Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 8.5.15

THE mUsic ISSUE
Fry Street Quartet.
COURTESY SCOTT WILSON
FROM BACH TO BRAZIL
Fry Street Quartet returns to Festival Amadeus, welcoming newcomers Guitar Brasil Duo
FESTIVAL AMADEUS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5.
7:30 P.M. AT WHITEFISH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Festival Amadeus Orchestra with John Zoltek, conductor; Ashu, saxophone; and Brasil Guitar Duo, guitars. Songs to be performed include: Mozart- 6 German Dances K509; Ibert- Concertino de Camera; Piazzola- Two Tangos for saxophone and strings; Mozart- Abduction for the Seraglio Overture; and Bellenati- Concerto for two guitars and orchestra.
7:30 P.M. AT SAINT POPE PAUL II CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BIGFORK
Fry Street Quartet with Andrew Staupe. The engaging Fry Street Quartet will be joined by pianist Andrew Staupe for a program of music for piano quartet, piano solo, and string quartet by Mozard, Schubert, and Beethoven.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6
3 P.M. AT WHITEFISH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Open Rehearsal: Ashu, Spencer Myer, and Yevgeny Kutik
7:30 P.M. AT WHITEFISH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Concert with Ashu, saxophone; Yvegny Kutik, violin; Spencer Myer, piano. This concert features violin/ piano and sax/piano duets by Mozart, Mendelsshon, Ravel, Creston, Rachmainoff and others performed by three mesmerizing musicians.
7:30 P.M. AT SAINT POPE PAUL II
CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BIGFORK
Brasil Guitar Duo in Recital. Internationally acclaimed Brasil Guitar Duo offers a cross cultural program
of music for two guitars by Rameau, Todesco, Leo Brower, David Leisner, and others.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
7:30 P.M. AT WHITEFISH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Festival Amadeus String Orchestra with John Zoltek, conductor; and Fry Street Quartet, strings. Songs to be performed include: Geminiani- Concerto Grosso in D minor “La Folia”; Sibelius- Romance in C; Bach- Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G; Tchaikovsky; and Serenade for Strings in C Major.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8
7:30 P.M. AT WHITEFISH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Festival Amadeus Orchestra with John Zoltek, conductor; and Yvegny Kutik, violin. Songs to be performed include: Mozart- Magic Flute Overture; Mendelssohn- Violin Concerto in E Minor; and Beetho- ven- Symphony No. 5 in C Minor.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9
7:30 P.M. AT WHITEFISH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Festival Amadeus Orchestra with John Zoltek, con- ductor; and Spencer Myer and Andrew Staupe, pianos. Songs to be performed include: Bach- Concerto for
2 Pianos in C Minor; Mozart- Concerto for 2 Pianos
in Eb Major; and Mozart- Symphony No. 41 in C Major “Jupiter.”
For complete ticketing information, visit GSCMUSIC. org or call Glacier Symphony and Chorale Box Office (406) 407-7000. The Full Festival Pass, which includes seven concerts, costs $210 for adults and $110 for youth. The “Pick-4 Pass,” which includes any four concerts, costs $132 for adults and $72 for youth. The Bigfork Pass, which includes all three Bigfork chamber music concerts, costs $50 for adults, $45 for seniors, and $25 for students. Single event tickets are available for both venues.
SBY CLARE MENZEL OF THE BEACON
ix years ago, Ann Francis Bay- less’ family came to Whitefish from the Midwest for a family
reunion, and she fell in love. The cellist returned, three years later, in the sum- mer of 2012, to perform with the Fry Street Quartet at Festival Amadeus, the valley’s classical music festival.
The group has come back to the fes- tival every summer since, and if you ask them, their visits keep getting bet- ter and better.
“It’s nice to return to a place year after year. You get to know it a little bit better,” said Rebecca McFall, the award-winning group’s founder and second violinist. “In 2012 we had a won- derful time and were lucky enough to be invited back.”
It’s not without good reason.
“[Fry Street is] not only brilliant as individual musicians as an ensemble, but they are also fun to work with,” wrote Maestro John Zoltek, who orga- nizes the festival and is the music direc- tor and conductor of Glacier Symphony Corale, “I especially enjoy their ener- gized music making. Their musical communication is contagious. When they perform ... the music seems to leap from their instruments!”
The group, which has played in
residence at Utah State’s Caine Col- lege of Arts since the early 2000s, was founded in 1997. In addition to McFall and Bayless, the group includes vio- linist Robert Walters and violist Brad- ley Ottesen, who cut his teeth as a professional musician in the Calgary Philharmonics.
At Festival Amadeus, Fry Street both plays alone as a group and joins the ranks of local musicians for per- formances in the Festival Amadeus Orchestra.
“It’s always more gratifying to return to the same community again and again,” Bayless said. “We’ve made friends here and you feel like you have a connection.”
One group with whom they will con- nect this year is Brasil Guitar Duo. Bay- less says that though “this will be the first time we meet, of course we know them by reputation.”
Guitarists João Luiz and Doug- las Lora, who met as teenagers in Sao Paulo, have been performing together for 18 years. Like Fry Street, they play internationally and are an award-win- ning group.
“I invited the Brasil Guitar Duo because I know how popular the gui- tar is as a concert instrument,” Zoltek wrote. “This BGD is superb both tech- nically and musically. And they offer a
very different type of repertoire, one grounded in contemporary Latin Amer- ican classical music.”
Luis and Lora, who have never been to this part of the world, are excited to bring their music to Montana. They’ll play songs in the caipira tradition, which has roots in interior Brazil. Lora describes caipira as “music of the farm- ers, of the people who work the land. It’s music that nobody outside of Bra- zil knows about and is a very significant part of our culture.”
Another highlight is the opportunity to work alongside Fry Street. “We are very happy to [play] together,” Lora said. “We admire them. It’s a great pleasure.”
Zoltek makes a point of inviting musi- cians of all stripes to Festival Amadeus. “It’s a diverse mix to have a classical string quartet [like Fry Street] and a Brazilian guitar duo,” Bayless said. “And it’s always fun to get to know folks from
different schools of musical thought.” Joining Fry Street Quartet and the Brasil Guitar Duo Festival Amadeus is Yevgeny Kutik, a Russian-American vio- lin prodigy; Ashu, a saxophonist Zoltek describes as “one of the most exciting and electric performers I’ve experi- enced;” and pianists Spencer Myer and
Andrew Staupe.
[email protected]
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AUGUST 5, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM