Music Festival Marks 50th
With Music, New Center
The Sitka Music Festival live concerts and events have been announced by Zuill Bailey, artistic director, Kel Dylla, executive director, and the board of directors.
SMF will celebrate its 50-year history as the premier Alaskan classical music festival and the completion of a multi-million-dollar restoration of Sitka’s historic Stevenson Hall.
The festival will run June 5-26 with evening concerts at Harrigan Centennial Hall and concerts from the porch at the new Miner Music Center at Stevenson Hall, 104 Jeff Davis Street.
Performance updates will be announced on the SMF website at sitkamusicfestival.org. COVID-19 protocols will be in place, including socially distanced performance seating.
“It is our hope that this summer’s music will be rejuvenating,” Dylla said. “The past year has been a very difficult time for people the world over. This year has been challenging for musicians and audiences alike, but it also has created a longing for live performances like no other time in recent history. We want the entire Sitka community and out-of-town guests to return to experience the joy, connection and hope of live music.”
Bailey, a Grammy-award-winning cellist, has programmed works by 23 composers from more than 11 countries, including Argentina, Greece, Canada, United States and Russia. Five of the composers are women. In addition to the roster of celebrated classical musicians, four members of Miami’s New World Symphony will be in residence for the length of the festival.
“We are honoring 50 years of music-making with friends and community pride in this internationally-celebrated festival,’’ Bailey said. ‘‘We are thrilled to host members of New World Symphony who will perform many of the works by our featured five women composers. Thanks to the generosity of our beloved patrons and festival concertgoers, we can all look forward to this as a time for reflection and hope – together as a community.”
The five female composers to be highlighted are Amy Beach (1867-1944), an American pianist and composer of large-scale art music; pianist, organist and music teacher Florence Price (1887-1953), the first African American woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra; Jesse Montgomery (b.1981), composer, chamber musician and music educator whose compositions focus on the vernacular, improvisation, language and social justice; Caroline Shaw (b.1982), an American violinist, singer and composer who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013; and American Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b.1939), the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1983.
A special 50th Anniversary Season “Open House Party” and Grand Opening of the Miner Music Center at Stevenson Hall is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. June 5.
A free family lawn-concert will be at 3 p.m. June 6.
The festival will host its annual crab feed fundraising event as a “drive-thru” in the UAS-Sitka Campus parking area noon-2 p.m. June 20 at a cost of $55 for a meal for two and $32 for a bag of crabs.
Visit the SMF website at sitkamusicfestival.org for festival information, which will be continually updated. General admission for full festival pass tickets are $120, and $100 for seniors, youths and military. General admission single concert tickets are $25, and $20 for seniors, youths and military. Tickets go on sale April 16 on the festival website or locally at Old Harbor Books, 201 Lincoln Street. For information, call the Sitka Music Festival ticket office at 747-6774.
Climate Connection: Solving Our Own
Uniquely Alaskan Problems
By Leah Mason
Last week marked the creation of a new bill to encourage energy innovation and create a carbon fee. H.B. 2073 was introduced with the support of 28 sponsors and has already attracted 7 more this week alone. In this column we’ve talked a lot about the benefit of putting a price on carbon, but what about the other half? Energy innovation? What could this mean for Alaskans?
We have some conditions that can be a challenge for technology designed in other places, and adapting them to Alaska conditions can be difficult, inconvenient, and expensive. On the other hand, those conditions have created solutions and technologies that work well here and elsewhere!
One of the first things I heard about Alaska Airlines was that their technique for getting in and out of Juneau in low visibility had gone global. You might not have heard of it, but put RNP RNAV and Alaska Airlines into a search engine and be prepared to see how far we’ve come with their determination to make things smoother for Alaskans. Now, not every airport is as foggy and awkward as Juneau, but many have Juneau moments, and it turns out that there are a lot of other benefits to this innovation. Fuel and time savings are side effects that most airlines can appreciate. Their next big move for the notorious conditions in Juneau was their acquisition of “fog-busting” heads-up display technology (HUD). Another first for Alaska! Yes, yes... we still get stuck in Juneau, but I have faith that someone over there continues to work on it!
What I take away from that story is that what works here has a good chance of being useful in a lot of other places. In a future that uses much less fossil fuels, our energy challenges are an extreme version of the challenges that most communities will face. How can we ensure that new technologies work for us without expensive adjustments? Could we be proactive about meeting our own needs, and develop something that the rest of the world could use too? Heck, yes!
Now is a good time to think about our future and a new role for ourselves as innovators. Nobody else understands the conditions we live in and the challenges they raise – or appreciates the possibilities that they open up.
What kinds of energy innovation do Alaskans need? More energy efficiency? Yes! Yes! More small scale renewable energy sources? Yes! What will work for medium sized cities on the coast? How about smaller communities living farther inland? What will work for isolated, small, rural, and remote island communities? What do we need to make our move from oil dependent to energy self-sufficient? A good place to start that conversation is with Alaska’s own Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP). As we get ready to solve our uniquely Alaskan problems, you can see more of what Alaska has to offer at https://alaskarenewableenergy.org/
----
Leah Mason is a member of the Sitka Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
Communitywide
Prayer Saturday
A communitywide prayer has been scheduled 10 a.m. Saturday at Totem Square.
