Moving up an octave

Two student musicians have a little extra on their music stands this week during Festival Amadeus.

Noah Certalik and Tristan Hernandez, both seniors this fall at Bozeman High School, will join the Glacier Symphony onstage — on top of their long days as Camp Festival Amadeus students.

Camp Festival Amadeus is a week-long music camp hosted by North Valley Music School, where students work with and perform for Glacier Symphony musicians and other visiting performers. The camp coincides with Festival Amadeus, which features live classical concerts in Whitefish through Aug. 11.

Both Certalik and Hernandez have been attending the camp since eighth grade, but this is the first time they’ll get to play with the orchestra during the festival.

Certalik plays violin while Hernandez plays cello. Their first rehearsal was Sunday night.

“It was really fun, I enjoyed it,” Certalik said “Everything seemed to flow pretty nice.”

Certalik is the son of Bozeman High School Orchestra Director Michael Certalik, who also plays in the Glacier Symphony and has worked with Camp Amadeus for the last 15 years. The two students were invited to play by Michael Certalik and Glacier Symphony conductor John Zoltek.

They’re enjoying the experience so far, they say on Monday, and the music is especially fun.

Hernandez says he enjoys Felix Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, to be performed on Thursday night, while Certalik is a fan of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte,” an opera.

Either way, the music is a welcome challenge for the young performers.

“It’s definitely more difficult and more advanced,” Hernandez said. “But it’s good for us to start playing that.”

“It takes more attentive practice,” Certalik added. “When you’re younger you play a lot of arranged pieces from the bigger composers, Beethoven and Mozart, but now we’re playing the actual handwritten works. Which is really cool, you can see the historical aspect and it’s more technical to play. It’s a cool experience.”

This is the first time Camp Festival Amadeus students have joined in with the orchestra, North Valley Music School Executive Director Deidre Corson says, but it’s in line with the camp’s mission of connecting students with seasoned musicians.

Between Certalik and Hernandez’s experience and the rest of the camp, Corson says Camp Amadeus students get their fair share of hands-on time with the instructors.

“We’re pretty lucky that we can bring in the festival musicians to work with our campers,” she says. “They’re with them pretty much all day. They pretty much spend five rich hours with the festival musicians and get to gain their knowledge and experience.”

The Glacier Symphony performs every night from Tuesday through Sunday this week as part of Festival Amadeus, while Camp Amadeus runs for the students earlier in the day, culminating in a concert on Friday at noon in the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.

For a full schedule of the festival, visit www.gscmusic.org/festival-amadeus.

The process of making music is showcased to the public when the festival guest artists share their stories at several “Musical Journey” talks with the students as part of the camp. The programs are held in the lobby of Whitefish Performing Arts Center and are free of charge. The public is also invited to observe Camp Festival Amadeus classes during the week.

- Wednesday, Aug. 7, 3-4 p.m. Musical Journey with Opera singers from the cast of Così fan tutte

- Thursday, Aug. 8, 3-4 p.m. Musical Journey violinist William Hagen

- Friday, Aug. 9, noon at Whitefish PAC orchestra of Camp Festival Amadeus performs

For more information contact NVMS at 406-862-8074 or www.northvalleymusicschool.org.