Festival Amadeus celebrates 15th anniversary
The Glacier Symphony presents the 15th annual Festival Amadeus, the region’s only week-long classical music festival, offering spectacular chamber and orchestra concerts in the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, Aug. 9 to 14.
Founding artistic director and conductor John Zoltek has crafted this milestone year’s programming to be extra special, as the select Festival Amadeus Orchestra is joined by prestigious guest artists and composers in an innovative summer musical experience titled “Mozart and the Modern.”
In the first two days of the festival “West meets East” in a festival lineup that will bridge the musical aesthetics of Western and Eastern classical music, pairing the music of Mozart with contemporary compositions influenced by Chinese and Asian musical language, poetry and legends. Visiting Canadian composers Mark Armanini and Rita Ueda bring with them erhu (Chinese fiddle) master Yun Sung, harpist Albertina Chang and narrator Jenny Lu to perform these unique compositions. They will be joined by Kalispell flutist Beth Pirrie to perform pieces with magical titles such as “Night Bird Singing” and “Water Dragon Tune.” These compositions are the sort of provocative pieces that are not readily heard in the concert hall.
The festival’s opening night, Tuesday, Aug. 9, is themed “Night Bird and Prague” and will feature new music by Ueda and Armanini, as well as Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D “Prague.”
Wednesday’s chamber concert will be an evening of lyrical and poetic music for flute, harp, erhu and narrator.
Beginning on day three, Festival Amadeus returns to more traditional Western fare. On Thursday, Aug. 11, Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major will be performed with Pirrie and Chang as soloists. Rounding out that evening’s concert is a symphony by Joseph Haydn, and the “Modern” on the program represented by another piece by Ueda.
The final days of the festival feature Robert deMaine, principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and internationally-acclaimed pianist, Peter Takács. Their programs rely heavily on the music of Beethoven. Takács is widely considered one of the greatest interpreters of Beethoven of our time. On Friday, Aug. 12, Takács and deMaine will present the composer’s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, as well as chamber pieces for the two instruments by Debussy, Schumann and Brahms.
For Saturday’s performance Takács will perform a Beethoven sonata and the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major with the Festival Amadeus Orchestra under the direction of Zoltek. The orchestra and Zoltek conclude the concert with the dynamic Symphony No. 4 in d minor by early Romantic composer Robert Schumann.
Robert deMaine returns for the festival finale on Sunday, Aug. 14, reprising his role as soloist in a modern cello concerto written by Zoltek, “Through Tamarack and Pine,” which had its world premier with the Glacier Symphony in November 2021. The festival concludes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, perhaps one of the greatest and most popular of his symphonies.
Each concert will include a 30-minute Pre-Concert Talk at 6:30 p.m. given by soloists and visiting composers.
“It seems like only yesterday that a classical music festival in Northwest Montana was a dream of mine,” Zoltek said in a release. “Now in our 15th year, I am pleased to reflect in the festival offerings the universal language that is music, and give the summer audiences in the Flathead the chance to see and hear instruments and pieces that are representative of that global and historic language.”
Further information and tickets are available for Festival Amadeus by calling the box office at 406-407-7000 or on the Glacier Symphony website https://glaciersymphony.org/.
For more information: Glacier Symphony and Chorale Office 406-407-7000 or info@gscmusic.org
CAMP FESTIVAL AMADEUS
Camp Festival Amadeus, operated by North Valley Music School in collaboration with the Glacier Symphony, will also be in session for aspiring young musicians in grades 7 to 12. Each day, campers will participate in orchestra sessions, small ensembles, sectionals and elective classes taught by musicians from the Festival orchestra. Campers will attend workshops and Musical Journey talks with the Festival’s guest musicians. These presentations are open to the public and are held in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center at 3 p.m. Monday Thursday. Each evening, campers will receive complimentary tickets to the Festival concerts, courtesy of the Glacier Symphony. Registration for the music camp can be found on the school’s website http://northvalleymusicschool.org/camp-festival-amadeus/.
