Think of next week’s 2025 International Chamber Music Alaska Festival as a shot in the arm for the classical music scene in Fairbanks.

That’s how ICMA co-founder and local cello musician Charly Akert looks at it.

“Fairbanks used to be a mecca for musicians when I was a kid,” Akert said. “People I performed with are now doing incredible things. The University of Alaska Fairbanks music department was booming when I was a kid.”

He recalled the positive influence of mentors like former Fairbanks Symphony Conductor Gordon Wright, Paul Rosenthal, Ted D’Corso and others. It was a time when the Arctic Chamber Orchestra was born.

Akert, a lifelong Fairbanksan, is currently the only cello instructor teaching Fairbanksans, with 50 students and another 14 students on a waiting list. He and ICMA co

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