Past Seasons

Paul and Christine Seitz Concerts

Seitz Program (PDF)

 

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Lindsay Garritson 'Reimagined' Concerts

Lindsay Garritson, piano

Wednesday, June 7th 2023
Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette
7:30pm

Thursday, June 8th, 2023
Ontonagon Theater, Ontonagon
7:30pm

Saturday, June 10th, 2023
Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton
7:30pm

 

Reimagined

Sarabande and Chaconne from Handel’s Almira (12 minutes) Franz Liszt

Sonata in F sharp major, Op. 78 (8) Ludwig van Beethoven

Nocturne in B major, Op. 9, No. 3 (7) Frederic Chopin

Etude, Op. 10, No. 12 (3)

Fantaisie in B minor, Op. 28 (8) Alexander Scriabin

La cathédrale engloutie from Préludes, Book I (5) Claude Debussy

Rang De Basant (8) Reena Esmail

Troubled Water (5) Margaret Bonds

Etude No. 3 “The Man I Love” (2) Gershwin/Wild

Intoxication Piano Rag (2) John Novacek

Dr. Lindsay Garritson has performed throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Place des Arts (Montreal), and has been featured as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (Texas), Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Barra Mansa (Brazil), the Yale Philharmonic Orchestra, and the European Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

An award-winning performer, Lindsay has received top prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition, USASU Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, and the Mozarteum International Chopin Competition (Salzburg). She was selected as a participant in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition as well as a finalist for the German Piano Award in Frankfurt, Germany.

An avid chamber musician, Lindsay has performed with Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Carter Brey, Ettore Causa, and Ian Rosenbaum, among many others. She is currently a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio with violinist Scott Flavin and cellist Ross Harbaugh, and their first album of Beethoven and Brahms trios was released in the summer of 2021. Since 2018, she has been a collaborative pianist for the prestigious Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival.

Lindsay is a passionate advocate for new music, and her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in November 2019 featured the world premiere of Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 4, a work written for her. Additionally, her second solo album titled “Aphorisms: Piano Music of Carl Vine” was released in 2020. She has also recorded the complete works for flute and piano by Samuel Zyman (Albany Records, 2020), and premiered works by composers David Ludwig, Nick Omiccioli, and Polina Nazaykinskaya.

Lindsay holds degrees from Principia College (B.A. in Music), Yale School of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), and the University of Miami (D.M.A.). Her piano teachers include Santiago Rodriguez, Boris Berman, Luiz de Moura Castro, Choong-Mo Kang, Zena Ilyashov, Emilio Del Rosario, the late Jane Allen, and Jennifer Lim Judd. She currently resides in Florida.

 

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Isle Royale Quartet Concerts

Isle Royale Celebrates Its 80th Anniversary Through Music

The Superior String Alliance Chamber Players

Lauren Pulcipher, violin
Danielle Simandl, violin
Ria Hodgson, viola
Adam Hall, cello

 

Friday, June 9th 2023
Rock Harbor Auditorium, Isle Royale National Park
7 - 8pm

Sunday, June 11th, 2023
Orpheum Theater, Hancock
7:30 - 8:30pm

Monday, June 12th, 2023
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Marquette
8 - 9pm

 

The Sound of Water by Libby Meyer

Wrapped within
young leaves;
the sound of water
– Soseski

The Sound of Water comes more than 20 years after my residency on Isle Royale National Park which resulted in my move from Chicago to the Keweenaw Peninsula where I have made my home since 2002. At that time and still today, the sound of water fascinates me. I can spend hours on the shore, swimming and in my kayak listening. This work is my celebration of this sound.

 

Submechanophobia by Eric McIntyre

One of the most memorable experiences from my residency at Isle Royale National Park in the summer of 2005 was when I backpacked across the island and spent two days in Windigo. Jim Call, who was working concessions there, was kind enough to take me on a boat out to the site of the SS America shipwreck. We had such a wonderful conversation along the way, but when we arrived at the ship and Jim suggested that I might reach out and try to touch the bow of the ship just under the surface, I was silent as I came face to face with “submechanophobia,” the fear of submerged man-made objects.

The work that I composed in response to my Artist-in-Residence experience included a movement titled, In sepulcro aquoso (In the Watery Grave), which was inspired by my thoughts about the narrative of the ship’s sinking in 1928.

When I was invited to compose this quartet for the 80th anniversary of IRNP, I was immediately drawn back to the memory of that visit to the America. In this new work, I employ melodies and harmonic materials from that earlier composition to imagine a journey that begins in the cold, dark pressure of the ship’s depths then bubbles upward, bit by bit, into the light and eventual release above. While the music pushes toward freedom and redemption, the entire experience is shaped by submechanophobia.

 

Storm Beneath a Marbled Sky by Katherine Bergman

Storm Beneath a Marbled Sky depicts the experience of watching a storm roll in on Lake Superior. Imagine you are standing on the western tip of Isle Royale as the air turns cool, raindrops begin to pepper the rocks, and the sky shifts from murky reds and oranges to grays and greens as a fury of waves crash into the cliffs below your feet.

 

String Quartet 9 “Keweenaw” by Elena Ruehr

I. A Thimbleberry Ripens in the Sun
II. A Blizzard
III. Central (A Ghost Town)
IV. Lake Superior At Night
V. Wolf Chase

I grew up in a very beautiful part of the world, the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which used to be a center for copper mining but is now a wonderful wilderness of forests, lakes, ghost towns, and mountains.

This quartet explores various parts of that world, from a native berry ripening in the sun, to an early fall blizzard, to a ghost town called Central, to the majestic Lake Superior itself, to the wolves who still live there.

Commissioned by Michael Leimer in memory of Susanna Carmela Leimer and written for Quartet ES.

Ann Arbor based violinist Lauren Pulcipher enjoys a career of both performing and teaching. As a performer she can be found playing with various groups throughout the midwest region. She is a member of the Tuuli Quartet and the Mulholland String Quartet. Lauren also performs regularly with the Ann Arbor, Lansing, and Jackson symphonies. Lauren has additionally been in residence at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute and at Tufts University with the Michigan based Khemia Ensemble.

As a teacher, Lauren maintains a private studio in Ann Arbor and collaborates across teaching studios to create chamber music and other group playing experiences for her students.

Lauren holds a Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and two Masters Degrees from the University of Michigan in Violin Performance and Chamber Music. Her principal teachers have included Samantha George, Aaron Berofsky and Hal Grossman.

Lauren is excited for her debut performance at the Pine Mountain Music Festival!

Danielle Simandl is currently the Executive Director of Superior String Alliance (SSA) and Co-Executive Director of Pine Mountain Music Festival (PMMF), both of which are arts nonprofits based in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Danielle performs with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra in Iowa, and with the Fox Valley Symphony in Wisconsin as Principal Second Violin. An equally dedicated chamber musician, Danielle can be found performing different kinds of chamber music in unique corners of the Great Lakes region, especially with the Tuuli Quartet and the Superior String Alliance Chamber Players. She is also the Music Director of SSA’s Summer Music Camp, and the proud owner of countless tie-dye T-shirts. Danielle holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies from Lawrence University, and a Master of Music in Violin Performance and a Performance Certificate from DePaul University.

Ria Hodgson performs regularly with a wide variety of ensembles, including the Superior String Alliance Chamber Players, and the Rockford, Quad City, and Madison Symphony Orchestras. Ria has also been a guest artist of summer festivals throughout the US and abroad, including the Tuscia Opera Festival, the Vianden Music Festival, the Pine Mountain Music Festival, and Midsummer’s Music Festival. She is a founding member of the Tuuli Quartet, which celebrates the music of contemporary and classical composers as a tool for community building and communication.

Ria earned a Bachelor of Music from Arizona State University, where she studied with Nancy Buck, and a Master of Music degree from DePaul University where she was a student of Rami Solomonow. Additional training comes from her postgraduate study with Sally Chisholm at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A passionate advocate for music education, Ria is the director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras Music Makers program which works to ensure access to instrumental instruction for all students, regardless of their financial background.

