The Michigan City Chamber Music Festival (MCCMF) had its inaugural season in August of 2002. It was founded by husband/wife team Nicolas Orbovich and Sunny Gardner-Orbovich. The MCCMF operates under several guiding principals. The first priority is always artistic quality. The MCCMF attains this through the presence of world class musicians. Each of them has formidable performance skills and impressive credentials. Another is to forge and strengthen the threefold artistic relationship between great chamber music, the audience and the performer. This is accomplished through interactive presentations by the Festival Musicians. The MCCMF performers believe that oral presentation regarding the history, complexities and any other interesting aspects of the piece to be performed is vital for the audience’s enjoyment.
Nic Orbovich, co-founder, is a concert violinist with over 20 years professional experience. He has concertized and competed all over the world. It became apparent to him that his craft, classical music, was indeed dying in the United States. The reasons are perhaps too numerous to mention here, but the solution was simple: instill a passion for great music back into the average member of society. Simple, yes, but very difficult to accomplish...
I loved this conversation with Nic because he's so real about the difficulties and rewards of LEADERSHIP. You have to have a vision, you have to be pragmatic about your actual resources. You have to know what you want, and you have to lean on the people who are more expert than you at getting it. You have to be Honest, Open-minded, and Willing, to use Nic's framework.
And I really enjoy talking to the creators of organizations that LAST. After the excitement of the start-up phase, how do you keep going?
The Michigan City Chamber Music Festival has a website, a Facebook page, and a Youtube channel!
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