Kalispell von Trapps on 'Oprah'
Kalispell’s own von Trapp children will perform on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Thursday during a special show that reunites the entire cast of “The Sound of Music” for the first time in 45 years.
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, who portrayed Capt. Georg and Maria von Trapp in the 1965 movie classic set in picturesque Salzburg, Austria, will be part of the reunion, along with cast members who played the von Trapps’ seven children.
In real life, the great-grandchildren of Capt. von Trapp have been keeping the family’s musical legacy alive by touring and performing worldwide for nearly a decade. Sofia, Melanie, Amanda and Justin von Trapp, the children of Stefan and Annie von Trapp, grew up at the family’s Austrian-style home between Kalispell and Somers.
The children began singing for local audiences when they were preschoolers, and a cross-country tour in 2002 solidified their own legacy as the foursome mesmerized audiences everywhere they went.
Once the von Trapps decided to take their children on the road and home-school them along the way, there was no turning back.
They have performed across the globe, from the Sydney Opera House in Australia to stages in Africa, Japan and across Europe, and have been featured in national media ranging from The New York Times and People magazine to the NBC “Today” show and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
The famous siblings are on tour in the United States this fall, with upcoming concerts with the Grand Rapids, Mich. Symphony, Kansas City Symphony and Alabama Symphony in Birmingham, Ala.
Like their ancestors, the siblings are using their exceptional musical talent and love of singing to tell the family’s stories of life before and after coming to America.
As the story goes, the flamboyant Maria was sent from a convent to tutor the seven motherless von Trapp children. She eventually married the captain and they had three more children. After their escape from the Nazis in 1938, the family toured in America and abroad until the late 1950s as the von Trapp Family Singers.
In an earlier interview with the Daily Inter Lake, Annie von Trapp noted that before the children started their first CD, “they wrote a letter to every member of the family, asking for their blessing. It’s important that they understand they’re connected to something very special.”
The von Trapp Children have recorded a half-dozen CDs. Their latest recording includes a cappella arrangements such as “Edelweiss” and “Amazing Grace.”
They also just released a performance DVD featuring 80 minutes of music including “Sound of Music” songs and stories passed down from the older generation of von Trapps.
Among the songs they will sing on the Oprah show is “Edelweiss,” a song that endears audiences, especially when they learn the story behind the melody.
Edelweiss is an Austrian flower that grows only high in the Alps, where mountain climbers had to risk their lives to gather them. Because of this act of courage, the flower symbolizes a deep love for the recipient — a love that’s more important than the giver’s own life, according to a story shared by the children’s grandmother.
For more information about the von Trapp Children, go online to www.vontrappchildren.com.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com