Adam Hall began his undergraduate studies in Chicago at DePaul University, and later moved to Glasgow where he completed his bachelor's and master'sdegrees in cello performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying with Alison Wells. He was then awarded the prestigious Holland Scholarship and continued his post-graduate studies with Michel Strauss and Jan-Ype Nota at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, specializing in contemporary music and improvisation. Adam currently lives in Marquette, Michigan, where he plays regularly with the Marquette and Keweenaw Symphony Orchestras, and the Superior String Alliance (SSA) Chamber Players.

As a teacher, Adam has been on faculty at the SSA Summer Music Camp for almost a decade, and serves as the director of SSA Strings Club. He runs a private studio in Marquette teaching cello lessons, and is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher.

 

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Bergonzi Piano Trio Concerts

The Bergonzi Trio

Tuesday, June 13th 2023
Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton
7:30pm

Thursday, June 15th, 2023
Ontonagon Theater, Ontonagon
7:30pm

Saturday, June 17th, 2023
NMU Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette
7:30pm

 

PROGRAM

Piano Trio No. 44 in E major, Hob. XV/28 Joseph Haydn

(1732-1809)

I. Allegro moderato

II. Allegretto

III. Finale:Allegro

 

Piano Trio Germaine Tailleferre

(1892-1983)

I. Allegro animato

II. Allegro vivace

III. Moderato

IV. Trés animé

 

Intermission

 

Piano Trio Maurice Ravel

(1875-1937)

I. Modéré

II. Pantoum: Assez vif

III. Passacaille: Tres large

IV. Final: Animé

Violinist Scott Flavin enjoys a remarkably versatile musical career. Since 1998 he has been a professor of violin at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he is first violinist of the internationally acclaimed Bergonzi String Quartet, as well as Resident Conductor for the Henry Mancini Institute. He is Concertmaster of the Symphony of the Americas, and is violinist of the PULSE Trio and, of course the Bergonzi Piano Trio. As a composer and arranger, his works have been heard on “Performance Today” and have been recorded by the Bergonzi Quartet. As conductor, he has appeared on the podium with such diverse artists as Joseph Siverstein, Bobby McFerrin, Mark O’Connor, and Chick Corea. His recordings include chamber music on the Naxo, M&W, and Centaur labels, and commercial recordings on Sony, EMI, and Warner Brothers, including appearances on over a dozen Grammy Award-winning albums. He has written four plays, and his book, “Complete Scales for Violin” is available through M&W Music. He has recorded two solo CD’s, “Great Violin Solos of the Opera and Ballet” and the Brahms violin sonatas, and his CD “Trésors Oubliés: Unknown Treasures of the Franco-Belgian Violin School” is currently in production.

 

Ross Harbaugh is Professor of Cello at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. His distinguished teachers include Janos Starker and Leonard Rose in the United States and Andre Navarra at the Paris Conservatory, and chamber music study with the Juilliard Quartet. As a founding member of the New World String Quartet he won the Naumburg Prize, a Prix du Disque, and recorded 20 records and CD’s for Vox, MCI Classic and IMP Masters, CRI, Centaur, Fleur de Son, and Musical Heritage labels. Performing throughout

Europe and the United States, he has appeared in concerts at the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Alice Tully Hall, and Wigmore Hall in London. He has soloed with the Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati and Toledo Symphonies, among many others. His teaching experience includes stints at Harvard University, University of Michigan, and Interlochen, with master classes at Yale and Brown Universities. Mr. Harbaugh presents workshops in ensemble communication, Tai Chi for Cello, and gives cello workshops throughout the country at such venues as the 7th American Cello Congress in Tempe and the ASTA National Conventions. He has authored numerous articles for American String Teacher, The Strad, and appears regularly on National Public Radio. He has served as judge for the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, Stuhlberg Competition, and Fulbright Competition for Graduate Study Abroad. He performs and teaches in numerous summer festivals including his beloved Pine Mountain Music Festival. His book entitled Chamber Music Excerpts for Cellists will be available in 2024.

 

Dr. Lindsay Garritson has performed throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Place des Arts (Montreal), and has been featured as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (Texas), Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Barra Mansa (Brazil), the Yale Philharmonic Orchestra, and the European Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

An award-winning performer, Lindsay has received top prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition, USASU Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, and the Mozarteum International Chopin Competition (Salzburg). She was selected as a participant in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition as well as a finalist for the German Piano Award in Frankfurt, Germany.

An avid chamber musician, Lindsay has performed with Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Carter Brey, Ettore Causa, and Ian Rosenbaum, among many others. She is currently a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio with violinist Scott Flavin and cellist Ross Harbaugh, and their first album of Beethoven and Brahms trios was released in the summer of 2021. Since 2018, she has been a collaborative pianist for the prestigious Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival.

Lindsay is a passionate advocate for new music, and her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in November 2019 featured the world premiere of Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 4, a work written for her. Additionally, her second solo album titled “Aphorisms: Piano Music of Carl Vine” was released in 2020. She has also recorded the complete works for flute and piano by Samuel Zyman (Albany Records, 2020), and premiered works by composers David Ludwig, Nick Omiccioli, and Polina Nazaykinskaya.

Lindsay holds degrees from Principia College (B.A. in Music), Yale School of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), and the University of Miami (D.M.A.). Her piano teachers include Santiago Rodriguez, Boris Berman, Luiz de Moura Castro, Choong-Mo Kang, Zena Ilyashov, Emilio Del Rosario, the late Jane Allen, and Jennifer Lim Judd. She currently resides in Florida.

 

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The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage Concerts

Friday, June 16, 2023 / 5:00pm
Saturday, June 17, 2023 / 7:30pm
Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, MTU, Houghton, MI

A new opera by composer Elena Ruehr and Pulitzer-prize winning librettist Royce Vavrek, with stage direction by Giselle Ty.

Featuring

Creatives and Production

Elena Ruehr, Composer
Royce Vavrek, Librettist
Sydney Padua, Novelist
Giselle Ty, Director

Performing Ensemble

Aliana de la Guardia, Ada Lovelace
Aaron Engebreth, Charles Babbage
Erin Matthews, Queen Victoria and various roles
Omar Najimi, Minion and various roles
Lilit Hartunian, Violin
Rane Moore, Clarinet
Stephen Marotto, Cello
Mike Williams, Percussion

 

About the Opera:

Based on the New York Times best-selling graphic novel by Sydney Padua, this is a staging of the comedic new work. It centers on scientists Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, the real-life unsung inventors of the first computer, fighting crime in alternate universes with their new invention.

Ada Lovelace was a mathematician, gambler, and proto-programmer, whose writings contained the first-ever appearance of general computing theory. Lovelace was the first great genius to develop a programming language, and she is still not generally known. Charles Babbage was the eccentric inventor of the Difference Engine, an enormous clockwork calculating machine that would have been the first computer if he had ever finished it.

 

Prologue

Lord Byron and Annabella argue on how to raise their daughter Ada.

Adventure #1 – Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage meet.

Interlude #1

Adventure #2 – Queen Victoria pays Lovelace and Babbage an unexpected visit.

Adventure #3 – Lovelace experiences the THIRD dimension!

Interlude #2

Adventure #4 – Lovelace and Babbage fight crime and take names, I mean, NOTES!

Epilogue: Graphic Liberties – Look at all of those Adas. Our work is far from done!

 

From Elena Ruehr, Composer:

It was sometime in the spring of 2015. I was cooking dinner while listening to NPR when I heard Sydney Padua come on to talk about her graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. I was struck by her but also struck by the fact that my mother’s family had a tale that we were related to Lord Byron (Lovelace’s father) through a chambermaid, who unmarried and with child by Byron, was forcefully sent to Windsor, Canada, and became one of my ancestors. This story is probably not true. My mother’s family loves good stories, truth be told.

But the seed was there, and I was interested. So I read Sydney’s book and fell madly in love. What a great opera this would make! Then I met Royce Vavrek, a fabulous librettist, met Sydney, and was given the rights, and suddenly a show was born.

Finally, it seems very important to me that we composers embrace the idea of comedy in our work. So much contemporary opera, and in fact much contemporary art, has such dark themes. Indeed, we live in dark times. But I do think it’s important to step back and remind ourselves of how wonderful we are.

