Archipelago Collective is thrilled to bring you a weekend of exciting concerts, performed by its 2020 festival artists from their home cities around the country, Sept. 4-7. This is year would have been the Collective’s sixth visit to the islands.

“While we all miss performing live, we’re excited to be bringing our music directly to your homes,” said organizers. “Our groundbreaking virtual festival presents 18 exceptional musicians from across the country. Our players hail from some of the nation’s top orchestras and chamber music institutions including the Seattle Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.”

Access, along with virtual instrument petting zoo videos, is free to educators. Tickets are $15 per concert or $50 for all four and can be purchased at www.archipelagocollective.org/festival.

“I grew up spending a lot of time in Friday Harbor and on San Juan Island. … I spent summers up [here], sort of running feral around the island having a great time,” Archipelago Collective founder Sophie Baird-Daniel told the Journal in 2019. “I wanted to give back to the community.”

The musicians include Archipegalo Collective Artistic Director Baird-Daniel on the harp; Archipegalo Collective Executive Director Dana Jackson, bassoon; 2018 Liepzig International Bach Competition finalist Elizabeth Dorman, piano; Seattle Symphony assistant principal cellist Nathan Chan; New Fromm Player Francesca McNeeley, cello; Dallas Symphony associate principal violist Sarah Kienle; Pacific Northwest Ballet principal violist Alex Grimes; Boston Symphony Orchestra violist Mary Ferrillo; Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Career Grant-winning violinist Kristin Lee; Seattle Symphony violinist Andy Liang; Opera Philadelphia violinist Robyn Quinett; San Francisco Opera violinist Maya Cohon; New Haven Symphony Orchestra principal flutist Mira Magrill; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra clarinetist Anton Rist; and Grammy-winning The Attacca Quartet.

The concerts

• The Attacca Quartet will perform at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4. Grammy award-winning Attacca Quartet, as described by The Nation, “lives in the present aesthetically, without rejecting the virtues of the musical past”, and it is this dexterity to glide between the music of the 18th through to 21st-century living composer’s repertoire that has placed them as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment – a quartet for modern times. The quartet is comprised of Amy Schroeder, violin; Domenic Salerni, violin; Nathan Schram, viola; and Andrew Yee, cello.This concert is presented in partnership with Chamber Music Society Detroit.

Pieces being performed are “String Quartet in C major, Op. 74, No. 1,” by Franz Joseph Haydn; “Valencia,” by Caroline Shaw; “Blueprint,” by Caroline Shaw; and “Grosse Fugue, Op. 133,” by Ludwig van Beethoven.

• The Seattle Symphony’s Nathan Chan and Andy Liang team up again to create violin and cello duet magic at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5. Then Pianist Liz Dorman will take a deep dive into the incomparable “Goldberg Variations” by Johann Sebastian Bach. This renowned Bach interpreter takes us on a journey through the monumental work. Pieces being performed are “Grand Duo Brilliant, Op. 12,” by Friedrich Hermann (I. Allegro con fuoco, II. Adagio and III. Allegro moderato); “Alone,” by Giovanni Sollima; and “Goldberg Variations,” by Bach.

• The Quarantine Duos concert explores the joys of partnership in music at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 6. New York-based Quinnett and Rist are married and beautifully blend their clarinet and violin sounds. Ferrillo and McNeeley are both based in Boston and highlight the lower end of the string section with their viola and cello. Pieces being performed are “Duo for Clarinet and Violin Op.14, No.2” by Georg Friedrich Fuchs (I. Moderato, II. Rondo, Allegretto); “Hommage à J. S. Bach,” by Béla Kovács; “Rhapsody No.1 for solo violin,” by Jessie Montgomery; “Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet,” by Igor Stravinsky; “Bucolics,” by Witold Lutosławski; “Two pieces for Viola and Cello,” by Rebecca Clarke; “American Haiku,” by Paul Wiancko.

• “Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence.” Enjoy curated wine pairings in collaboration with Seattle’s storied Champion Wine Cellars at 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 7. Directors Sophie Baird-Daniel and Dana Jackson will be featured playing their favorite concerti, accompanied by string quartet. The program opens with a quartet in honor of Beethoven’s 250th birthday. Featuring Kristin Lee and Maya Cohon, violin; Alex Grimes, viola; Nathan Chan, cello; Sophie Baird-Daniel, harp; and Dana Jackson, bassoon. Pieces being performed are “String Quartet Op 18, No. 2,” by Beethoven (I. Allegro; II. Adagio Cantabile – Allegro – Tempo I; III. Scherzo: Allegro; IV. Allegro molto, quasi presto); “Danses Sacrée et Profane,” by Claude Debussy; “Bassoon Concerto in B flat,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (I. Allegro, II. Andanta ma Adagio, III. Rondo: tempo di menuetto).