VERO BEACH — The inaugural Vero Beach International Music Festival brought out Vero’s musical wild side this weekend, luring an appreciative crowd throughout the day to an almost 12-hour event at the First Presbyterian Church, featuring performances by world-class musicians and impressive local talent as well.
The festival marked the mid-point of two one-week long Mike Block String Camps, which drew students from around the country.
If you missed it, or want to go back for more great music, there will be another concert at the church at 7 p.m. Friday, July 11, with advanced students performing alongside professionals.
A gifted cellist, Block founded the camp in 2010, enlisting fellow educators who have each attained rock-star standing in their individual genres.
Together they are turning the traditional approach to music education on its ear, cultivating creativity through playful virtuosity and enhanced improvisational skills.
Matt Stott, orchestra director for Vero Beach High School and Gifford Middle School, said the camp has helped his students become more comfortable and confident in their abilities.
“They’ve become more creative and they’re performing with more expression and spirit,” he said, adding that roughly 30 of his students participated.
“Some were terrified about playing without sheet music in front of them. They’re some of the ones that got the most out of it.”
While the music festival was a first for Vero, Block said they play a whole circuit of festivals throughout the summer.
It was at one seven years ago that he met award-winning Celtic fiddler and violinist Hanneke Cassel, who he married in January.
“Joe [Craven] just played at Telluride in Colorado. It seemed like a natural thing to have a festival in Vero since we’re all here together,” said Block.
A Family Fiesta kicked things off, featuring the wildly entertaining Joe Craven and Rushad Eggleston.
Craven, an extraordinary percussionist with a mad genius capacity to quite literally ‘be’ the instrument, augments that skill by brilliantly playing whatever is handy – a wide variety of string instruments, animal bones, pots, utensils – essentially anything with a surface.
Clad like a wildly colorful Robin Hood, Eggleston leaps and bounces with enviable agility, all the while singing and strumming on a cello slung on like a guitar.
“I’ve got a short amount of time to play a lot of songs,” he said, adding with a grin, “You’ve got to trust that the quality is going to be excellent and just go for quantity.”
Craven and Eggleston paired up for a little nonsensical jamming that youngsters in the crowd particularly enjoyed, singing along with happy abandon as the noise level increased to a crescendo.
“The students are the stars, the students are the main course,” said Craven, enticing Jacob Heglund to join them for some spirited playing.
This was the fourth camp for Heglund, a recent graduate of Vero Beach High School who plans to study music education in college.
“I’m living in the moment and playing in the moment; making great memories with the crazy things that happen,” said Heglund, no doubt referencing a few of his fellow students known as The Tribe.
Dressed in improvised kilts and Braveheart-style blue face paint, they were among several student groups who performed that morning, demonstrating the camp’s diversity.
Beginning at Noon all the students performed, showcasing their abilities in a variety of age and talent levels, instruments and styles to an appreciative audience of friends and family.
The largest crowd, unusually for Vero a predominantly young one, began arriving in the late afternoon for the main event, where they were treated to a display of the musicians’ flair and versatility.
With his closely held cello seemingly an extension of his body, Block began the concert with a song inspired by his new wife, and later a short piece he had written for his friend, renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, to play at their wedding.
Their friendship and admiration for one another was clearly evident as musicians joined one another for performances which highlighted their often multiple areas of expertise.
“The faculty are some of my favorite musicians in the world and the students are amazing, as we saw this afternoon,” said Americana fiddler Brittany Haas, who got pulses racing with rapid-fire fiddling.
The crowd listened with pleasure to new songs by singer, fiddler, guitarist Colin Cotter, including one he had just written the day before. Bluegrass fiddler Casey Driessen created his own percussion, utilizing a pedal board to record and build on his own rhythm.
Cassel on fiddle was joined by Block for a lovely waltz she wrote commemorating a trip they had taken, and bluegrass mandolinist Joe Walsh was joined by Kai Welch on trumpet for a soulful jazz piece.
Jazz violinist Zach Brock wowed with an intricately jazzy, virtuoso solo, and Celtic cellist Natalie Haas introduced several international pieces, including one from Brittany that had audience members on their feet for a pinky-linked Breton line.
Another newlywed, Appalachian folk fiddler Lauren Rioux played a few duets with guitarist husband Stan Isaac, and vocalist/ fiddler Lily Henley packed a wallop with Mediterranean and Sephardic songs.
The multi-talented Kai Welch – as in vocals, guitar, piano and trumpet – closed out the performances, giving a final shout-out to the students, who he deemed “wild and brilliant.”
The evening concluded with a barn dance, aka Gaelic ceilidh, releasing pent up energy with folk dances to yet more spirited music.