Contact Pastor Dug Jensen with questions at 747-5454.
School Board Sets
Budget Hearing
The Sitka School Board will hold the final budget hearing and budget approval 6 p.m. April 21 at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
The meeting also can be viewed virtually using the ZOOM conferencing tool. The link to the meeting will be posted on the front page of the school district Website under announcements.
Ocean Wave
Quilters Meet
Ocean Wave Quilters will meet 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 4, via Zoom.
Monthly meetings, September through June, are open to all, members or not. Those wishing to pay the $25 dues receive a monthly newsletter, discounts on classes and other benefits.
For information call President Sarah Jordan at 738-7272.
Thailand Travels
Subject of Talk
The public can hear Michael Mausbach tell stories and show photos from his travels in Thailand on Thursday, May 13, via Zoom.
Mausbach spent time researching the politics of memory and military ruination along the Death Railway.
The presentation is part of Sitka Public Library’s Armchair Travels Speaker Series and will be held via Zoom. The registration deadline is noon May 13. To sign up, call the library at 747-4020 or email margot.oconnell@cityofsitka.org.
UAS Selected for
Leaders Program
The University of Alaska Southeast has been selected as a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success, the largest leadership honor society and collegiate leadership development program in the country.
The NSLS is a “life-changing leadership program that helps students achieve personal growth, career success and empowers them to have a positive impact in their communities,” according to its website.
UAS will invite second-semester freshmen and sophomores to join starting in the fall and provide a scholarship fund to help offset the cost of individual membership. Students will participate for one semester and then have the opportunity to continue their membership and engage as mentors to incoming students.
The program will include Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan students.
For more information contact UAS-Sitka Campus.
Lenten Services
Set at St. Michael’s
St. Michael’s Cathedral will hold services for the sixth week of Great Lent, as it continues lenten preparation for Pascha, or Orthodox Easter, on May 2.
This year, the week of April 19-25 is known as the Week of Palms on the Orthodox calendar. At the Cathedral, Presanctified Liturgy will be served at 5 p.m. Wednesday and Friday evenings; Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., the Lazarus Saturday Vesperal Divine Liturgy service will be held. Following the service, a fund-raising chowder and fried bread curbside sale will start at noon.
On Saturday evening, April 24, the Great Vespers service begins at 5 p.m. Sunday morning the congregation will celebrate His triumphant entry into Jerusalem – Palm Sunday – with the Reading of the Hours at 9:10 a.m. and Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m.
On Sunday evening the first of the Bridegroom Matins for Holy Week will begin at 4 p.m.
For information or inquiries, contact Father Ishmael Andrew at 747-8120.
Benefit Dinner
For Sitka Kitch
Sitka Kitch will hold a fundraising take-out dinner 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, May 4, at Beak Restaurant.
It will feature a variety of take-out vegetarian Indian dishes cooked by Beak chef/owner Renée Jakaitis Trafton and her crew.
The planned menu includes: coconut turmeric chickpea curry which includes chickpeas simmered in a coconut broth with carrot, potato and kale; chai spiced red lentil daal, with red lentils cooked in ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, black pepper and bay leaf; spiced basmati rice with cinnamon, cardamom and clove; samosa, a crispy spiced potato and green pea mix in dough; tamarind dipping sauce; naan; housemade chai with ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and bay leaf.
The dinner cost is $50 per person, and the registration deadline is 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 1. All proceeds will benefit the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen, which provides cooking and food preservation classes to Sitka residents. It also provides kitchen rentals on a limited basis for food businesses.
To reserve dinners with PayPal or a credit/debit card go to the online registration page, http://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com, click on the event title and follow the instructions. To use cash or check to reserve dinners, call Chandler or Clarice at Sitka Conservation Society, 747-7509 or email chandler@sitkawild.org.
Garbage Pickup
Delays Announced
The city has received notice from its contractor Alaska Waste that its trucks are having mechanical issues.
Alaska Waste is working to repair them as quickly as possible. Alaska Waste can be reached at 747-5669.
Earth Day
Celebration
Set April 22
The 51st Earth Day celebration will be held 5 p.m. Thursday, April 22, on the SJ Campus.
The theme is ‘‘Restore Our Earth.’’ Community group tables and activities will open at 4:30 p.m. The event will be 5-6 p.m. and attendees are asked to wear a mask and practice social distancing.
The event is supported by Youth for Sustainable Futures, Sitka Conservation Society, Mt. Edgecumbe Environmental Club, Citizen’s Climate Lobby-Sitka Chapter, Sitka Counseling/the HOPE Coalition, Sitka Rotary Club, Sitka350, Sitka Carbon Offset Fund, and the Sitka Health Summit Coalition.
