The Glacier Symphony and Chorale will open its 32nd concert season with a special one-night performance featuring the American Harp Quartet on Friday, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.
Currently touring Montana and the northwest the American Harp Quartet is a newly formed ensemble of some of the finest harpists from across the nation. Their performance repertoire includes a wide variety of music ranging from Big Band to Latin jazz to works from the classical repertoire. Such popular tunes as “Mack the Knife” and Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” will be interspersed with Chopin’s “Ocean” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Adios Nonino.” All the music has been arranged or composed for harp by Willi Huber Maerz.
“It is a rare chance to have four harps on stage at one time,” GSC Music Director John Zoltek said, adding that the caliber of the musicians is extraordinary.
The quartet is comprised of Ellie Choate, Delaine Leonard Fedson, Leslie Stratton and Jacquelyn Venter.
Choate hails from Southern California and is an active soloist and chamber musician who is likely to be found performing with a symphony orchestra, the opera or backing headline artists. She has worked on numerous major motion pictures and recordings and has produced four CDs of her classical, pop and jazz arrangements.
Leonard Fedson lives in Austin, Texas, where she teaches at the University of Texas Butler, School of Music, Southwestern University, and Austin Suzuki Harp Studio. She has performed with orchestras, opera companies, and chamber groups and national touring acts. She is the current President of the American Harp Society, Inc.
Stratton is currently principal harpist with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in Ohio. She also directs ‘Harps of Grace’ an ensemble of 14 harpists who were recently featured with the Dayton Philharmonic. She performs numerous solo concerts across the country for arts organizations, churches and schools. She has performed with numerous orchestras among them the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Symphonies and she organizes the Inland Northwest Harp Festival. She has produced four solo recordings.
Venter is an active performer and teacher and has been principal harpist for the Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, South East Iowa, and the Central Iowa Symphony Orchestras. She was a featured guest-artist with the GRAMMY-winning choir ensemble, Conspirare whose album reached number ten on the Billboard Charts. Her resume also includes serving as director of the Young Texas Harp Ensemble. She holds a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin.
Tickets for the American Harp Quartet are priced in two seating tiers from $18 to $20 for adults and seniors, $10 for college age and $5 for students through grade 12. They can be purchased online at www.gscmusic.org or by calling 407-7000. The concert is sponsored by Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish who is hosting the quartet.