FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]

Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Alaskan Grilled in D.C. Over Climate Science
26 Mar 2024 14:51

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]

Faster Internet Speeds In Rural Schools OK'd
26 Mar 2024 13:53

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]

Native Words Gathered In Environment Studies
26 Mar 2024 13:52

By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
    In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska,  [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Police Blotter
26 Mar 2024 13:49

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Community Happenings
26 Mar 2024 13:48

Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m.  [ ... ]

Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens in Hayward
25 Mar 2024 15:30

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]

Projects on the Table For Cruise Tax Funds
25 Mar 2024 15:28

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]

Braves Take Second at State after Close Loss
25 Mar 2024 15:23

By Sentinel Staff
    Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]

City League Games Continue
25 Mar 2024 15:11

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

Cellists Front and Center for Cellobration

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    One day this week Sitkans got to hear impromptu solo cello performances as they picked up groceries at Sea Mart, or paid a bill at city hall.
    Later that day, students in the Sitka International Cello Seminar gathered to share their music with the public at the Mean Queen restaurant.
    It was all part of the training the 11 musicians are receiving during their three weeks studying with seminar co-founders Zuill Bailey and Dr. Melissa Kraut. The seminar includes practice time alone and with each other, formal and informal lessons with Bailey and Kraut, recreational time outdoors, and, yes, chances to engage with Sitkans and perform in formal and informal ways.
    “We see now how it works in this setting,” said Bailey, artistic director of the Sitka Summer Music Festival. “People have to be flexible. ... They’re learning things only this seminar can give them: the toolbelt of life.”
    “Spontaneous,” agreed Kraut, co-chair of cello at the Cleveland Institute of Music. “They’re learning how to be great public speakers, an ability to engage with an audience and an ability to plan a program appropriate for a venue, an ability to problem solve ....”
    “It’s what you need to be a healthy, functioning musician for the 21st century,” Bailey said.
    Performances continue next week, wrapping up with Sitka Cellobration, 7 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Sitka International Cello Seminar musicians, from left, James Hettinga, Madelyn Kowalski and Kristiana Ignatjeva perform at Sitka Public Library this afternoon. (Sentinel Photo)

    Before then there will be performances at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 16, on the lower level of the Mean Queen; noon Wednesday at the Sitka Public Library; and 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Ludvig’s Wine Bar.
    Programs are student-driven, based on pieces the students are working on together, and with Bailey and Kraut.
    Students at the Cello Seminar, now in its sixth year, come from all over the world and are working to complete their undergraduate and graduate degrees. During their time here, they stay at Stevenson Hall, the Sitka Summer Music Festival’s home on the SJ campus. The cello seminar is a program of the Music Festival.
    Ivana Biliskov of Split, Croatia, is studying for her master’s degree at the University of Texas in El Paso, where Bailey is on the faculty and is artistic director of the music festival El Paso-Pro Musica. Biliskov is a teaching assistant at the university.
    From a family of amateur musicians, Biliskov became interested in her instrument after hearing a live performance of a cello concerto when she was 7.
    “I couldn’t stop thinking about cello, I wanted to know more about it,” she said. “Two years later, my parents decided to enroll me in a cello program.”
    She continued her studies at a music elementary and high school, taking music lessons and theory classes, and didn’t look back.
    “It was a natural fit for me,” she said. She came to the U.S. with a full scholarship to study cello at the University of North Texas in Denton.
    She is in her first year at the Cello Seminar.
    “The first year I wanted to study with great professors, but I also want to keep engaging (with) community performances and collaborating with great players,” she said. “I also want to learn more about myself, and Sitka is the place to do it. There’s a lot of peace, which is not easily found in a big city.”
    Sarah Miller, who is from Bayville, New York, is studying for her master’s degree with Kraut at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has attended other festivals around the U.S. and is now in her third year at the Sitka seminar. She enjoys the multiple opportunities to perform, the more intimate setting, and the time she gets in lessons and one-on-one with Kraut and Bailey.
    “I keep coming back because I love it,” she said. “This one is different. It’s so small. We get so much exposure to the teachers and to the community that you don’t get at other festivals. You learn so much faster. You get so many more perspectives than you do at festivals.”
    Each of her three years has offered her a new experience, since different musicians attend each year, and she is at a different phase of her life.
    Back for her third year, she said, “I still don’t know what I want to do (with my career). I’m refining my skills I need for my future and putting it into practice in the community. Everyone who comes brings something different to the table. We work with what we have and it’s different every time.”
    Tickets to the Sitka Cellobration on July 20 are $15 for general admission, and $10 for students and seniors. They are available at Old Harbor Books and the door, and online at sitkamusicfestival.org.


You have no rights to post comments

Login Form

 

20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

Calendar

Local Events

Instagram

Daily Sitka Sentinel on Instagram!

Facebook

Daily Sitka Sentinel on Facebook!