- Source: Sitka Summer Music Festival
The Sitka Summer Music Festival is a month-long classical chamber music festival in Sitka, Alaska.
About
The festival takes place in early summer during the month of June with three groupings of musicians. Each group of musicians performs three concerts before a new group arrives to perform the next three concerts.
Each season of the festival consists of around ten evening concerts, the centerpieces of the festival, as well as several free, informal "brown bag" concerts and multiple fundraising events and cruises.
All the evening concerts occur at the breathtaking venue of Harrigan Centennial Hall, in downtown Sitka. While it is not an auditorium (rather, the main hall of a convention/civic center), its glass-panel backdrop reveals a clear view of Crescent Harbor, Eastern Channel and its assortment of small, tree-covered islands dotting its water, snow-capped mountains, and an occasional bald eagle swooping down from the sky.
The organization's offices are located in Stevenson Hall on the campus of the former Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka. Stevenson Hall is part of the National Historic Landmark District created in 2001. The hall was built in 1911 as part of the central campus.
The festival's sheet music library is housed in Stratton Library, also on the campus of the former Sheldon Jackson College.
The artistic director is Zuill Bailey.
Other series
The festival also offers a series of Autumn and Winter Classics at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, where the festival's full-time office is located. During February and June the festival also offers a winter and summer touring series sending a small group of musicians (a piano quintet at most) to a number of small, usually rural communities throughout the state. The winter series visits different communities each year, Sitka notwithstanding, which always hosts the finale concert.
History
The festival began in 1972 as an informal musical reunion, organized by Paul Rosenthal, of the students of Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky from the University of Southern California. Their concerts were a success and the reunion became an annual festival directed by Rosenthal, growing larger throughout the years. The Autumn and Winter Classics in Anchorage were begun in 1980 and have also continued since.
The festival went virtual in 2020 as officials blamed the COVID-19 pandemic as grounds for cancelling live concerts.
Musicians
While there have been 110 festival musicians since its inception in 1972, a list of the more notable musicians classified by instrument is below:
= Bassoon
=Patricia Kindel
= Cello
=Zuill Bailey
Anthony Elliott
Denise Djokic
Godfried Hoogeveen
Gregor Piatigorsky
Nathaniel Rosen
Peter Rejto
Stephen Kates
Toby Saks
Jeffrey Solow
= Clarinet
=Eli Eban
Michael Webster
Russell Harlow
= Double bass
=David Brown
Jeff Levine
= Flute
=Leone Buyse
Lorna McGhee
Maria Piccinini
Donna Stewart
= Guitar
=Jack Sanders
Simon Wynberg
= Harp
=Nancy Allen
Rita Costanzi
= Horn
=Francis Orval
Robert Routch
= Oboe
=Allan Vogel
= Piano
=Arnulf von Arnim
Doris Stevenson
Edward Auer
Phillip Bush
Jerome Lowenthal
Sung Mi-Im
Ursula Oppens
= Viola
=Atar Arad
David Harding
Marcus Thompson
Milton Thomas
Paul Neubauer
Rainer Moog
Randolph Kelly
Toby Hoffman
Leslie Harlow
= Violin
=Andres Cardenes
Arturo Delmoni
Charles Castleman
Christiaan Bor
Diane Monroe
Gwen Thompson
Ik-Hwan Bae
Martin Beaver
Paul Rosenthal
Philippe Djokic
A full list of musicians.
References
External links
Official website
Article about the festival
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Daftar julukan kota di Amerika Serikat
- Sitka Summer Music Festival
- Summer music festival
- Sitka, Alaska
- Sheldon Jackson College
- Paul Rosenthal (violinist)
- Alaska
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Summer solstice
- List of people from Alaska
- Music of Alaska
