25 Years of Music

One of the things I’ve noticed as I grow older is the tendency to mark the advance of time in other people or things. Maybe it’s a defense against aging. If I can see a movie on TV that was made before I was born, it means I’m not so old. Attitudes toward aging change, too, as you start to do it yourself. You tend to move yourself from the “old and decrepit” category” into the “aged like fine wine” category.
I had one of those “I was around when…” moments earlier this spring when I began working on promotions for the 25th annual Cape May Music Festival, which is sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC). I was not on the MAC staff when the music began to play 25 years ago, but I can remember its beginnings.
At the time, I was the editor of one of our local newspapers, and remember being on the receiving end of all of MAC’s promotion for events, and the brand new – at the time – Music Festival was one of them. Compared to our huge list of tours and events today, MAC’s roster was nowhere near as long 25 years ago, and a three-week schedule of concerts was quite an undertaking for the relatively young organization.
What it did then, and continues to do now, 25 years later, is bring high quality music to Cape May County. For music of this caliber, local residents would need to drive a lot further than just down to Cape May and here we had, and still have, access to orchestras, chamber ensembles and a variety of musical genres at ticket prices unheard of in Philadelphia or New York. Not to mention the gas and tolls.
It has been interesting to watch the Music Festival grow and diversify in this, my 13th year working with it. One of the words we use often to describe MAC is “multi-faceted,” and that surely describes the way the Music Festival morphed into a different creature than the early performances of 25 years ago.
As much as our foundation is built on history and really, really old things, like an 1879 Victorian house, the 1859 Lighthouse, and the World War II Lookout Tower, we have always tried to stay in step with what our visitors and residents are looking for today. We may love old stuff, but we also value what’s new.
The Music Festival is a good example of how we try to anticipate changes in taste, in this case for music. From what was primarily orchestral and chamber offerings, we branched out into everything from pop to swing to Zydeco, Klezmer and dozens of flavors of music.
This year’s Music Festival is no exception. The foundation of a wonderful orchestra remains as the Bay-Atlantic Symphony returns, under the baton of Jed Gaylin, who is a delight to watch and listen to. Also returning is long-time Music Festival participant Alan Kay, artistic director of the New York Chamber Ensemble. It’s especially interesting because this year the Chamber Ensemble will feature some young artists, including Alan’s son, Noah, who will join their parents in this year’s performance. Talk about the years sneaking up on you!
Under the new heading this year, we have a collaboration with the Exit 0 International Jazz Festival, bringing an afternoon line-up of great jazz musicians to the grounds of the Physick Estate on May 31, and then ‘A Night in New Orleans,’ creating a sort of jazz club atmosphere with food and spirits in Cape May Convention Hall on June 1.
Yes, lots of changes, but positive changes that say that, while we’ve aged, we’ve aged well.
— Barraclough is the publications/web site director at MAC