 

From Sydney Padua, Graphic Novelist:

Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace were larger-than-life, passionate personalities who naturally belong in comic books and grand opera. Theirs was a magnificent unrequited love story of human and machine, and although it had a tragic ending in reality I wanted in imagination to provide them with all the enormous clanking computers they could possibly have wished for. I’m so excited that Elena shared this vision and brought it to life with (irresistible pun) – the Music of the Gears!

Operas on mathematical subjects remain sadly rare, despite the close affinity of music and mathematics; comic operas about computing are even rarer despite the fact that computers are extremely funny. MIT is the perfect partner for this production and I hope newbies to both computing and opera enjoy the show.

 

Bios

Elena Ruehr (Composer), an award-winning member of the MIT Music and Theater Arts faculty since 1992, is known for her vocal music and collaboration with poets. She has written extensively for chamber ensemble, orchestra, chorus, wind ensemble, instrumental solo, opera, dance, and silent film. Ruehr’s works have been commissioned and performed by numerous string quartets, and she has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute and composer-in-residence with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Royce Vavrek (Librettist) is a Canadian-born, Brooklyn-based opera librettist, playwright, dance scenarist, musical theater writer, and filmmaker. He is the co-artistic director of The Coterie, an opera-theater company founded with Tony-nominee Lauren Worsham, and his work has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Kitchen, and American Lyric Theater, among others. Vavrek’s opera “Angel’s Bone” with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Sydney Padua (Novelist) is a graphic novelist, animator, and filmmaker. She grew up partly in Mexico City, partly on the Canadian prairie, and partly in Narnia. She studied theater at the University of Alberta and animation at Sheridan College in Toronto. Her visual effects work includes both hand-drawn and computer-generated animation and appears in such films as The Iron Giant, The Jungle Book, and The Lion King; she is currently a lead animator on Mufasa: The Lion King. She started drawing her cult webcomic The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by accident in 2009 when a joke blog post took on a life of its own. It eventually became a best-selling graphic novel, winner of the British Society for the History of Mathematics Neumann Prize and nominated for two Eisner Awards. Padua lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her husband. She is beside herself with joy that The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage is now an opera, and considers this the greatest thing that could possibly happen to anybody.

Giselle Ty (Director) is a London-based stage director who specializes in experimental, interdisciplinary, and site-specific work. She has directed productions for Boston Lyric Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera at National Sawdust, New York University Tisch School of Drama, Harvard University Early Music Society, Simpson College, and Houston Grand Opera (HGOco). Engagements as an associate and assistant director include collaborations with the American Repertory Theatre, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Festival, Opera Boston, Gotham Chamber Opera, Icelandic Opera, L’Opéra de Bordeaux, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Ty also creates original work that sits at the intersection of live performance and installation. In 2015, she conceived and directed All at Once Upon A Time (Or Variations on a Theme of Disappearing) for the Peabody Essex Museum’s Gardner-Pingree House. She was also granted a residency with New Georges’ Theatre to develop Invitation to an Empty Room, an unplugged happening for total strangers.

Aliana de la Guardia (Ada Lovelace) is a Massachusetts-based Cuban-American soprano vocalist, arts leader, producer, and voice teacher. Specializing in new music and opera, she has enjoyed collaborations with opera companies, chamber ensembles, and artists of varied disciplines throughout New York, Massachusetts and the nationwide, and guest starred on ABC’s “Body of Proof.” She is a PARMA Recordings Artist and is also featured on commercial releases through BMOP Sound and others. A co-founding artist and Artistic Director of Guerilla Opera, she has premiered many new operas over 16 years. She is half of the voice and percussion duo, Bahué, which generates a repertoire of new music from Latinx composers. She has participated in arts and non-profit leadership programs from Philanthropy Massachusetts, Essex County Community Foundation, OPERA America, Double Edge Theatre, and is on the OPERA America Membership Council. She is the owner of the Dirty Paloma Voice Studio and also teaches private voice lessons at the Community Music School of Springfield, formerly treasurer of the Granite State chapter of NATS. She has been a guest artist/lecturer at colleges, universities, and conservatories throughout the country and with the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Regional Dance Development Initiative, and with speaking engagements at Washington National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Singers Resource, and Classical Singer and National Opera Association conventions.

Baritone Aaron Engebreth (Charles Babbage) enjoys a varied solo career in opera, oratorio, recital and devotes considerable energy to the performance of both established music and contemporary premieres, frequently collaborating with many of today’s preeminent composers. He is twice GRAMMY-Award nominated for Best Operatic Recording for his featured roles with the Boston Early Music Festival Opera and Radio Bremen. In the U.S. he is frequently featured as a guest soloist on stages from Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Boston’s Symphony Hall. Internationally, he has concertized from Sapporo Japan’s Kitara Hall to Le Theatre de la Ville in Paris and the AmBul festival of Sofia, Bulgaria. He has been a guest of the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Rockport and Monadnock Music Festivals as well as many of the country’s fine symphony orchestras. His recent New York City Opera debut in Dominick Argento’s A Waterbird Talk performed at Carnegie Hall, compelled the New York Classical Review to state, “Engebreth is a marvelous actor, capable of holding his character’s many facets and motivations in tension.” As a recording artist, Engebreth is featured on nearly 30 commercially released recordings from the baroque to modern premieres. Originally from Wisconsin, he is a long-suffering and devoted fan of the Green Bay Packers.

Praised by the Boston Globe for her “pristine timbre and expressive face,” Erin Matthews (Queen Victoria and various roles) is a highly sought-after soprano & teacher in the Boston area. She has been seen locally with companies such as Enigma Chamber Opera, Promenade Opera Project, and Strange Trace, in roles including Flora (The Turn of the Screw), Despina (Così fan tutte), Johanna (Sweeney Todd), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), and Noémie (Cendrillon). Matthews has also been recently featured as a choral musician with Nightingale, Cappella Clausura, and at Trinity Church in Copley Square, where she has been the featured soprano soloist for concert works including the Fauré Requiem, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, and Handel’s Messiah. Matthews hails from Texas, where she received both her Bachelor’s of Music in Voice and Bachelor’s of Arts in French from the University of North Texas. She relocated to Boston in 2016 to obtain her M.M. in Opera and her Alexander Technique Certification from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. In addition to performing, Matthews maintains an active private studio in the area teaching both voice & the Alexander Technique, when she is not at home playing with her cats, Rosie and Jolene.

Boston-based artist Omar Najmi (Minion and various roles) splits his time between composition and performance, maintaining a busy schedule as an operatic tenor. Praised as “a world class voice in every respect,” Najmi recently made his international debut creating the title role in Joseph Summer’s operatic adaptation of Hamlet with Bulgaria’s State Opera Rousse. Other recent and upcoming engagements include Rodolfo in La Boheme with Opera Steamboat, Astolfo in Furiosus with Mercury Opera, Shakur in Thumbprint with Portland Opera, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet with Boston Lyric Opera, Spearmint Lodge in the world-premiere of The Artwork of the Future with Fresh-Squeezed Opera, Alfredo in La Traviata with MassOpera, Gastone in La Traviata with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, tenor soloist in St John Passion and Christmas Oratorio with Emmanuel Music, Tito in La Clemenza di Tito with Opera Steamboat, and Bilal in This Is Not That Dawn with Catalyst New Music. Najmi enjoys a long standing relationship with Boston Lyric Opera where he began his professional career as an Emerging Artist (2013-2015). He has performed over 15 productions at the company, and he served as their first ever Emerging Composer in the 2020/2021 season. His other operatic engagements have included Opera Colorado, Chautauqua Opera, Annapolis Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Maine, Opera Fayetteville, Opera NEO, Opera North, Odyssey Opera, American Lyric Theater, and more.

