• View
• Edit
• History
• Print

The Inspiration

The GAIA Chamber Music Festival, founded and artistically led by internationally-renowned violinist Gwendolyn Masin, bears a name that reflects its character and spirit, offering those in attendance a common ground upon which to channel their energies towards a vivid and unique artistic endeavour.
Since its inception in 2006, GAIA has become an effervescent melting pot of ideas and impulses, designed for a heightened experience for both musicians and their audiences. Following non-traditional paths in its quest for innovative ways of sharing music, GAIA strives to make music accessible for everyone and continuously pioneers conceptually-driven events which include established, rarely-played, contemporary and specially-commissioned repertoire, as well as alternative approaches to their presentation.
Notwithstanding its relatively short existence, GAIA is already being hailed as a platform for progressive thinking and unprecedented encounters, both of which are acutely relevant to exposure of the arts in the 21st century. With care and preparation, GAIA is forging dramatic and far-reaching change in the way music is made, heard and appreciated.

The Muse

Born out of Chaos, Gaia is the primeval Greek goddess representing the Earth. The significance of the age-old locution is also found in Sanskrit, where Gaja personifies a number of attributes such as wisdom, richness, boldness and strength, and in Hebrew, where Chaia means “alive”.
In scientific terms, Gaia refers to the theory that living organisms on a planet will affect the nature of their environment in order to make it more suitable for life… the earth as a vast self-regulating organism.

The Musicians and Their Audience

Each year, eminent artists from all over the globe spend just over a week living and working together in Thun. The invitees, reflecting GAIA’s objectives, have contributed to the world of arts in unusual and exciting ways. A veritable pool of luminaries, many have boldly stepped out on their own, free from the constraints and expectations of anyone other than themselves.

The festival and its tributaries winding through Thun to mark spring’s first light breeze are occasions to connect through a celebration of music, one that is in constant flux between performers and audience. Every detail of the programme, rehearsal process and concerts are conceived from the start with the wish to express music so as to draw listeners in. Thus, performances bear relevance to those touched by the affair, in turn leading to a positive shift in the perception of classical music.

The Ideas

The public chamber music sessions depart from the structured lifestyle and relentless schedule of performing artists. GAIA introduces spontaneous chaos into scenarios that generally thrive on precision.
In Ms Masin’s search for a meaningful merging of talents, she introduces the inspirational musicians she has met along her path to one another and closes the generation gap between them. The results are stunning. The reinterpretation and, to a certain extent, creation of music inevitably takes place, the process cooking and bubbling palpably before its audience – a composition previously performed or heard becomes a distinct chef-d’œuvre replete with new angles and bends. Through the exchange of thoughts between the players, the piece is sculpted until a new insight into the opus forms. This discovery lends all in attendance the much-needed means to listen to music with fresh ears.
As can be heard at the concerts during the culmination of the festival week, within a short time, chaos restructures itself into an entirely new kind of order.

GAIA concert programmes include ensembles and works that have been created specifically for and at the festival as well as existing complete productions. The overall content of GAIA is recorded, printed and curated for future broadcasting and archive.

The Showcasing of Education

Not content with radically rethinking the manner in which music is brought to the stage, GAIA also fosters rising talent and is intent on emphasising the importance of education in music. To this end, the GAIA Masterclasses allow leading musicians of the future to learn from established masters upon a foundation that offers interested parties a glimpse inside the workings of the continued evolution and development of music and pedagogy.
Moving moments and plenty of humour are part and parcel of the Masterclasses as the passing on of knowledge from one generation to the next unfolds.

The New Generation

The GAIA International Academy takes place at the height of summer. It is an opportunity for the youngest to learn and show their skills at a week-long series of workshops, seminars – including ground-breaking Children for Children demonstrations – and public lessons. Forums are held where, for instance, parents share how they experience having gifted musicians in their homes, and lectures are given by authorities on modern-day teaching. The week ends in a number of student concerts. Furthermore, performances are given by professional alumni who are in a position to show the fruits harvested from outstanding teaching.
Once again nestled in the stunningly beautiful town of Thun, children of all nationalities meet and can often be seen jumping in and out of the clear waters that surround the places from which music sounds.

The Tour de Force

Although the Chamber Music Festival remains its beating heart, the speed at which GAIA has come to international attention has led projects held within its framework to take centre stage at concerts beyond the annual festival week and its location in May.

GAIA is more than a festival; it is a fluid entity, an engaging cultural and social phenomenon that is taking the classical world by the scruff of its neck and shaking it up – and we promise to continue doing so for a long time to come.

“… that which interests me is not to just play but to really make music and to revel in the unfolding thereof.” – Gwendolyn Masin, The Irish Times