A new arts festival in Pittsburgh places jazz, classical chamber music and Renaissance music center stage at Point Park University's Pittsburgh Playhouse plaza, Downtown.
The inaugural Inside/Outside festival ran from June through July, an experiment in curating a more impromptu vibe for music not typically considered casual. This was a smart strategy that didn’t pay off for all performers.
Local music organizations Chatham Baroque, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild Jazz (MCG Jazz) and the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh sent cadres of players to the plaza each Thursday and Friday afternoon. The space is half indoors and half outdoors, enticing passersby on Forbes Avenue as a motley mixture of melodies by composers ranging from Mozart to Mary Lou Williams wafted through the open air.
I attended or listened back to a variety of programming from each ensemble, and an easy standout was the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra on July 29, back together in full force and splendor. The ensemble delivered a program of tunes by Pittsburgh greats — Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, et al — with gusto, inflecting each tune with its own zest. Still, there was a slight need for polish, as some of the high brass in particular overpowered the balance.
What the open venue loses in acoustic quality it more than gains back in atmosphere — intimate, yet wide open to nature’s whims and the city’s groans and remarks.
Chatham Baroque lilted through a selection of Renaissance airs on June 25, bantering with the audience throughout the performance and maintaining a lighthearted, joyful approach to this return to public music-making.
Point Park University's assistant vice president managing director, Drew Martorella, voiced enthusiastic support for the festival in a phone call after the festival concluded and declared that it would return next summer.
“Our initial thinking was that people getting off work could wander down ... after work and have a casual drink,” he said. “But people locked into that music.”
Point Park's staff will continue to discuss internally what worked and what didn't as they refine the festival from its nascent state. This first iteration ran with a budget of about $50,000, which might increase next year.
Here's my take: Lean into the casualness of the affair to separate these shows from the city's other offerings as they return from a year of silence. A mere $10 buys admission and a drink ticket, and there was bar service throughout the events for the roughly 1,100 people that attended over the course of the six-week festival. The space was laid out with rows of seats right next to the performance space for those focused on the music as well as tables farther back for folks interested in socializing.
In both the Chatham and Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh's concerts, listeners treated the shows more as conventional concerts. This proved treacherous for the latter.
A string quintet on July 9 seemed uncomfortable in the spotlight, as though they had prepared for a couple hours of background cocktail music rather than a formal concert. Intonation was poor, players often weren't together. Likewise, a string trio on July 23 was often out of tune and sounded amateurish.
If listeners — only about 25 for this last concert — had been mingling or chatting, these performances could have provided delightful accompaniment to a bright start to the evening's social activities. As the festival refines and shapes its identity next season, regular reminders that it’s all right to relax and chat and move during these performances might help loosen up the orthodoxy, and even a few well-placed audience shills to help keep things informal could be appropriate.
Or, if directors decide to formalize the event, shorter, better prepared sets are more likely to capture attention.
Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634; twitter: @Reynolds_PG. Mr. Reynolds' work at the Post-Gazette is supported by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Getty Foundation and Rubin Institute.
First Published: August 16, 2021, 4:41 p.m.
