Glacier Symphony's Easter Festival April 6-9

The Glacier Symphony and Chorale will hold three concerts as part of an Easter Festival, April 6, 8 and 9 at Flathead High School.

Patterned after the spring Easter festivals held annually in Europe and around the world, this festival will focus on the varied and rich repertoire of music written for orchestra and chorus. Among the many works performed will be Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy in C Minor” and “Lux Aeterna,” an American piece for orchestra and chorus by Morten Lauridsen. The first day of the festival will be a solo piano recital featuring pianist Ketevan Kartvelishvili performing works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and a 20th century piece by Paul Aurandt (Paul Harvey Jr.).

John Zoltek, the group’s artistic director and conductor, will conduct both the Saturday and Sunday concerts.

“Three distinctly different concerts each night means there will be something for everyone,” he said in a press release. “My hope will be for the audience to hear the synergy that comes from the masterful coupling of vocal writing with symphonic writing.”

The Easter Festival opens with a free concert on Thursday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m., featuring the internationally acclaimed pianist, Ketevan (Keti) Kartvelishveli. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, near the Caucasus mountains, Kartvelishveli began playing at age five and made her debut performance with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra at age 12. She has won first place in numerous international competitions, most recently the American Protegé International Concerto competition in New York City, in 2014. There will be an opportunity for the audience to talk to Kartvelishveli following her performance.

Over her career, Kartvelishveli has become acquainted with American composer and concert pianist Paul Harvey Jr., the son of radio personality Paul Harvey and his wife, broadcast producer Angel Harvey, who began their careers in Missoula. As a journalist, Paul Harvey Jr. wrote and produced “The Rest of the Story” series for books, television and radio. But as a composer he adopted the family name Aurandt and, among other works, wrote the “Sonata in B-Flat Minor” for piano. Kartvelishveli will play the third movement from this lengthy work.

“Eternal Light” is the title of the Saturday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. concert. The Glacier Symphony will begin the program with Wagner’s “Good Friday Spell” from his opera “Parsifal.” The Glacier Chorale will join the orchestra for Morten Lauridsen’s work “Lux Aeterna.” The concert will conclude with Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 5 in D,” composed in 1830 to commemorate an important Lutheran event in Berlin.

“Choral Fantasy Finale,” at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 9, will complete the Easter Festival. The program will offer a diversity of musical styles and will include the orchestra performing Berlioz’s “Hungarian March.” Kartvelishvili will then return to the stage as a soloist in “Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Flat” for piano and orchestra, composed by Franz Liszt. The second half of the show will employ the orchestra and chorale in Faure’s “Pavane.” The piano soloist will return and join in for Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” providing the finale.

“We hope our audiences will take this new festival concept to heart as we celebrate the return of spring to our valley,” Zoltek said.

All Easter Festival concerts will be held at Flathead High Performance Hall, 644 Fourth Ave. W. in Kalispell. General admission single tickets are $25, and youth through grade 12 are admitted free. The Thursday concert is free to all.

Concert tickets can be purchased online at www.gscmusic.org.