White E Parking
Dear Editor: The Sitka White Elephant Shop thanks the public for all the quality donations given for the volunteers to process for sale. In the last 22 years over $1 million has been given back to the community non-profits and individual assistance. So when you park to leave your donations, please, please park as close to the building as possible and NEVER block the easement. The White E strives to be a good neighbor to the two homes behind us as the city easement is the only access to their homes. It is irritating and frustating to them when a vehicle is blocking the easement and we certainly understand. The volunteers appreciate your kind consideration to the two homes when parking. Thank you.
White Elephant Shop volunteers
FESTIVAL NOTES
By Susan Wingrowe
It’s been a long, cold spring but finally there are fabulous concerts on the calendar to warm our hearts - and a whole lot of buzz and excitement about the phenomenal artists and programs that Music Director Zuill Bailey has scheduled for the 42nd annual Sitka Summer Music Festival. I arrived on the Columbia Tuesday morning in time to get settled in a dorm room on campus. Lucky me as I get to stay in Sitka all summer as part of the SSMF (the pre-concert chats and Gordon the Bear’s exploits) and as a teacher and pianist for the Adult and Student Fine Arts Camps. I can hardly wait for the kickoff events this weekend in the Centennial Building! Get your tickets NOW and welcome summer’s much-needed musical gifts.
Friday’s grand opening concert will feature the astonishing talents of pianist Piers Lane (whose Anchorage performance of all the Chopin Nocturnes last fall was jaw-droppingly gorgeous) as well as the fabulous violinist Gil Morgenstern, guitarist David Leisner, and Music Director/cellist Zuill Bailey.
The first half of the concert will include works for solo guitar by Brazil’s beloved composer Villa Lobos as well as a new arrangement of Schubert’s stunning Arpeggione Sonata for cello and guitar. David and Zuill collaborated to create this transcription and it is sure to be an audience pleaser! The second half opens with six of romantic Russian composer Rachmaninoff’s Ten Preludes, Op. 23 for piano solo. These remarkable, complex miniatures are among his finest pieces for keyboard.
Gil and Piers will conclude the concert with a set of virtuosic and engaging works by Bloch, Gershwin and Ravel. Bloch’s reverent, emotional Nigun was described by annotator Alex Knapp, “To transport the performer and the listener to transcendental realms of spirituality.” Next, three popular excerpts from Gershwin’s beloved Porgy and Bess, arranged by the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz; ‘‘Summertime’’ (ah, perhaps warmer weather will grace Sitka soon!), ‘‘A Woman is a Sometime Thing,’’ and ‘‘It Ain’t Necessarily So.’’ The concert’s stunning finale will be the wickedly difficult and thrilling Tzigane – Ravel’s tribute to Hungarian gypsy music.
And there’s more – Saturday night will open with a provocative set of works for solo violin beginning with ‘‘The Stream Flows’’ by Chinese American composer Bright Sheng based on a folk song “which deeply touched me when I first heard it.” Two Partitas follow, the first by Bach and the second by Lithuania’s top composer Barkauskas. Written centuries apart, these are exuberant, lyrical celebrations of the rich voice of the violin. The audience will then be treated to a unique tribute to English composer Sir Benjamin Britten – this is his 100th birthday year – and his wondrous masterpiece Nocturnal after John Dowland (a famous English Renaissance composer). The work is based on Dowland’s most famous song, “Come, Heavy Sleep” (1597); Britten’s setting is a series of dreamlike, restless variations that end with the sweet repose of rest. The final work on the program is Mendelssohn’s beautiful D Minor Piano Trio, described by composer Robert Schumann as “the master trio of the age”; its tuneful melodies will provide an exhilarating conclusion to the weekend’s evening events.
Sunday afternoon is the annual free BP Family Concert at 3 p.m. – this hour-long event will feature the weekend’s artists in a wonderful variety of musical treats, followed by Sea Mart root beer floats for everyone! Children are especially welcome – and I can assure you that music lovers of all ages will have a wonderful time. And you mustn’t forget the free event at the Dock Shack Lounge next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
Come early to the Friday and Saturday concerts to hear fun and intriguing facts about the composers and the music as well as interviews with some of the musicians; these optional concert conversations begin at 6:45 p.m. followed by the performances at 7:30. Let’s give a huge welcome to the renowned musicians who are an essential ingredient of Sitka summers!
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Susan Wingrove is a music educator from Anchorage. She writes program notes for the Sitka Summer Music Festival, and gives pre-concert lectures.
