Classical pianist Philip Chiu is no stranger to the County. He’s been participating in BIGLAKE since 2019—back when the Festival was called Wellington Water Week.

This year, he is a key player in four of the nine BIGLAKE shows this August.

What keeps him coming back, he says, is the people and the place itself.

Artistic Director Elissa Lee is at the centre. “You know, Elissa talks about it year-round,” says Mr. Chiu, “not just in those two festival weeks. She believes so much in the region, in the different artisans, and the people who make the jams, and the preserves, and the wool and the lavender. She has such a big heart and so much passion and love for the people in the area. And that comes through in all of her programming.”

Part of the charm is the tempo of a summer festival. “Throughout the year, you usually pop in somewhere for a weekend and do a one-off. But here, you go to a region, you spend a bit more time than usual. There’s a special kind of vibe, it’s the summer … it’s the summer in Canada—thank God, we made it!

“And so to go in somewhere where people feel so grateful that you’ve come, who do their best to make you feel at home, where the region is beautiful, and the produce is local, and the people are so excited to share in music with you. That makes all the difference.”

Part of the vibe is the venue for many of BIGLAKE’s concerts, the Wellington Music Hall, which has hosted music for nearly a century and a half.

“It has immediacy and intimacy,” says Mr. Chiu, “which are critical, especially for the kind of music I like to play and the way I like to communicate with my audiences.  People can be right in the thick of it, able to be surrounded by the sound immediately, to be right in front of it, to see the musicians and talk with them just right outside the door. It reminds them, hopefully, that we’re just people!”

And in the modern digital world, this is all the more important, Mr. Chiu insists. “A recording never hears you breathe—and I mean the listener, not me as the performer: the collective holding of breath, or the release of it, if I’ve done something well. A sigh of release, whether that’s the tension of just a crappy day at work, or something deeper down that someone’s been holding onto—they hear something that just makes them feel heard. I like to think I feel that in a hall.

“And that 100 percent changes, then, what I do moment to moment. Live music is not just that they get to hear me live. The fact is it’s always an exchange. That’s why I like small halls. It’s this immediate reciprocity for both: that I hear you, you hear me performing for you, I hear you listening to me, and that directly informs what I do on an intellectual level, on such an emotional level.”

Mr. Chiu will appear this season as a headliner, an accompanist and an ensemble member.

On opening night, he appears backing internationally renowned violinist Kerson Leong in a wide-ranging program. “I love working with Kerson. He knows the music inside out. He knows the piano part better than most pianists! Playing with him is so easy, because he just listens and listens and listens and responds and responds.”

The next evening Mr. Chiu offers a solo recital of familiar material, which he promises to place in context in a format he has put into practice as a frequent guest host on CBC Radio. As Ms. Lee notes, “Phil is an amazing speaker and will enchant you with his wicked humour. His concert is not to be missed.”

He and Mr. Leong appear again accompanied by the Philharmonisches Streichquartett Berlin, featuring Chausson’s “Concerto” for Violin, Piano and String Quartet. Too grand to be called merely a sextet, Mr. Chiu explains, “it’s French romantic at its most extreme. Melodies that go on forever, and every time you think it’s done … heaving, there’s yet one other bosom that’s going to heave just one more time. But then it also does the most beautiful, sensitive serenades. It’s a bit of everything. It’s incredible.”

Mr. Chiu will also perform alongside Ms. Lee as a member of Ensemble Made in Canada, in a program for various combinations of piano and strings.

Ms. Lee notes with enthusiasm and gratitude, “BIGLAKE Festival without Phil would feel strange! He delivers masterful performances and is a joy to perform with, bringing ideas while being hyper flexible. Phil is great company, he loves good food and coffee and brings a wicked collection of board games, and his presence adds to the general vibe of the festival, for both artists and audiences.”

A Versatile Program

In addition to Philip Chiu’s performances, the BIGLAKE Festival this year hosts everything from Medieval songs at The Andrew to Baroque classics at the Wellington United Church.

“This year we are presenting some really famous masterpieces of the repertoire that have stood the test of time,” notes Artistic Director Elissa Lee. 

“But as usual at BIGLAKE, we like to shake things up and present things with a fresh perspective, nurturing curious minds. I am really excited to include historical instruments.” Festival regular Ilya Poletaev will play Bach’s Golberg Variations on both harpsichord and modern piano. A candlelight concert will present Beethoven on the pianoforte as well as its modern descendant.

“Classical music is not boring!” exclaims Ms. Lee. “I hope that BIGLAKE can inspire people to not be afraid to lean into this rich universe.”

As Mr. Chiu says of the Festival’s organizers, Ms. Lee and Johannes Debus, “they’re just determined, because they believe so much in the area, that it deserves something really special. I remember them just scrambling their hardest at the beginning. I think something like this takes not just courage, but foolhardiness—two sides of a very thin coin!”

For more information, tickets and passes, visit biglakearts.com