Symphony's Easter Festival begins

Glacier Symphony and Chorale is launching a new three-concert series called Easter Festival on April 6, 8 and 9.

Patterned after the great spring Easter festivals held annually in Europe and around the world this festival will focus on the varied and rich repertoire of music written for orchestra and chorus.

Among the many works performed will be Beethoven’s grand Choral Fantasy in C minor and Lux Aeterna an American masterpiece for orchestra and chorus by Morten Lauridsen. Opening the festival will be a solo piano recital featuring pianist Ketevan Kartvelishvili performing works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and a 20th Century piece by Paul Aurandt.

Artistic Director and Conductor John Zoltek, who will conduct both the Saturday and Sunday concerts, says he is excited to present this inaugural event.

“Three distinctly different concerts each night means there will be something for everyone! My hope will be for the audience to hear the synergy that comes from the masterful coupling of vocal writing with symphonic writing,” he explains.

The Easter Festival opens with a free concert on Thursday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m. featuring the internationally acclaimed pianist, Ketevan (Keti) Kartvelishveli. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, near the Caucasus mountains, Keti began playing at age 5 and made her debut performance with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra at age 12. She has won first place in numerous international competitions in the U.S. most recently the American Protegé International Concerto Competition in New York City in 2014. There will be an opportunity for the audience to talk to Keti following her performance during a “Talk Back” session from the stage.

Over her career Keti has become acquainted with American composer and concert pianist, Paul Harvey Jr., the son of radio personality Paul Harvey and his wife, broadcast producer Angel Harvey, who began their now-legendary radio and television career in Missoula. As a journalist it was Paul Harvey Jr. who wrote and produced “The Rest of the Story” series for books, television, and radio. But as a composer he adopted the family name Aurandt and, among other works, wrote the formidable Sonata in B-Flat Minor for piano. Keti will play the third movement from this lengthy work.

“I’ve heard her perform in public many time ... and each time the audience reacted as I’ve not witnessed since Horowitz took the stage ... had Kartvelishvili lived in any era, she would have been hailed as a keyboard giant,” he notes.

“Eternal Light” is the title of the Saturday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. concert. The Glacier Symphony will begin the program with Wagner’s transcendental Good Friday Spell from his opera Parsifal. The Glacier Chorale will join the orchestra for Morten Lauridsen’s sacred work Lux Aeterna. The concert will conclude with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D the ‘Reformation’ which was composed in 1830 to commemorate an important Lutheran event in Berlin.

“Choral Fantasy Finale,” at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 9 will complete the Easter Festival. The program will offer a diversity of musical styles and will include the orchestra performing Berlioz’ “Hungarian March.” Kartvelishvili will then return to the stage as soloist in Piano Concerto No. 1 in Eb for piano and orchestra, a demanding, virtuosic work by the legendary 19th century ‘rock star’ composer, Franz Liszt. The second half will employ the orchestra and chorale in Faure’s popular Pavane. The piano soloist will return and join in for Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, providing the thrilling finale.

“We hope our audiences will take this new festival concept to heart as we celebrate the return of spring to our valley,” Zoltek said.

All Easter Festival concerts will be held at Flathead High Performance Hall, 644 4th Ave W. in Kalispell. General admission single tickets are $25 and youth through grade 12 are admitted free. The Thursday concert is free to all.

Purchase concert tickets online at www.gscmusic.org. Special lodging packages for out of town visitors that include discounted tickets to attend Easter Festival are offered on the website www.discoverkalispell.com/packages-listing.

Businesses sponsoring this Easter Festival are Buffalo Hill Golf Club, DA Davidson & Co, Glacier Ear Nose & Throat, McGarvey, Heberling, Sullivan & Lacey, and TrailWest Bank.