GSC’s Spring Festival showcases Mozart and Mahler

The 39th season of the Glacier Symphony and Chorale continues its celebration of the 25th anniversary of the leadership of Maestro John Zoltek as music director and conductor and will feature both the orchestra and chorale, as well as distinguished guest soloists in two weekend performances of monumental works in the classical music repertoire. The programs are composed of several of the greatest works by Gustav Mahler and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The annual Spring Festival of the Glacier Symphony, Orchestra and Chorale will take place at the Performance Hall of Flathead High School Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1; and the second concert weekend will take place Saturday, May 14, and Sunday, May 15.

Tickets are available by calling the box office at 406-407-7000. More information about the concerts, performance times, and the purchase of tickets online can be found on the website https://glaciersymphony.org/.

• The first concert, April 30 and May 1, features the orchestra, chorale and guest vocal soloists. Opening the program are orchestral songs by Mahler — considered some of the finest ever written for soloists and orchestra — including selected Rückert Leider and the complete Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). The second half of the performance will feature Mozart’s stunning Requiem in D minor, made familiar to audiences worldwide through the movie “Amadeus.” Mozart’s Requiem is considered one of the crowning jewels of this type of repertoire and one of his most popular works. The first several movements were literally written on his deathbed (The work was finished by an assistant using sketches), giving rise to the legend that the mysterious cloaked stranger who visited the composer to commission the work was perhaps Death himself.

The acclaimed vocal soloists include soprano Danielle Pastin, tenor Brian Cheney, bass-baritone Tyler Putnam and alto Robin Bier, formerly of Kalispell. Born in Alaska, Bier’s family moved to the Flathead Valley when she was in third grade and her musical background is rooted in the Flathead Valley and the Glacier Symphony organization.

• The Glacier Symphony and Zoltek return again with Mozart and Mahler in the second weekend, May 14 and 15. This program features Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 5 for large orchestra, composed mostly in the summer of 1902. The year 1901 had been an eventful one for the composer. He had had an almost fatal hemorrhage early in the year and at the same time had had one of his most successful years as both a composer and conductor. It was also when he met and fell in love with his future wife Alma Schindler, and this powerfully expansive, demanding, five-movement masterpiece includes the beautiful Adagietto. Frequently performed as a stand-alone piece, it is said to be a musical expression of love to Alma.

The second concert will open with one of Mozart’s most popular and beloved piano concertos, the No. 21 in C Major, nicknamed the “Elvira Madigan. The soloist will be internationally recognized pianist Robert Satterlee, originally from the Flathead Valley. In addition to playing with orchestras globally, Satterlee is an accomplished chamber musician and solo recitalist. Since the fall of 1998 he has been a member of the piano faculty of Bowling Green State University in Ohio and also teaches at the renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in the summers.

In explaining his choice of repertoire for these festival performances, Zoltek explained, “Last year, unfortunately, we were not able to perform the Spring Festival concerts due to the pandemic. I knew that once we returned to the spring concerts with the combined forces of the orchestra and chorale, that I wanted to present truly spectacular music to our audiences and also give our musicians the experience of tackling and performing music that would showcase their collective talent. I am also pleased to be bringing back some of my favorite guest collaborators originally from the Flathead Valley who I have worked with in my 25 years with the Glacier Symphony.”