For a week and half every September, the sounds of sweet strings, alluring woodwinds, and elegant piano fill the air when the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival comes to town. Now in its 24th year, the festival is helmed by co-founders and artistic directors Raphael Bell and Tim Summers. The dynamic duo curate festivals with impressive rosters of musicians, varied repertoires, and unconventional settings in an effort to introduce chamber music to new audiences. Bell and Summers also perform at this year’s festival, which includes concerts at The Paramount Theater, Second Street Gallery, Old Cabell Hall, and Christ Episcopal Church. cvillechambermusic.org
Name: Tim Summers.
Age: 51.
Pronouns: Yes.
Hometown: Berlin, Germany.
Job: Musician.
What can we expect from this year’s festival: Scope. And some remarkable performers.
What are you most excited about in this year’s festival: The breadth of it—but especially the smaller end, where people just play stuff.
Favorite local restaurant: Bodo’s.
Who is your hero: Chewbacca.
Best advice you ever got: Put your name on your paper. I still haven’t learned to follow it.
Describe a perfect day: Morning smells good; midday is talkative;
dinner is grilled; sleep is cool.
What’s something about yourself that people would be surprised to learn: I have been working a lot in spatial audio for VR.
If you could be reincarnated as a person or thing, what would you be: A cloud.
If you had three wishes, what would you wish for: Ripe melon, basil, clean energy.
Most embarrassing moment: Leaving the music backstage. It still hurts.
Favorite movie and/or show: Lately I find myself thinking about 2001 a lot. I’m sure I’m not alone in that.
Favorite book: The Leopard.
What instruments do you play: Violin, viola, mandolin.
Favorite piece to play: Bach D minor partita, BWV 1004.
What is music to you: Some pure form of memory. A lot of dimensions piled into a pile. An opportunity to move smoothly.
Favorite musician: The people I play with, almost any time. We’re all figuring it out.
What are you listening to right now: Aaron Diehl.
Who’d play you in a movie: Meryl Streep.
Most used app on your phone: Podcasts.
Last text you sent: “Still here… many things solved… need still
to synch…!”
Most used emoji:
Subject that causes you to rant: Political epistemology.
Best journey you ever went on: Lofoten Islands.
Next journey: Japan.
Hottest take: What sort of mad person would voice an unpopular opinion in a public forum without a pressing need to do so, in the digital age?
What have you forgotten today: The list of things I was supposed to remember.