OLEA Ensemble at the Village Green
Spend a summer evening with FREE live classical chamber music on the Wyoming Village Green. OLEA Ensemble — clarinet, violin, and piano — brings an imaginative, community-centered approach to the concert experience, with a focus on living composers and music being written right now. We're thrilled to welcome them as friends of WFAC: clarinetist Kate Kilgus is a member of our teaching faculty. This free outdoor concert is co-hosted by the City of Wyoming and Wyoming Fine Arts Center.
About OLEA Ensemble:
“Not only inspiring, but refreshing” (I Care if You Listen), OLEA Ensemble envisions a future in which the transformative power of chamber music can be used as a model for healthy connection and collaboration in all facets of society. OLEA’s mission is to foster community connections through innovative curation of new music. Founded in 2021, OLEA is dually based in Chicago and Cincinnati, performing regularly across the Midwest. Members include Kate Kilgus (clarinet), Alayne Honaker (violin), and Marissa Kerbel (piano). OLEA’s members hold degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Lawrence University, and Kenyon College.
OLEA’s 2025-2026 season titled “You Are (Not) Alone” explores the dichotomy between community and loneliness that exists in our society today through three distinct programs: “Inside/Outside” (Fall 2025), “Sounds from Nature” (Winter 2026), and “All My Friends” (Spring 2026). “Inside/Outside” situates vocalist Annie Barr McAllister in conversation with our existing chamber ensemble to reflect upon the way that individuals can be simultaneously isolated from and included in a community. “Sounds from Nature” explores the human desire to be alone with nature. Being alone in nature allows us to simultaneously feel the peace of being isolated from other people with the comfort of being connected to plants and animals. “All My Friends” is a celebration of community and friendship. Through playing together, the members of OLEA have not only become respected colleagues and collaborators, but also close friends. The music on this program reflects on the power of friendship, trust, and collaboration! This season features several new works commissioned by the ensemble including pieces by Shane Scott Cook, Jacy Pedersen, Owen Hopper, Brad Balliett, Annie Barr McAllister, and Christopher Jessop.
By presenting music through themes that are universal yet personally relatable, OLEA aims to make classical music and new music relevant to 21st century audiences. In the fall of 2024, OLEA was the Artist in Residence at SOS ART in Cincinnati where they developed a project called “Contemplations on Democracy” which explored the intersection of art and politics, serving as both an interactive musical performance and a Get Out the Vote initiative. For this project, they collaborated with local poets and visual artists to provide a diverse set of perspectives on socio-political issues. Other recent projects include: “Yeehaw: American Folk Traditions” (2024) which incorporated music from traditions such as jazz, Appalachian fiddle, and ragtime; the commission and premiere of Owen Hopper’s “Wind Blows Lotus Leaves” (2023) alongside live demonstrations of the Tai Chi movements which inspired the composition; and “Summer Dreams” (2023) which explored the sounds of dreams from a fantastical storyline of a deep sleep to the shimmering texture of a daydream. OLEA has completed residencies at the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute (2025), Avaloch Farm Music Institute (2022), and the Decoda Chamber Music Festival (2022), and has performed at New Music Chicago’s ImpromptuFest (2023) and the Price Hill Music Festival (2023). In the summer of 2026, OLEA will take part in the Chamber Music Residency at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills.