Symphony season

For each of the past 25 years, the Glacier Symphony and Chorale has endeavored to offer memorable performances of some of the world's greatest classical music - and create a workable schedule.

Venue issues have been a hurdle for the symphony, but things are easing up as the organization celebrates its 25th season, which opens tonight with "Brahms and Schubert" in the new Glacier High School performance hall.

"It's beautiful inside," Music Director John Zoltek said of the Glacier facility. "It should provide an intimate experience of the symphony."

The symphony and chorale is also scheduled to play in the renovated Whitefish Middle School auditorium and new Flathead Valley Community College black box theatre this year, as well as returning to its longtime venue, the Flathead High School auditorium.

Gordon Johnson was the first music director for what began as the Glacier Orchestra and Chorale. Johnson, who held the Glacier job concurrently with his current position as music director for the Great Falls Symphony, said the venue issues began not too long after the birth of the organization, as the musicians quickly gained an enthusiastic following.

Recruited by Kalispell's Becky DuBois, Johnson's first concert as conductor here was in the fall of 1982. It was well received, as were subsequent concerts performed in local churches. The pews were overflowing regularly.

"From the beginning, we were encouraged by the reception," Johnson said. "People really embraced the concept. We had good audiences and good support. The budget wasn't particularly big; it was rather meager, but enough to get the job done."

Johnson said that in the beginning, his role was "as much of a teacher as a performer" for both the musicians and the audience.

"A lot of the players had experience through high school, some through college, and a lot were people who had played 10 years ago and were getting the violin out of the closet," he said. "It was amateur music-making, but it was very gratifying because people really wanted to be there."

The earliest concerts are the ones that stand out most in his 14-year tenure, Johnson said.

"The public response was so sincere, it was almost vociferous. You could tell they were really grateful that something like this was available to them."

The Flathead Valley was a different environment for the arts 25 years ago, Johnson remembers.

"It was very much what people think of as being Montana," he said. "You very carefully strategized so you weren't conflicting with hunting season."

Shauneen Garner was the first director of the Glacier Chorale and was the sole choral director until she recently moved out of state. She was friends with du Bois and Doug and Lindy James, all instrumental in planning the 1982 debut of the Flathead Valley Chamber Orchestra and Chorale.

Garner conducted the choir that evening.

"The choir had 22 members, and we put together an orchestra from local players," Garner said in a 2003 interview. "It was well-attended and well-received by the community. It didn't deserve to be a one-shot deal."

Garner always had high expectations for her chorale singers, expecting every singer to make a commitment to being at the Thursday-night rehearsals and to taking the music seriously.

"She did many, many fine programs," Jim Stanard, who is beginning his second season as choral director, said. "She left me a list of the repertoire that the chorale and the Montanaires had done, and it was pretty extensive. She left me with a lot of well-trained singers."

Stanard's only substantial change was to change the name of the select singing group from the Montanaires to the Glacier Chamber Singers and "involve them more in the regular reportoire of the company," he said.

The Glacier Symphony and Chorale has grown and matured along with population of Northwest Montana in the last decade, Zoltek said.

"The changes in the valley have certainly spurred us on to becoming a bigger and better organization," he said. "A lot of people are surprised we have an orchestra of this caliber in this area. It's a big plus for new residents."

The concert season has expanded dramatically to serve a larger and more diverse audience, from once-a-season offerings in the beginning to around 20 concerts five years ago to almost 30 planned for this year.

"We would have trouble adding concert weekends," executive director Alan Saterlee said. "The volunteer musicians are already going flat out."

The range of concerts has widened in recent years as well. Last year the symphony collaborated with the professional actors of the Alpine Theatre Project to bring "The Sound of Music" to the stage, and this year they will present "West Side Story" in the same format.

Pops concerts have become popular summer and Christmas staples (alongside the traditional Christmas "Messiah" presentation) and this year the symphony is offering a concert version of the opera "Carmen." Also a first for this year is a weeklong Mozart festival planned for August.

Though Zoltek stressed that the major symphonic repertoire will always be the mainstay for the organization, scheduling programs with broad public appeal has created new interest.

"The better our visibility and exposure, the more people know about us and the more people who come to concerts, the more they realize that this area has a very good symphony orchestra," he said.

Saterlee also said that ticket sales have grown "tremendously," partly because of the popularity of favorites such as "Messiah," and new experiments such as the collaboration with the Alpine Theatre Project.

"They've brought people out to hear a concert with the symphony who wouldn't have come to hear classical music," he said.

Corporate and individual donors have also increased, which has help put the symphony on a solid financial footing.

Zoltek believes the organization has earned its support.

"We really contribute to quality of life that we experience here," he said. "There are lots of areas that have beautiful scenery, but not too many have great arts too.

"Everyone should come to see their symphony orchestra. Once people come in and experience it, they recognize it is something to be proud of."