Najmi made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2018 as the tenor soloist in Mark Hayes’ Gloria. He has since returned as the soloist in Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, and as a soloist in Talents of the World Inc.’s Caruso Tribute Concert. He has performed several times as a soloist with the touring concert Video Games Live, including an appearance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Najmi has been the recipient of the Harold Norblom Award from Opera Colorado, the Stephen Shrestinian Award from Boston Lyric Opera, 2nd prize from the Wilkinson Young Singers Fund, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellowship from Emmanuel Music, 2nd place nationally in the Handel Aria Competition, and he has been a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

Najmi began his composition career with the production of his first opera, En la ardiente oscuridad, in 2019. After a run of sold-out performances, he was invited to serve as the first ever Emerging Composer in residence with Boston Lyric Opera, where he worked with Boston Youth Poet Laureate Alondra Bobadilla in the creation of the song cycle my name is Alondra. The piece received its live premiere on BLO’s Street Stage in 2021. In 2022, his motet The Last Invocation was premiered by Emmanuel Music. His recently commissioned song cycle More Than Our Own Caves just received its premiere with Juventas New Music Ensemble. He is currently working on Jo dooba so paar – a short opera exploring the intersection of Queer and Muslim identity – which will be premiered as part of White Snake Projects’ Let’s Celebrate initiative. In 2022, Najmi and his husband Brendon Shapiro co-founded Catalyst New Music – an organization dedicated to fostering, developing, and producing new works. Catalyst’s first project – presented with the support of The Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston grant – was a concert performance of Najmi’s new opera This Is Not That Dawn, a drama set during and after the Partition of India.

Lilit Hartunian (Violin) performs at the forefront of contemporary music innovation, both as soloist and highly in-demand collaborative artist. First prize winner in the 2021 Black House Collective New Music Soloist Competition, Hartunian’s “Paganiniesque virtuosity” and “captivating and luxurious tone” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) are frequently on display at the major concert halls of Boston, including multiple solo performances at Jordan Hall and chamber music at Symphony Hall (Boston Symphony Orchestra Insights Series), as well as at leading academic institutions, where she often appears as both soloist and new music specialist. Described as “brilliantly rhapsodic” by the Harvard Crimson, Hartunian can be heard on New Focus Records, Innova Recording, SEAMUS records, New Amsterdam Records, and on self-released albums by Ludovico Ensemble and Kirsten Volness. Hartunian frequently performs works written for her by leading composers, including a world premiere by Guggenheim Fellow Marti Epstein, duo recitals with composers John McDonald and Ryan Vigil, and both audio album and special video projects with composer Sid Richardson. As collaborative artist and ensemble musician, Hartunian regularly performs with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, A Far Cry, Sound Icon, Emmanuel Music, Callithumpian Consort, Guerilla Opera, and Ludovico Ensemble, and recently performed as guest artist with the Lydian Quartet and the Arneis Quartet.

Rane Moore (Clarinet) enjoys an active performing schedule at home and abroad. She is a member of the Talea Ensemble, Sound Icon, and the award-winning wind quintet The City of Tomorrow. Moore has given numerous premieres of new works and appeared with International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Guerilla Opera, New York New Music, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars among many others. She is a frequent guest with Boston-based groups Emmanuel Music, Boston Musica Viva, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Boston Ballet Orchestra. She is also the principal clarinetist of the Boston Philharmonic and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. She serves as the the Co-Artistic Director of Winsor Music, a Boston area based concert series and community engagement organization. Moore has recordings on Tzadik, Pi, Wergo, and ECM records and is on faculty at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Longy School of Music of Bard College. Critics have praised her “enthralling,” “tour-de-force,” and “phenomenal” performances.

A native of Norwalk, Connecticut, Stephen Marotto (Cello) has received a Bachelors degree with honors from the University of Connecticut, and Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Boston University. Stephen’s formative teachers include Michael Reynolds, Kangho Lee, Marc Johnson, and Rhonda Rider. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Marotto plays regularly with chamber groups throughout New England and also performs on various new music concert series in the Boston area and beyond. Marotto has attended music festivals at the Banff Centre, Cortona Sessions for New Music and SoundSCAPE festival in Italy, and the and the Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. Marotto has a wide range of musical interest that include contemporary chamber music, improvisatory music, and electroacoustic music. As a soloist, Stephen has commissioned several new works for the instrument, and is concerned with expanding and augmenting the tonal pallet of his instrument both with and without technology. Stephen can be heard as a featured artist on Mode Records. In his spare time, Marotto is an avid hiker and outdoorsman.

Hailed by The Boston Globe as “one of the city’s best percussionists,” Mike Williams (Percussion) is an advocate for contemporary music, a member of the new music sinfonietta Sound Icon, the Calithumpian Consort, and is a co-founding artist of Guerilla Opera as well as former co-artistic director, with whom he has commissioned and premiered many new chamber operas since 2007. Williams has worked with many of the leading composers of our time including Pierluigi Billone, Philippe Leroux, Salvatore Sciarrino, Gunther Schuller, and Roger Reynolds.

 

Guerilla Opera is a Boston-based chamber opera company and 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to foster a new canon of chamber opera for the 21st century through commissioning and performance, and to engage new audiences by making opera more accessible, creative, and experiential. In daring performances that often do not use a conductor, Guerilla Opera has garnered a national reputation for “deliciously inventive” (WBUR) contemporary opera with The Boston Globe raving that “radical exploration remains the cornerstone of everything it does.”

 

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UPstarts! Concerts

 

2023 PMMF UPstarts!

Michael Halvorson, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Oskar Gaenssle, bassoon, contra bassoon
Maitri White, soprano
Adam Hall, cello

Susan Byykkonen, UPstarts! Director & pianist

 

Monday, June 19th 2023
Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts, Ontonagon
7:30 - 9pm

Tuesday, June 20th, 2023
NMU Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette
7:30 - 9:30pm

Wednesday, June 21st, 2023
Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts Lobby, Houghton
7:30 - 9:30pm

 

Program:

Concerto in d minor for Bassoon, I. Allegro, Antonio Vivaldi
- Oskar Gaenssle, bassoon

Prendi, per me sei libero, Gaetano Donizetti
- Maitri White, soprano

12 Caprices for Solo Cello, op. 25, no. 7, Alfred Piatti
- Adam Hall, cello

Kid Gloves, Griffin Candey
- Michael Halvorson, saxophone

Sole e amore, Giacomo Puccini
- Maitri White,  soprano

Elegy, Marianne Ploger
- Michael Halvorson, saxophone

Susanin’s Aria from A Life for the Tsar, arr. for contra bassoon and piano, Mikhail Glinka/Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, edited by David Hayes, Adapted by Oskar Gaenssle
- Oskar Gaenssle, contra bassoon

I Never Saw Another Butterfly, I. The Butterfly, Lori Laitman
- Maitri White, soprano & Michael Halvorson, saxophone

Prelude in b minor for Bassoon, Frederic Chopin/Robert Broemel
- Oskar Gaessle, bassoon

L’heure exquise, Poldowski
- Maitri White, soprano

Lamentations: Black/Folk Song Suite for solo cello, I. Fuguing Tune, III. Calvary Ostinato,Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
- Adam Hall, cello

Walking on the Ceiling, I. Heavy, David Biendenbender
- Michael Halvorson, saxophone

Give Me No Body Without Your Soul, from Blue Steel, William Grant Still
- Maitri White, soprano

Summer Storm, from Songs of the Season, Margaret Bonds/arr. for this ensemble by Libby Meyer
- UPstarts! Ensemble

 

Translations:

“Prendi, per me sei libero” from L’elisir d’amore

Take it; through me you are free:
Stay on your native soil;
There is no destiny that is so bitter
That it cannot change one day. Stay.
Here, where everyone loves you,
Wise, loving, honest man, ah!
Always unhappy and sad
No, you will not always be this way, ah no.

Sole e amore

The sun cheerfully
Beats at your window. Love
Softly beats at your heart,
And both of them call out.
The sun says: O sleeping one,
Show yourself for you are beautiful.
Love says: Sister,
With your first thought, think of the one who loves you!

The Butterfly from I Never Saw Another Butterfly

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
against a white stone…
Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ‘way up high.
It went away I’m sure because it wished
to kiss the world goodbye.
For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here,
In the ghetto.

L’heure exquise

The white moon
Gleams in the woods;
From every branch
There comes a voice
Beneath the boughs...

O my beloved.

The pool reflects,
Deep mirror,
The silhouette
Of the black willow
Where the wind is weeping...

