Elissa Lee and Johannes Debus, the BIGLAKE Festival’s artistic directors, specialize in bringing international-calibre classical musicians to the County’s inns, barns, and music halls.

Mr. Debus is music director of the Canadian Opera Company and Ms. Lee a violinist. With careers that take them to Toronto and Berlin, as well as Wellington, the couple is part of a network of artists that spans the globe. 

I asked Ms. Lee how they chose Wellington of all the many possible places for an international music festival.

“Honestly, it was serendipitous. My best friend moved here around 2009 or 10. I’d never heard of this place before. I was visiting her, and I was like, ‘what is this magical place?’

“So we would come and visit them all the time. It was quiet and not much happening, and we thought, we should start something. And years passed, and then suddenly, we said, ‘okay, this is the year we’re actually not going to talk about it. Let’s call our friends and just do it. See what happens.’”

An upcoming concert at The Regent offers another example of an unexpected conjunction. 
The Fretless is a string quartet that goes well beyond the classical  tradition. “They’re just incredible. They’re classically trained, but doing folk and blues,  including a singer. That’s the show that really should speak to the County,” says AD Elissa Lee.

That was 2018, and for a couple of years, it was Wellington Water Week. “We paid our friends in food and lodging. And we just had a great time. It was fabulous, but very different, humble. We lost a ton of money, but it was so much fun, we did it again.

“And then Covid hit. We had to ask, are we going to do this seriously? So, we decided to incorporate it and rebrand — because Wellington Water Week was a bit of a mouthful! 

“The lake plays a big role for both Johannes and myself, it’s the reason why we love this place so much. There’s something that happens to one’s soul, when one comes into this area, it’s like you’ve left your world behind.”

For Ms. Lee, the County is like music. “It transported us somewhere else; we felt very inspired by that.”

One of BIGLAKE’s guiding questions is, “what can we do differently from other music festivals?” Their international community of artistic connections allows Ms. Lee and Mr. Debus to bring a unique range of performers to the County. That’s part of a larger mandate: “we all live here, because we know how magical it is, and I think we all feel privileged to be a part of it, and that’s why we try to give back, to include it.

“You want to be a contributor to this place, and not just a visitor.”

That philosophy extends beyond the audiences, which are about 60 percent local, to the artists. “We want the artists feel they’re free to express themselves, that they can feel most creative — they’re allowed to experiment and they’re welcomed to do that.

“A lot of thought goes into programming, but I don’t know if I can put my finger on it. We want to have fun. We’ve always said we want to program things that we ourselves would want to go to. I want to produce a week of concerts where I could go to every concert and not feel tired or bored.”

A recent fundraiser was a perfect example of what BIGLAKE does best. In the living room of a majestic Hillier barn renovated into a private home, Pianist Ilya Poletaev improvised an accompaniment to Buster Keaton’s 1926 silent masterpiece, The General. Aided by his 9-year-old son Nikolay’s percussion, the pair re-created the sonic experience of a visual classic for about 30 neighbours.

An upcoming concert at the Regent offers another example of an unexpected conjunction. “The Fretless” is a string quartet that works with materials drawn from beyond the classical tradition. “They’re just incredible,” enthuses Ms. Lee, “they’re classically trained, but they they’re doing folk and blues, including a singer. For anybody who’s maybe not a classical music fan they sort of bridge both. I think that’s the show that really should speak to the County.”

This year’s festival is called “Hidden Gems.” It promises to bring out neglected works and genres and, by placing them alongside the canonical, help us hear the familiar anew. Ms. Lee confesses she’s always avoided the Mendelssohn Octet, “because, you know, it’s the one piece that every Festival plays every year.” But, by placing it next to the lesser known octet by Enescu, Ms. Lee is uncovering a gem hidden even from her.

Mihaela Martin, one of the world’s experts in Enescu, is performing, creating what Ms. Lee calls a perfect moment. “I’m looking forward to hearing it right from her: how to play this music and how to interpret this composer who is slightly elusive and a bit lesser known.

“This is the real deal,” she says, reflecting on the musicians that BIGLAKE has been able to attract.  

For further information on the wide range of concerts and venues, visit BIGLAKE.