelar said she would take her to the musical day performances in Boston, but she had found that these performances were limited and had become “very expensive” and “very time consuming.”
Then around 2016-17, Sindelar said she was able to begin performing again, and did a concert at a museum.
She added the musicians who performed had trouble receiving payment and received little compensation for their work while the museum took the majority of the profit and charged museum members “very little.”
Sindelar said, “I thought, µThat’s not fair to the musicians. They should know what they’re going to get, and when they’re going to get it.’
She added, “Those two pieces came together, and I said, µI can do better than that.’ So, I started the concert series.”
Hosting the music festival is “all fun,” Sindelar said, adding seeing the “delight” and happiness in the audience’s faces is rewarding in itself.
She added she has not made money off of the festival.
“It’s not a money-making type adventure ± it’s a lifestyle type adventure,” she said. “I want music around me. I want to support the young artists of today. I want to contribute to the cultural wellbeing of my community and everyone around me.”