Festival Amadeus celebrates 15th Anniversary in Flathead

This summer the Glacier Symphony presents the 15th annual Festival Amadeus, the region’s only week-long classical music festival, offering spectacular chamber and orchestra concerts in the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, Aug. 9-14.

Founding Artistic Director and conductor, John Zoltek, has crafted this milestone year’s programming to be extra special, as the select Festival Amadeus Orchestra is joined by prestigious guest artists and composers in an innovative summer musical experience titled Mozart and the Modern.

In the first two days of the festival “West meets East” in a festival lineup that will bridge the musical aesthetics of Western and Eastern classical music, pairing the music of Mozart with contemporary compositions influenced by Chinese and Asian musical language, poetry and legends. Visiting Canadian composers, Mark Armanini and Rita Ueda bring with them erhu (Chinese fiddle) master Yun Sung, harpist Albertina Chang and narrator Jenny Lu to realize these unique compositions. They will be joined by Kalispell flutist Beth Pirrie to perform pieces with magical titles such as “Night Bird Singing” and “Water Dragon Tune”. These compositions are the sort of provocative pieces that are not readily heard in the concert hall and a testament to the pioneering programming that is the hallmark of Festival Amadeus.

As an example of the aesthetic blending, the festival’s opening night, Tuesday, Aug. 9, evocatively-themed Night Bird and Prague, will feature both new music by Ueda and Armanini as well as Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D “Prague”, a popular masterpiece. Wednesday’s chamber concert will be an exceptional evening of lyrical and poetic music for flute, harp, erhu and narrator.

Beginning on day three, Festival Amadeus returns to more traditional Western fare. Not to be missed on Thursday, Aug. 11 is Mozart’s charming Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major with Ms. Pirrie and Ms. Chang as soloists. Rounding out that evening’s concert is a delightful symphony by Mozart’s beloved friend, Joseph Haydn, and the “Modern” on the program represented by another piece by Ueda, ice melting… trickling gently.

The final days of the festival feature two performers of the highest caliber – Robert deMaine, principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and internationally-acclaimed pianist, Peter Takács. Their programs rely heavily on the music of Beethoven, who admired and was greatly influenced by Mozart, as the traditional element. Takács is widely considered one of the greatest interpreters of Beethoven of our time. On Friday, Aug. 12, Takács and deMaine will present the composer’s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major as well as chamber pieces for the two instruments by Debussy, Schumann and Brahms. Schumann and Beethoven take center stage again for Saturday’s performance with Takács performing a Beethoven sonata and the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major with the Festival Amadeus Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Zoltek. The orchestra and Maestro Zoltek conclude the concert with the dynamic Symphony No. 4 in d minor by early Romantic composer Robert Schumann.

Robert deMaine returns for the festival finale on Sunday, Aug. 14, reprising his role as soloist in a modern cello concerto written by John Zoltek, Through Tamarack and Pine, which had its world premiere to great acclaim with the Glacier Symphony in November 2021. The festival concludes with Beethoven’s immortal Symphony No. 5 in C minor, perhaps one of the greatest and most popular of his symphonies.

Each concert will include a 30-minute Pre-Concert Talk at 6:30 p.m. given by soloists and visiting composers. It’s a great way to get a first-hand music introduction from the musicians themselves!

Specific details about the concerts and this remarkable week of music can be found on the Glacier Symphony, Orchestra and Chorale website.

Camp Festival Amadeus, operated by North Valley Music School in collaboration with the Glacier Symphony, will also be in session for aspiring young musicians in grades seventh through 12th. Each day, campers will participate in orchestra sessions, small ensembles, sectionals and elective classes taught by musicians from the Festival orchestra. Campers will attend workshops and Musical Journey talks with the Festival’s guest musicians. These presentations are open to the public and are held in the lobby of the Whitefish Performing Arts Center at 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Each evening, campers will receive complimentary tickets to the Festival concerts, courtesy of the Glacier Symphony. Registration for the music camp can be found on the school’s website http://northvalleymusicschool.org/camp-festival-amadeus/.

“It seems like only yesterday that a classical music festival in NW Montana was a dream of mine,” says Maestro Zoltek. “Now in our 15th year, I am pleased to reflect in the festival offerings the universal language that is music, and give the summer audiences in the Flathead the chance to see and hear instruments and pieces that are representative of that global and historic language.”

Further information and tickets are available for Festival Amadeus by calling the box office at 406-407-7000 or on the Glacier Symphony website https://glaciersymphony.org/.

For more information: Glacier Symphony and Chorale Office 406-407-7000 or info@gscmusic.org