The 2015 Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival opens on Lopez Island Thursday, Aug. 6 at 5:30 p.m. at Lopez Center. “Russian Tableaux” is an exhilarating concert filled with Russian works and more, featuring violin, viola, cello, saxophone and piano. This program exhibits a cyclical unity never before presented by the festival. It begins and ends with the same theme. In the first duet, the audience will hear Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Glory Op. 11, No. 6. This work for piano for four-hands will be performed by Jon Kimura Parker, OICMF artistic advisor, and one of his star students from Rice University, pianist Viktor Valkov. Then patrons will hear this same theme in the last movement of the closing work, Anton Arensky’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor. Those who attended the Miró Quartet’s “Complete Sixteen String Quartets of Beethoven” on Orcas last June will recognize that this same theme was used in Beethoven’s Opus 59, No. 2.
“I can’t begin to express how thrilled I am to bring the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival to Lopez for a fourth season,” said Aloysia Friedmann, artistic director. “Lopezians have embraced our music – and in turn we love performing here. This year’s program is filled with music for all tastes!”
Concert highlights also include 2015 Grammy-winning saxophonist Timothy McAllister performing Sergei Prokofiev’s Vision fugitives and Grigora Dinicu’s Hora Staccato with Jon Kimura Parker, and three cellos performing together in David Popper’s Requiem, also joined by Parker. Bugs Bunny comes to life when the exciting duo of cellist Lachezar Kostov and pianist Viktor Valkov perform Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. They’ll also perform Buxton Orr’s popular “A Carmen Fantasy.” And hot off the press – the Kostov/Valkov duo is releasing their new CD “Transcriptions and Paraphrases for Cello and Piano” during the festival, and they’ll be on sale after the Lopez concert during a nightcap reception. Tickets are $25, $10 for students at www.lopezcenter.org.
For the ideal concert experience, begin your day by attending the Music Lovers Seminar for the “Russian Tableaux” concert at Port Stanley Schoolhouse from 9 a.m. to noon. This transformational experience provides insight to the composers and repertoire for that evening’s performance. We are pleased to welcome Robert Baldwin, director of the Salt Lake Symphony and a specialist in Russian music, as lecturer. Also an accomplished violist, Dr. Baldwin’s preconcert talks and community music classes are popular mainstays of the Utah arts scene. In addition, his award-winning blog on music and creativity, Before the Downbeat, can be viewed at: beforethedownbeat.wordpress.com/.
A brunch will accompany this entertaining seminar. Tickets are $25, 18 and under free. To purchase, visit the Lopez Bookshop, Paper Scissors on the Rock, Lopez Island Farmers Market or lopez@oicmf.org.
For info, visit oicmf.org
