Lily Arron has checked off 38 states and a handful of countries on her global travels to-do list.
That's pretty impressive considering she's only 8 years old.
This week, she adds Tucson to the growing list when she accompanies her parents, cellist Edward Arron and pianist Jeewon Park, to the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival.
The couple join a handful of their chamber colleagues including the headlining Dover Quartet for the festival, which runs through March 20, at Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave., downtown.
Since Lily was born, Arron and Park, who have been married 15 years, have brought her along when they travel, even if it means taking their daughter out of school. Arron said that at each stop, the couple finds educational activities for Lily, from nature hikes to museum visits.
Lily travels with Park and Arron, who teach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whenever the couple is performing together, which Arron said is about a quarter of their concerts each year.
This will not only be Lily's first Tucson appearance but Park's, who is making her Friends debut. Arron performed in the 2019 festival and "I had such a wonderful time when I was there," he said during a phone call from a Florida concert stop early this month.
"Just wonderful colleagues and a convergence of mostly old friends who I have played with in various places over the years," he said, adding that his wife "loves Arizona" and is looking forward to performing in the weeklong chamber festival.
Lily will likely be in Leo Rich when her parents and the other festival musicians rehearse. Those rehearsals are open to the public and they are highlights of Arron's festival experience, he said.
โI think it's a neat thing to observe and itโs a neat thing to watch musicians interact. It can be very entertaining," he said. "In the case of the Tucson festival, I think the people who attend those rehearsals get to know the people that they are ultimately listening to in concert and that adds to the experience."
Performing live and with his colleagues is "something that Iโve come to appreciate in a deeper way since the pandemic," he added "The elemental beauty of taking a piece of music that somebody put to paper many decades or centuries ago, coming together in a live setting and interpreting it and then conveying it to an audience in a live setting is a magical thing. It's an incredible process and it's transporting at every stage. I think the older I get the more I am amazed by the existence of music and the arts. I think I understand why it exists and why certain of us devote our lives to it.โ
Arron and Park will team up on two of the festival's five concerts, including on Friday, March 18, when they join violinists Tessa Lark and Axel Strauss and violist Dimitri Murrath to perform Grazyna Bacewicz's Piano Quintet No. 1.ย
The Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival concerts are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 18 and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20. The festival fundraising Celebration 2022 will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 19, featuring food, live music and a silent auction, with proceeds benefitting Arizona Friends.ย
Tickets are $130 for all five concerts, or $32 per concert, $10 for students through arizonachambermusic.org. It's $150 for Saturday's event and reservations are required.ย
The performances also will be livestreamed. For access details, visit arizonachambermusic.org
"OnesAll," from documentary filmmaker Adam Santovac, will take a look into the lives and music careers of the family members behind the popular Tucson band.
OnesAll Band was formed more than a decade ago by Jordan Stafford and features his parents John Stafford and Kathi McKay, his brother Brock Lange and family friend Abel Salgado.
Santovac, who filmed the documentary in January, was introduced to the band two years ago, when he temporarily moved in with Stafford and McKay while studying English at the University of Arizona as an international Fulbright student.
"It was a very emotional and enriching experience. I stayed with them for almost six months during 2020, so I had the incredible opportunity to observe how they as a family and band worked together while the world was falling apart due to the pandemic," Santovac said.
According to the band, the name "OnesAll" represents music's ability to bring people together and the sense of unity they hope audiences feel at their shows.
"I hope the audiences will be inspired by the story behind OnesAll. Inspired to create, to pursue their ideas and endeavors and not to give up," Santovac said.
Santovac, who won an award for his previous documentary "Super Graduate," hopes to complete the film later this year and host a premiere in Tucson for fans of OnesAll before releasing it online.
For a schedule of OnesAll Band's upcoming performances, visit their website: onesallband.com.