Let us dream, it is the hour.

A vast and tender
Consolation
Seems to fall
From the sky
The moon illuminates…

Exquisite hour.

“Give Me No Body Without Your Soul” from Blue Steel

Give me no body without your soul. You cannot love me unless I possess you whole.
Give me your heart, and with it cause a gleam on the flowering fountain of my deep love –– darkly now glistening, weeping and dim.
Your eyes blaze with steel and bright fire, and give to shame of my old gods and shame to my fear.
The pain in my breast is sweeter than fear. The voice of a new and strange desire is clear. Hold my hand, smooth my hair, lest the gods melt our love in the air.
Gladly now would I pay the score that would the gods ask if of your love I were sure. If of your love I could be sure, of your love could be sure!

Summer Storm from Songs of the Season

Thunder, July thunder,
And the wonder of lightning in the sky,
And a sudden gale that shakes the blossoms down in perfumed splendor to the grassy ground.

Thunder, July thunder,
And the wonder in my heart that I have found you, Wonderful you, beneath the blossoms gay, in the perfumed splendor of a July day.

With the wonder of summer lightning in the sky, and a sudden gale that shakes the blossoms down
Like confetti in your hair, like confetti on the ground, Perfumed confetti drifting down on the sweet and wonderful summer earth, the sweet, sweet summer earth.

There pillowed on the grass in the orchard’s shade, I kissed you.
Till a sudden gale shook the blossoms down,
Confetti in your hair, confetti on the ground,
And then the rain, the soft sweet rain, came down.

We run down the road in the dust of July,
We are happy for the rain, clean and cool from on high,
In the dust, hand in hand, in the dust of July,
Hand in hand, you and I, you and I, in July.

Thunder, Thunder, in my heart,
The wonder of love, thunder, wonder in our eyes: the wonder of being in love,
We two, the wonder of being in love with you.

 

Bios:

Always eager to explore music and education, Michael Halvorson has been homegrown as an appreciator, educator, and performer of all varieties of music. Hailing from Marquette, Michigan, he grew up in a community that instilled a passion for the arts. Fluent in the classical and jazz saxophone realms, Michael has performed for/with professional musicians such as Dr. John Sampen, Hans de Jong, ~Nois Quartet, Ted Nash, Bob Mintzer, and Adam Larson, among others. He has performed with the Central Wisconsin Symphony, Marquette Symphony, River Cities Jazz Band, and various university ensembles. Michael also teaches in central Wisconsin, where he maintains a studio of middle to high-school-aged students teaching classical and jazz saxophone and introductory saxophone pedagogy.
Michael’s primary teachers have included Dr. Matthew Ludwig and Patrick Booth. He studies under Dr. Myles Boothroyd, pursuing a Bachelor’s in Music Performance from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. Michael is a brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Oskar Gaenssle is a recent graduate of Northern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Arts/Music with a focus on Bassoon Performance. Originally from Los Angeles California, Oskar has lived most of his life in the UP. Growing up in Ishpeming, he picked up the bassoon in 7th grade and has fallen in love with it since! In addition to the bassoon and contrabassoon, Oskar also frequently plays electric and upright bass. He has played in groups such as the Marquette Symphony Orchestra, Marquette City Band, Negaunee City Band, Soo Opera Theatre, and various NMU ensembles on bassoon and bass. He plans to start graduate school in the fall at the University of Western Ontario where he will pursue a Masters in Music Literature/Performance with a focus on Contrabassoon.

Panamanian-American soprano and DEIA advocate Maitri White has always recognized that to create a sustainable life, she must be equally community and career-minded. She believes that solidarity and transparent communication among artists at all levels are key to the much needed equity reckoning in the performing arts industry. Currently based in Ann Arbor, MI, Maitri is a freelance opera singer, Equity Initiatives Assistant for UM College of Engineering’s Office of Student Affairs, and the Philanthropy and Public Relations Manager of Hear Us Hear Them Ensemble. In the 2022-23 season she performed as a member of the chorus for Detroit Opera’s productions of Faust, Aida in Concert, and Ainadamar. Maitri holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Minor in Performing Arts Management and Entrepreneurship from the University of Michigan.

Adam Hall began his undergraduate studies in Chicago at DePaul University, and later moved to Glasgow where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in cello performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying with Alison Wells. He was then awarded the prestigious Holland Scholarship and continued his post-graduate studies with Michel Strauss and Jan-Ype Nota at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, specializing in contemporary music and improvisation. Adam currently lives in Marquette, Michigan, where he plays regularly with the Marquette and Keweenaw Symphony Orchestras, and the Superior String Alliance (SSA) Chamber Players.

As a teacher, Adam has been on faculty at the SSA Summer Music Camp for almost a decade, and serves as the director of SSA Strings Club. He runs a private studio in Marquette teaching cello lessons, and is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher.

 

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PMMF Steampunk Gala 

In keeping with the steampunk theme of our opera this season, we are planning a steampunk themed event at the Quincy Mine Hoist House that will include music, food and great conversation! Wear your favorite steampunk themed outfit and join the fun! For inquiring minds: steampunk is a design style inspired by Victorian era industrialism; think steam-powered machinery, Victorian era clothing, and anachronistic accessories for science fiction flair. Google ‘steampunk’ if you want to know more about the genre, look, and vibe! This thrilling event will take place during the festival. Check the PMMF website for more details in the coming months!

Wednesday, June 14th, 2023
Hancock
Quincy Mine Hoist House
8 - 10pm

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Bach in the Mine

Saturday, September 30th, 2023
6:00 pm
Quincy Mine Hoist House
Tickets are $100 per person
Wine & dessert reception to follow concert
Cellist Adam Hall will perform solo Bach and more!

Bach in the Mine is a fundraiser for the upcoming 2024 PMMF season, and your support will ensure that we can continue to provide our community with the highest quality classical music programming.

Adam Hall, cello
Saturday, September 30, 2023
6:00pm
Quincy Mine Hoist House

Program

Giovanni Battista Degli Antonii (1636-1698): Ricercate for Solo Cello
I. Ricercata Prima

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Six Suites for Solo Cello - Suite No. 4 in E♭ major, BWV 1010
I. Prelude
II. Allemande
III. Courante
IV. Sarabande
V. Bourrée I / II
VI. Gigue

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004): Lamentations: Black/Folk Song Suite for Solo Cello
I. Fuguing Tune
II. Song Form
III. Calvary Ostinato
IV. Perpetual Motion

 

Adam Hall began his undergraduate studies in Chicago at DePaul University, and later moved to Glasgow where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in cello performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying with Alison Wells. He was then awarded the prestigious Holland Scholarship and continued his post-graduate studies with Michel Strauss and Jan-Ype Nota at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, specializing in contemporary music and improvisation. Adam currently lives in Marquette, Michigan, where he plays regularly with the Marquette and Keweenaw Symphony Orchestras, and the Superior String Alliance (SSA) Chamber Players.

As a teacher, Adam has been on faculty at the SSA Summer Music Camp for almost a decade, and serves as the director of SSA Strings Club. He runs a private studio in Marquette teaching cello lessons, and is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher.

Join us this year, June 13 - 22 in Crystal Falls, Marquette, and Houghton! All concerts are listed in their local time zones. Scroll down for in-depth event descriptions. If you want to see events in a more linear fashion, visit our calendar page.

