“You can play almost anywhere with four people,” remarked Katie Tertell (featured image, above), artistic director and organizer of the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival. “You can be in an intimate space and the audience can be there with you. When I play informal house concerts, people say it’s such a different experience to be this close. Classical music [in an orchestral format] can seem distant, but chamber music is much more intense. The orchestra, as a large group, is very powerful, but with chamber performance, there is a strong sense of the shared connection with the other performers. Each player has an individual voice.”
Like so many others, Tertell notes the beauty and history of Harpers Ferry and the lower Shenandoah Valley as she discusses the choice to locate the festival here. “Music plays an important role in Appalachian culture. The classical music I play uses the same instruments and has the same voices. My dream is to bring world class artists and music together, to celebrate the history and culture of the area.”
“This was completely the right time,” says Tertell, explaining how the idea of this new festival came alive. “People are open to new things now and it seems a bit insane, but I wanted to take a leap of faith to follow through on what was driving me artistically to expose audiences to different music. We need art as a society. We are hungry for the live experience, to live in a society.”
“We’re testing what works this year with workshops and a variety of venues and performances. All of us have played together, so we’re comfortable with each other. By the start of the festival we’ll have had some pretty intense rehearsals in Denver and Utah, and we’ll be in Harpers Ferry for a week of practice at the PATC [Potomac Appalachian Trail Club] cabin. It’s pretty rustic, but we’ll make it work.”
Katie Tertell remarked that the world of chamber music performers is a small community, but it’s also very global. “I bump into the same people as I travel to perform. We are very close friends.” The performers she has gathered together for the first season of the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival are a stellar group.
The Appalachian Chamber Music festival kicks off with the New Beginnings concert on Thursday, August 19 at 7 pm at the Barns of Rose Hill and continues through Sunday with additional events in Charles Town, Harpers Ferry & Shepherdstown. Visit the Festival’s website for the the full schedule and tickets.
Performing at the Festival
Cellist Katie Tertell is the artistic director for the festival. She currently lives in the UK and enjoys a rich and varied experience as a freelance artist in Europe and America. A former member of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Katie works with numerous European symphony and chamber orchestras. She is a current recipient of the prestigious Exceptional Talent visa awarded by Arts Council England and teaches cello at Durham University (UK). 
Violinist Delcho Tenev began his music education in the “Dobrin Petkov” school under Prof. Darina Dankova in his hometown of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. At age 14 he moved to the United States and attended high school at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, studying with Prof. Todor Pelev. He received a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and then earned a Master’s degree and Professional Performance Certificate from Lynn University. He has performed in international festivals, including Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Music Festival. Delcho joined the violin section of the Colorado Symphony in September of 2015. 
Violist Leah Kovach (left) grew up in Salt Lake City and is co-Artistic Director of the Torrey Chamber Music Festival. Leah is a member of the Colorado Symphony and was recently appointed to the Central City Opera Orchestra. She holds degrees from Indiana University and Rice University, where her primary teachers were Atar Arad and James Dunham. Leah has performed around the world in prestigious ensembles including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Houston Symphony and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra (Germany/International). 
Violinist Domenic Salerni is a member of the New York-based Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet. He is also a member of the Chiarina Chamber Players, based in Washington, DC, and is active as a chamber musician, clinician, composer, and arranger nationally and internationally. As a member of the Chiarina Chamber Players, Domenic was a recipient of a 2020 Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant and is very excited to perform a new work by Carlos Simon with Chiarina and Peabody Conservatory bass faculty Carl DuPont in 2021. 
Cellist Schuyler Slack has performed in orchestral, chamber music, and recital settings across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. The Alexandria, VA native was appointed to the Richmond Symphony’s Kenneth and Bettie Christopher Perry Foundation Cello Chair in 2016. Previously he held the joint position of Artist in Residence at the University of Evansville and Principal Cellist of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a member of the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony and is on the music faculty at Randolph-Macon College. He performs frequently in the cello sections of major orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Baltimore and National Symphonies. His primary teachers were Cleveland Orchestra principal cellists Mark Kosower and Stephen Geber at the Cleveland Institute of Music. 
Violist Koko Dyulgerski (right), originally from Bulgaria, is currently based in Denver, where he performs with Opera Colorado, the Colorado Symphony, and was recently appointed Principal Viola of the Central City Opera Orchestra. Koko received his Master of Music degree from Rice University in Houston as a student of Ivo-Jan Van der Werff and previously studied under Kevork Mardirossian. During his time in Houston, Koko played regularly with the Mercury Baroque, Houston Grand Opera, and Houston Symphony Orchestras. Also an avid chamber musician, Koko is co-founder and co-artistic director of the Torrey Chamber Music Festival and Violamore Duo and with his wife, Leah Kovach. 
Violinist Audrey Pride is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. She attended Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and received her bachelor’s degree in violin performance studying with Mark Kaplan. She continued on to Northwestern University to complete her master’s degree with Blair Milton and, at the same time, was a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. She has studied at such summer music festivals as the Aspen Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Maestro Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Music Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Audrey is a former member of the Dayton Philharmonic and also taught violin in their after-school El Sistema-inspired program. Currently, Audrey is a full time member of the Knoxville Symphony and, through the KSO, can be seen performing on many stages and in many classrooms throughout Eastern Tennessee. 
Violinist Rachelle Hunt has appeared as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. She has been a member of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester) in Germany since 2011. Rachelle has been a top prize-winner in numerous international and national competitions, including the Kingsville and Corpus Christi International Competitions. She has been presented as a soloist and chamber musician at such venues as the Concert Hall and Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, the Sendesaal of the Hessischer Rundfunk (Germany), the Auditorio Jorge Fabio Lozano (Colombia) and Casa de la Música (Ecuador). After graduating from Rice University, summa cum laude, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Germany, where she earned both the Konzertexamen Diploma and Chamber Music Certificate with the highest honors.