Concert week highlights for Festival Amadeus

From Glacier Symphony and Choral

A whole range of activities, including an opening night free concert, several open rehearsals featuring the guest soloists and the world premier of a guitar and orchestra concerto are just some of the special offerings on tap for the 2015 Festival Amadeus Sunday, Aug. 2, to Sunday, Aug. 9, Montana’s largest classical music festival. 

Festival Music Director, John Zoltek, has selected superb combinations of musicians for the three chamber and four orchestra concerts and each night will offer a new enticement. Add in the three nights of chamber concerts that will be held in Bigfork Aug. 4-6 and you won’t have to drive far to hear some of the world’s greatest music.

All concerts in Whitefish will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, 600 E. 2nd St. The open rehearsals will also be held in the WFPAC; times and days vary.

CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS

New to Festival Amadeus this year will be the dynamic Brasil guitar duo composed of Joao Luiz and Douglas Lora. The artists met in Sao Paulo Brazil as teenage guitar students and have been performing together for more than 15 years. Wednesday, Aug. 5, the duo will perform Concerto Cobolco for Two Guitars and Orchestra — specifically written for them by Brazilian composer Paulo Bellinati. who says he realized his dream of writing a large-scale work.

Maestro John Zoltek commissioned this arrangement for the Festival Amadeus orchestra that will introduce this new chamber format version of the Caboclo Concert to North American audiences.

“I decided to pay tribute to the country music of São Paulo State, which is traditionally played on the viola caipira or Brazilian ten-string folk guitar,” Bellinati explains, “… I did not want my piece to merely reproduce the sounds of that music. I wanted to create a concerto for modern instruments that was inspired by those folk traditions.

“Jupiter Double Trouble,” The Festival finale Sunday, Aug. 9, brings not one but two grand pianos, played by two grand pianists, to center stage in a musical duel.

Spencer Myer and Andrew Staupe, both returning Festival Amadeus artists, will play double piano concerto’s by Bach and Mozart that are sure to rock the rafters.

Baroque Romance Serenade on Friday, Aug. 7, will bring Fry Street Quartet together with the Festival Amadeus String Orchestra for the ever-popular Brandenburg Concerto. Also on the bill that night will be Italian violinist and composer Francesco Geminiani’s, “Concerto Grosso” considered to be one of the most inspiring works of the baroque-era.

The Festival will kickoff Sunday, Aug. 2, at 5 p.m. with a free concert featuring music by the Fry Street Quartet at the gazebo across from Riverside Park in Whitefish. People can ring a picnic and “Mingle with Mozart” who will be entertaining the crown with children’s games and activities. Music begins at 6 p.m.

During the week several open rehearsals are scheduled for the public to get a back stage look at the festival artists. And the Camp Festival Amadeus for youth age 7-12, sponsored by North Valley Music School, will be held during the week. The entire Camp Festival Amadeus is open for observation, any class, any time. Contact NVMS for more details, 862-8074.        

FREE EVENTS

Monday, Aug. 3:

1-2 p.m. — Open rehearsal: Ashu, Spencer Myer, and Yevgeny Kutik, onstage, WFPAC.             

3 p.m. — Camp Festival Amadeus Students honor recital

Tuesday, Aug. 4:

10 a.m. — noon Open Rehearsal: Fry Street Quartet and Spencer Myer, onstage, WFPAC.

3-4 p.m. — Camp FA “Musical Journey” with the Brasil Guitar Duo, WFPAC lobby. 

5:30-7 p.m. — Camp FA Kids will perform on the patio of Piney Creek Interiors, downtown Whitefish.

Wednesday, Aug. 5: 

Noon-1:30 p.m. “Musical Journey” A talk to camp students by Yevgeny Kutik and Spencer Myer in WFPAC lobby.                            

Thursday, Aug. 6:

Noon-2:45 p.m. — Camp FA Student Orchestra and Ensemble Rehearsal onstage, WFPAC. 

3-4 p.m. — Open rehearsal: Ashu, Spencer Myer, and Yevgeny Kutik onstage, WFPAC

3-4 p.m. — Camp FA “Musical Journey” with Andrew Staupe in WFPAC lobby.

Friday, Aug. 7:

Noon-1:30 p.m. — Camp FA Student Concert onstage WFPAC with orchestra and ensembles.