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30th Anniversary Appalachian Spring Performances

PERFORMANCES

• June 25, 7:30pm - Kaufman Auditorium, Marquette
• June 26, 7:30pm - Rozsa Center, Houghton

 

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PROGRAM

William Tell Overture, Gioachino Rossini
Orchestra with members of the MSO, KSO, MCB and UPstarts (Conductor: Joel Neves)
 
Appalachian Spring (Ballet for Martha), Aaron Copland
Presented in the original format for 13 players
Original choreography by Maisie Zahn and members of the NMU dance company with support from Jill Grundstrom, Head of Dance, NMU
 
Intermission
 
Miles Mykkanen with pianist, Lois Kaarre
Pizzetti “I pastori”
Respighi “Mattinata”
Strauss “Heimliche Aufforderung” “Traum dutch die Dämmerung” “Zueignung”
Britten “Miles... I’m all things strange and bold” from The Turn of the Screw
Merikanto “Oi muistatko vielä sen virren”
Bizet “A cette voix... Je crois entendre encore” from Les pêcheurs de perles
 
The Marquette City Band Ensemble (Director: Dr. Stephen Grugin)
All You Need Is Love, Lennon/McCartney, arrangement by Steve Grugin
Spain, Chick Corea
Sir Duke, Stevie Wonder
Eric Banitt, keyboards; Robert Smedman, lead vocal; chorus of UPstarts and band members

Moira Smiley and Jefferson Hamer

Pine Mountain’s 29^th Season kicked off with vocalist, musician and composer Moira Smiley and songwriter, guitarist and traditional musician Jefferson Hamer teaming up to perform a mixture of solo performances and duo work pulling from both of their repertoires.

Moira and Jefferson performed at the following venues:

Iron Mountain High School in Iron Mountain, Monday, June 17^th

Reynolds Hall in Marquette, Tuesday, June 18^th

Calumet Theatre in Calumet, Wednesday, June 19^th

Jefferson Hamer

Jefferson also performed a solo show at the

Crystal Theatre in Crystal Falls, Thursday, June 20^th

Bergonzi Trio

The Bergonzi’s returned to the festival this year as a trio: Scott Flavin on Violin, Ross Harbaugh on Cello, and Lindsay Garritson on Piano. They performed Beethoven’s Trio in Bflat Major, opus 97 “Archduke” by special request, as well as Trio in B major, opus 8 by Brahms. The trio continued its special tradition of presenting free children's concerts throughout the U.P.

The Bergonzi Trio performed at the following venues:

Reynold’s Hall in Marquette, Wednesday, June 19^th

Iron Mountain High School in Iron Mountain, Friday, June 21^st

Rozsa Center in Houghton, Saturday, June 22^nd

UPStarts

The ever-popular UPstarts—young gifted musicians from the Upper Peninsula along with the professional talent of Miles Massicotte, Hristina Blagoeva and Giovanni Perez, brought their fresh energy and promising talent to the festival. UPStarts this year included: Eric Banitt on piano; Benjamin Merte on bass; Kalee Hernendez on piano; Karen Albert, mezzo-soprano; and Benjamin Zindler, trombone. Special guest soprano Liz Grugin, one of 2018’s UPstarts, performed a duet with Karen. Susan Byykkonen returned as accompanist.

UPstarts performed at the following venues:

Presque Isle Bandshell Free Concert in Marquette, Friday June 28^th

First Presbyterian Church in Kingsford, Saturday, June 29^th

Rozsa Center in Houghton, Sunday, June 30^th

Miles Massicotte, Hristina Blagoeva and Giovanni Perez

These three professional musicians from New York, pianist Miles Massicotte and flutists Hristiana Blagoeva and Giovanni Perez put on a superb show of solos, duets and trios showcasing their talent through modern and classical pieces.

This show was performed at the following venue:

Calumet Theatre in Calumet, Wednesday, June 26th

Carmen

Pine Mountain’s 28^th season’s pièce de résistance was Bizet’s sensuous opera, Carmen, which was the 37th opera produced by PMMF.  Amanda Crider, a brilliant singer and multifaceted artist, played the role of Carmen.  Tenor Isaac Hurtado (Ultimi: Three Tenors) played the role of Don José and soprano Heather Youngquist (Resident Opera Artist, Rockland The Opera) was Micaëla.  Baritone Christopher Holmes (Escamillo) rounded out a rock-solid lead cast.  The orchestra and chorus included professional musicians from the Upper Peninsula and surrounding areas.  Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra music director, Joel Neves, conducted the opera.

Carmen was performed at the following venue:

Rozsa Center in Houghton, Thursday, June 28^th & Saturday, June 30th

Bergonzi String Quartet

Nearing their 25th appearance at the festival, the world-class Bergonzi String Quartet  (our Quartet-in-Residence) delivered another compelling program of masterwork classical string quartets, including Mozart and Brahms.  The quartet continued its special tradition of presenting free children's concerts throughout the U.P.

The Bergonzi String Quartet performed at the following venues:

Reynold’s Hall in Marquette, Wednesday June 20^th

Immaculate Conception Church in Iron Mountain on Thursday, June 21^st

Rozsa Center in Houghton on Saturday June 23^rd

UPStarts

The ever-popular UPstarts—young gifted musicians from the Upper Peninsula chosen via competitive talent contest—brought their fresh energy and promising talent to the festival.

UPstarts performed at the following venues:

Reynolds Hall in Marquette on Friday June 15^th

Rozsa Center Backstage in Houghton on Saturday June 16^th

FirstPresbyterian Church in Kingsford on Monday, June 18^th

Art Song Recital

 Justin Spenner (baritone) and Mario Perez (tenor), creators of the innovative B-Sides Art Song Collective, presented a vocal recital of the love-drenched art songs of German Romantic composer, Robert Schumann, including Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love) and Liederkreis (Round of Songs).

Art Song Recital was performed at the following venue:

Portage Lake United Church on Tuesday, June 19th

Alma Flamenca, A Taste of Carmen

In a continuing effort to diversify our programming, the Festival introduced award-winning French dancer, Karyne Arys, as our featured Flamenco artist, joined by Paul Buttin (guitar) and Kahlil Sabbagh (cajon).  She was also cast as the gypsy dancer in Carmen.  Our Flamenco troupe joined the lead cast of Carmen (Amanda, Isaac, Christopher, Heather) in "A Taste of Carmen": a series of concerts in Iron Mountain and Marquette that featured the very best highlights from the opera, including arias, duets, and dances.  Karyne also presented a special dance masterclass in Marquette at the Queen City Arts Co-op on June 22.

Alma Flamenca was performed at the following venues:

Crystal Theatre in Crystal Falls on Saturday, June 23^rd

Calumet Theatre in Calumet on Sunday, June 24^th

A Taste of Carmen was performed at the following venues:

Iron Mountain High School on Wednesday, June 20^th

Reynolds Hall in Marquette on  Friday, June 22^nd

The Beethoven Project (Bergonzi String Quartet)

A collaborative multi-genre play for two actors (Julie Tabash Kelsheimer and Mark Wilcox) and the Bergonzi String Quartet (Scott Flavin, Ross Harbaugh, Chauncey Patterson, Evija Ozolins) about the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, including excerpts from Beethoven’s string quartets. 

The Beethoven Project was performed at the following venues:

Wednesday, June 21 (Forest Roberts Theatre – Marquette, MI)

Friday, June 23 (Iron Mountain High School Auditorium – Iron Mountain, MI)

Saturday, June 24 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

The Bergonzi String Quartet (quartet only) also presented free children’s concerts at the following venues:

Wednesday, June 21 (Peter White Public Library – Marquette, MI)

Friday, June 23 (Dickinson County Library – Iron Mountain, MI)

Saturday, June 24 (Portage Lake Library – Houghton, MI)

Lake Effect Quintet

With an unusual instrumentation of guitar, tuba/trombone, fiddle, bass, and drums, this quintet (Mike Irish, Mike Christianson, Dan Komarzec, Glenn Basham, Tom Christianson) performed classics from the jazz, Latin, funk, swing, rock, and folk genres. 

The Lake Effect Quintet performed at the following venue:

Friday, June 30 (Orpheum Theatre – Hancock, MI)

The Lake Effect Quintet also presented free children’s concerts at the following venues:

Thursday, June 29 (Dickinson County Library – Iron Mountain, MI)

Saturday, July 1 (Peter White Public Library – Marquette, MI)

Opera Scenes

Three award-winning opera singers (Julie Tabash Kelsheimer, Kelsey Park, Bille Bruley) joined pianist, Susie Byykonen, in a “Night at the Opera” with excerpts by Rossini, Puccini, Handel, Bizet, and Donizetti. 

