Odin Rathnam

Fifteen years ago this April, I founded and created Concertante.  I remember vividly the intensive planning, fund raising, selection and contracting of artists, press releases and other hive-producing responsibilities associated with its birth.  Remarkably though, when one is inspired by a vison that’s burning inside, all of these duties become less of a pain somehow.  But the vision and the dream must be there.  I enjoyed seven years of nurturing that group to success with two critically acclaimed albums and our series in New York, before moving on to other projects. 

 Now, a new creative vision, much larger in its artistic and educational scope has been tugging at my heart for the past 18 months.  Beginning last September, West Branch Internatinal Music Festival offered two consecutive weekends of chamber music at the outstanding West Branch Resort near Deposit and Hancock, New York, in the heart of the Catskill Mountains.  I created this festival as an enclave for artists to work close to the many mountains and trout streams I find so inspiring.  This year I have expanded the WBIMF to include an academy for gifted young artists from all over the world to study with and perform alongside some of today’s leading musicians.  We expanded the concert offerings to include eight programs, six of which are chamber music oriented, two of which are orchestral.  Over the course of two weeks the students will have private lessons, chamber music coachings, masterclasses, and chamber orchestra training with the wonderful, young Danish conductor, Christian Hoerbov-Meier.  The goal is to address technical, musical, physical, psychological, and social questions as they relate to the creative process.  Adding this significant educational program to the festival created several challenges.  We did not want to compromise the level of the public concerts, so the teaching load of each faculty member had to be limited and focused in a manner that would benefit students.  Students also had to be able to count on significant individual attention, proper preparation of works to be performed, and ample opportunity to do so.  The end result was a program with one of the lowest student to teacher ratios in the nation, which we feel will serve our artistic philosophies well.  In the coming months applicants will be submitting auditions on You Tube.  Many of the 37 applicants accepted will receive some form of scholarship assistance, thanks to the generosity of individual and corporate sponsors.  People that are interested in supporting scholarships will find a tab on the Festival website for doing so. 

 Some of the most satisfying things about expanding this festival right now are the economic impact of creating new jobs, enhancing tourism to the region and not waiting for a handout or permission to do so.  I am reminded again of my late mother quoting India’s first Prime Minister Nehru who said, “Success comes to those who dare and act, it seldom comes to the timid ones.”   

I would like to personally thank Beth Berdofe White (my publicist/manager), Michele Conrad (our Administrative Director), Dave Robertson (our webmaster), and my wife, Kimberly for distilling my whirlwind of vision and ideas into a workable program.  I could not have done any of this without them.