Wallis-Oyaguez Duo to play Kalispell, Polson

The Wallis-Oyaguez Duo — Byron Wallis on violin and Alfredo Oyaguez on piano — will perform in Polson and Kalispell this weekend.

Mission Valley Live presents the duo at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, at the First Presbyterian Church, 301 Fourth Ave. E., Polson. The Vine and Tap will hold a social hour beginning at 5 p.m. Tickets for the concert are $15, available in advance at the Vine and Tap or by calling 406-887-2739.

The Wallis-Oyaguez Duo will then perform in Kalispell at 3:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 10, at the First Presbyterian Church, 540 Main St. Kalispell, presented by the Kalispell Area Music Teachers Association. Admission is $15 for adults, $8 for students and $35 for a family.

Wallis pursued graduate studies in violin at the Eastman School of Music and the University of California before moving to Great Falls in 2000 to perform with the Cascade Quartet and the Great Falls Symphony. In 2005 he moved to Paris where he has made a living freelancing with French orchestras, including L’Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Les Siecles, and Insula Orchestra. He performed at Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress with Ensemble Matheus, and in North Korea with the Orchestre de Chambre Francais. Since 2011 he has taken up studies at a circus school outside of Paris, and now also performs accompanying acrobats and tight-rope walkers.

After graduate studies at Yale and the University of California, Oyaguez moved back to his native Spain and joined the faculty of the Conservatorio Superior de las Islas Baleares. He has been invited to judge the Amadeo International Piano Competition in Germany, and has performed in innumerable countries from New Zealand to Macedonia to Antarctica. He has played with Jaap Schroeder, the Rejkjavik Chamber Orchestra and the Kossovo Chamberfest, among others, as well as recording a CD of Spanish music for Delos with cellist Andrew Smith.