Opera Scenes was performed at the following venues:

Friday, June 16 (Reynolds Hall – Marquette, MI)

Saturday, June 17 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

Sunday, June 18 (Iron Mountain – Iron Mountain, MI)

Joshua Davis

Nationally renowned guitarist singer-songwriter Joshua Davis—finalist on NBC’s The Voice—brought his Joshua Davis Trio to the festival to perform original folk, soul, blues, funk, and rock-n-roll music. 

Joshua Davis performed at the following venues:

Thursday, June 22 (Braumart Theatre – Iron Mountain, MI)

Friday, June 23 (Orpheum Theatre – Hancock, MI)

Saturday, June 24 (The Ore Dock – Marquette, MI) *two performances

UPstarts

Young Yooper musicians Maggie Wang (soprano & piano), Ricky Vermeulen (viola), PJ Uhazie (baritone), and Catherine Nevala (flute) joined pianist, Susie Byykkonen, in a recital of classical and opera music.

UPstarts performed at the following venues:

Wednesday, June 28 (Reynolds Hall – Marquette, MI)

Friday, June 30 (Immaculate Conception Church – Iron Mountain, MI)

Saturday, July 1 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

Lake Effect Jazz Quintet

Jazz makes its sizzling return to the Pine Mountain Music Festival this summer, as fiddler Glenn Basham (of the Bergonzi String Quartet) joins local legends, Mike Irish and Mike Christianson, in a celebration of jazz from the 1930s to today.  Completing the quintet are world-class jazz artists Karyn Quinn and Klaus Suonsaari.

The Lake Effect Jazz Quintet performed at the following venues:

Friday, June 17 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

Saturday, June 18 (Braumart Theatre – Iron Mountain, MI)

Sunday, June 19 (Reynolds Hall – Marquette, MI)

Ultimi: Three Tenors

This trio of charming operatic tenors from Utah makes its debut with the festival this summer.  With over 100 roles to its credit, Ultimi combines the vocal and instrumental talents of three professional opera singers: Isaac Hurtado, Nathan Northrup, and Brian Stucki.  Recalling the nostalgia of the “original” three tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras), Ultimi presents riveting performances of operatic arias, duets, and trios.

Ultimi: Three Tenors performed at the following venues:

Friday, June 17 (Reynolds Hall – Marquette, MI)

Saturday, June 18 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

Sunday, June 19 (Braumart Theatre – Iron Mountain, MI)

Bergonzi String Quartet 

The Pine Mountain Music Festival’s newly minted “Permanent Quartet-in-Residence” returns for its record-breaking 22nd year.  As the festival’s longest tenured musical act, Glenn Basham, Scott Flavin, Pamela McConnell, and Ross Harbaugh continue to thrill audiences with their nuanced, virtuosic, and supremely expressive artistry.

The Bergonzi String Quartet performed at the following venues:

Wednesday, June 22 (Reynolds Hall – Marquette, MI)

Friday, June 24 (Braumart Theatre – Iron Mountain, MI)

Saturday, June 25 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

The Bergonzi String Quartet also presented free children’s concerts at the following venues:

Wednesday, June 22 (Peter White Public Library – Marquette, MI)

Friday, June 24 (Dickinson County Library – Iron Mountain, MI)

Saturday, June 25 (Portage Lake Library – Houghton, MI)

Patty Larkin

With 13 original albums to her credit, Patty redefines the boundaries of folk-urban pop music with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics. Rolling Stone praises her “evocative and sonic shading,” while the Boston Globe calls her “an uncommonly articulate guitarist.”  She has also been described as “riveting” (Chicago Tribune) and “hypnotic” (Entertainment Weekly).  The city of Boston even celebrates Patty Larkin Appreciation Day each year.

Patty Larkin performed at the following venues:

Friday, June 24 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

Saturday, June 25 (Reynolds Hall – Marquette, MI)

Sunday, June 26 (Braumart Theatre – Iron Mountain, MI)

UPstarts!

Now in its fifth season with the festival, the inspiring UPstarts! concert series features incredibly talented emerging young musicians native to the Upper Peninsula.  This summer’s UPstarts! include bassist Jeanette Adams (Marquette), violinist Sonja Prychitko (Marquette), soprano Leah Hungerford (Hancock), and soprano/guitarist Courtney Clisch (Alston).  Accompanying the group is local superstar pianist, Susie Byykkonen. 

The UPstarts performed at the following venues:

Monday, June 20 (Braumart Theatre – Iron Mountain, MI)

Tuesday, June 21 (Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI)

Thursday, June 23 (Reynolds Hall – Marquette, MI) 

BENJAMIN LAPRAIRIE

Michigan native Benjamin LaPrairie performs original organ works and great masterpieces by Bach, Franck, and Vierne.  Associate Director of Music at the largest Catholic Church in the western hemisphere, Ben performs throughout the Upper Peninsula, playing the area’s magnificent historic pipe organs.

June 27 - First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Iron Mountain

June 29 - St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Marquette

July 1 - St. Joseph Catholic Church, Lake Linden

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

Opera returns to the PMMF stage for the 25th Season with Rossini’s The Barber of Seville!  Festival favorite and U.P. native, tenor Miles Mykkanen, performs the role of Count Almaviva, and is joined by mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams as Rosina, baritone Philip Kraus as Dr. Bartolo, baritone Levi Hernandez as Figaro, and bass Bradley Smoak as Basilio.  The production is conducted by PMMF Artistic Director Donald Schleicher and is directed by Debra Dickinson.

July 9 - Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton

July 12 (3PM) - Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton 

RALPH VOTAPEK

Ralph Votapek, the first Van Cliburn International Competition gold medalist, is a familiar favorite of Festival audiences whose playing “embodies all that is best in 20th century piano traditions, combining the fire, poetry and tonal warmth of the grand-manner prewar era with the modern-day virtues of fastidious clarity and electrifying rhythmic flair.”  Concerts include repertoire by Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, and Gershwin. 

July 10 - Norway-Vulcan Performing Arts Center, Norway

July 11 - Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette

July 14 - Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton

THE BERGONZI STRING QUARTET

The Bergonzi String Quartet returns to thrill audiences with its virtuosity and supremely expressive playing.  Ross Harbaugh, Glenn Basham, Scott Flavin and Pamela McConnell perform Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade and string quartets by Mozart and Glière in their 21st year with the Festival.  The BSQ performs the popular free children's concert in the Dickinson, Marquette and Keweenaw Areas again this season.

July 6 - Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette

July 8 - Immaculate Conception Church, Iron Mountain

July 10 - Calumet Theatre, Calumet

Free Children's Concerts: July 6 (1PM) Peter White Public Library, Marquette; July 8 (1PM) Dickinson County Library, Iron Mountain; July 10 (1PM) Portage Lake District Library, Houghton.

UPSTARTS!

The UPstarts! series continues in its fourth year at the Festival.  Featuring  young professionals from the Upper Peninsula, UPstarts! features Marquette artists Paige Graham (soprano), Alexis Mahler (violin), Lauren Perala (viola, violin) and Iron Mountain native Audra Hagen (saxophone).  Local pianist Susan Byykkonen, UPstarts! coordinator and coach, accompanies the young musicians.

June 29 - First Presbyterian Church, Kingsford

July 1 - St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Marquette

July 2 - Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore, Munising

July 5 - (3PM) Portage Lake United Church, Houghton

July 6 - Ontonagon Theater, Ontonagon

PMMF SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Conducted by Artistic Director Donald Schleicher, the PMMF Symphony Orchestra, consisting of professional musicians and students of the Honors Orchestra Program, performs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op.125.  Featured soloists include baritone Levi Hernandez and local vocal stars tenor Miles Mykkanen, mezzo-soprano Lara Neves, and soprano Tory Wood.  They are joined by a combined chorus of voices from throughout the Upper Peninsula.  The orchestra also performs the Overture to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss and Romanze in C by Jean Sibelius.

July 16 - Kingsford High School, Kingsford

July 17 - Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette

July 18 - Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton

HONORS ORCHESTRA CHAMBER CONCERT

The outstanding high-school aged musicians of the Honors Orchestra Program will have an opportunity to showcase their talent, performing in individual chamber groups.  Repertoire will be announced from the stage.  Free.  Donations accepted at the door.

