Like many arts organizations, WWCMF moved its programming online during the worst of the pandemic. But we didn’t want “musicians in boxes.” Instead, WWCMF opted for a different strategy. We shipped lights and cameras to the action, capturing performances by WWCMF chamber ensembles in eight different locations around the United States. For the second of these eight performances, Vital Quartet gathered in a vintage clothing shop across the Hudson River from Manhattan. They donned masks, and showed up at the shuttered store with their instruments and a beat-up box containing lights and a couple cameras. They played for the vintage boots and handbags in the room, but also for an audience a couple of thousand miles to the west. All the theaters in New York remained closed, but chamber music, for one night, was alive and well. And so the WWCMF audience was introduced to these musicians, and to the extraordinary music of their core repertoire.

Tonight, Vital Quartet makes its Walla Walla debut, surrounded not by lights, cameras and vintage clothes, but by you, me and vintage wines from the Walls Winery. Welcome to Walla Walla, Vital Quartet! Featuring music by William Grant Still, Trevor Weston, Florence Price and Jesse Montgomery.

Artists: Vital Quartet: William Frampton, viola; Alberto Parrini, cello; Philip Payton, violin; Orlando Wells, violin