July 18 - (1PM) Portage Lake United Church, Houghton

Pine Mountain Music Festival announces its 24th season – In the Company of Friends. Opening on July 17 and concluding on August 3, the Festival features 25 performances across nearly a dozen towns in central and western Upper Peninsula. This season, new friends as well as old friends will perform a wide variety of music in an astonishing variety of settings. Solo and in ensemble, our Company of Friends will inspire and entertain.

An opening gala will feature Lucy Thrasher with Holly Janz and Anne Jennifer Nash, accompanied by Susan Byykkonen. Opera and musical theatre selections will be performed in an engaging ambience.

Tenor Miles Mykkanen, from Bessemer, will appear in a solo recital accompanied by pianist Joseph Mechavich. Miles will perform a dazzling vocal array of music by Grieg, Sibelius, Strauss and Stephen Sondheim, among others.

Jerry DePuit returns for his 11th year with the Festival to lead a Cabaret with Lucy Thrasher and Friends: Anne Jennifer Nash and Holly Janz. They will perform compositions by Kurt Weill, Cy Coleman, Kander and Ebb, Lennon and McCartney, Stephen Sondheim, Harold Arlen, Jacques Brel and more.

Returning after a much-loved 2007 concert, David C. Jonies’ will perform a program featuring the works of Handel, Saint-Saëns, Dudley Buck and Marcel Dupré.

The UPstarts! series celebrates its third year. Featuring emerging young professionals from the Upper Peninsula, this concert series will introduce strings for the first time this summer. Featured young artists are violinist Carrie Dlutkowski, from Atlantic Mine, and soprano Tory Wood, from Escanaba, who will be accompanied by Susan Byykkonen.

Joshua Major will direct Lee Hoiby’s one-act opera, The Italian Lesson. Scheduled artist Susan Nicely, due to unforeseen personal circumstances, is unable to appear in this production. Cindy Sadler will perform in this brilliant solo soprano show, based on Ruth Draper’s monologue. Joseph Mechavich will provide the accompaniment for this captivating and charming opera. The evening will also feature Lucy Thrasher, Anne Jennifer Nash, Holly Janz, Miles Mykkanen, and accompanist Joseph Mechavich in a special presentation of Handel arias directed by Joshua Major.

The Bergonzi String Quartet, celebrating its 20th year with the Festival, will present another series of exciting performances. The Fab Four’s repertoire this season includes Mozart and Janáček. In addition, guest artist and Festival founder Laura Jean Deming will join the Quartet to perform Schubert’s Quintet in C major.

The 2014 Season is supported in part by an award from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by The Shaw and Betty Walker Foundation, Payne & Dolan Company, and Portage Health.

The Pine Mountain Music Festival features a season of opera, symphony and chamber music each summer in the Dickinson County area, the Marquette area, the Keweenaw Peninsula, and other locations in the Upper Peninsula. Based in Hancock, Michigan, it is supported by donations, ticket sales, and grants. Visit the web at pmmf.org, or call 906-482-1542 for more information.

MILES MYKKANEN IN RECITAL

Tenor Miles Mykkanen, from Bessemer, Michigan will be featured in a solo recital accompanied by Joseph Mechavich. Currently a student at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, Miles will sing a solo evening of music that will reveal remarkable musicality and talent. Joseph Mechavich returns to the Festival as accompanist, having conducted Così fan tutte in 2012. This promises to be a noteworthy evening.

July 20 (7:30PM): Ironwood Theater, Ironwood

July 27 (3PM): Portage Lake United Church, Houghton

ORGAN CONCERT

The concert features David C. Jonies, one of the country’s top organists who last appeared with the Festival in 2007. David will be performing a varied repertoire on world-class vintage instruments in the U.P.

July 21 (7:30PM): St. Joseph Catholic Church, Lake Linden

July 23 (7:30PM): First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Iron Mountain

July 25 (7:30PM): St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Marquette

CABARET WITH LUCY THRASHER & FRIENDS

Directed by Jerry DePuit, who returns for his 11th season with the Festival, this cabaret features the music of Kurt Weill and others. Lucy Thrasher, celebrating her 20th year with the Festival, performs with her friends, Anne Jennifer Nash and Holly Janz, in an exciting and intimate event. 

July 22 (7:30PM): Crystal Theatre, Crystal Falls

July 23 (7:30PM): Ore Dock Brewing Company, Marquette

July 25 (7:30PM): Orpheum Theater, Hancock

July 26 (7:30PM): Orpheum Theater, Hancock

UPSTARTS!

UPstarts!, a concert series now in its third year, exemplifies the Festival’s philosophy to support emerging professional musicians.  These concerts are designed to give young musicians from the Upper Peninsula a professional context in which to perform 7 to 10 concerts in a variety of venues and communities.  Musicians in the recent years have included students from Juilliard, University of Michigan, Ithaca, and Michigan State. 

July 24 (7:30PM): Ontonagon Theatre, Ontonagon

July 25 (7:30PM: First Presbyterian Church, Kingsford

July 26 (7:30PM): First Presbyterian Church, Escanaba

July 28 (7:30PM): St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Marquette

July 30 (7:30PM): Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore, Munising

July 31 (7:30PM): Portage Lake United Church, Houghton

BERGONZI STRING QUARTET

Ross, Glenn, Pamela, and Scott will bring their magic to our stages once again, and this season marks their 20th anniversary with the Festival. The relationship between these beloved musicians and the community is something to be celebrated, and we encourage all of you to join us in expressing our gratitude for 20 years of beautiful music making.

July 30 (7:30PM): Immaculate Conception Church, Iron Mountain

August 1 (7:30PM): Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette

August 3 (3PM): Calumet Theatre, Calumet

OPENING GALA

We open our season with three Gala concerts in our main performing locations. These galas are an occasion to meet our Resident Opera Artists in a more intimate and personal setting, who will be featured in the Revue of Revues: Highlights from Seasons Past and Viva Verdi! opera concerts.  We will have four Resident Opera Artists in residence this summer, and local singer Lara Neves will join them on all three events.  Julie Tabash, soprano, was with us in 2012 as Despina in Cosi fan tutte and Ann in A Little Night Music; Christina Bakhoum, mezzo-soprano, is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music; Kyle Tomlin, tenor, appeared in Rockland in 2011 and in A Little Night Music in 2012; and Andrew McLaughlin, baritone, is a University of Maryland graduate from the Washington, DC, area.

June 10            (5:30 PM) Marquette Opening Gala, private residence, Marquette (heavy hors d'oeuvres, dessert, drinks included) Ticket deadline: June 3.

June 11            (5 PM) Chippewa Club Gala, Chippewa Club, Iron Mountain (dinner included; cash bar) Ticket deadline: June 4.

June 13            (6:30 PM) Keweenaw Gala, private residence, Eagle Harbor (heavy hors d'oeuvres, dessert, drinks included). Ticket deadline: June 6.

A REVUE OF REVUES – HIGHLIGHTS OF SEASONS PAST

After last year’s stunning musical leadership in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Festival regular Jerry DePuit returns to present a program of his favorite selections from the revues of the past ten years. As in the past, Joshua Major will stage the revue and it will include music by Rodgers, Porter, Berlin, Kern, Sondheim, Bernstein, Edith Piaf, and other famous names. These performances will feature an addition of a cello and violin.

June 15            (7:30 PM) Ironwood Theatre, Ironwood, MI

June 16            (3 PM) Encore Nostalgic Ballroom, Florence, WI

June 17            (7:30 PM) Calumet Theatre, Calumet, MI

June 18            (7:30 PM) Ore Dock Brewing Company, Marquette, MI

FINNHARMONIC SYMPHONY

The Pine Mountain Music Festival Orchestra and the  Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra join forces to present of concert of all Finnish music, in celebration of FinnFest USA 2013! The orchestra is comprised of long time members of the PMMF orchestra and musicians from the U.P., most of whom are members of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra.  KSO’s own Joel Neves will conduct the concert.  Jukka Linkola's Bass Concerto, commissioned by John and Pauline Kiltinen for FinnFest 2005, is being revived with orginal bassist, Evan Premo as soloist.   Mary Bonhag will be singing the solo in Sibelius' Luonatar, based on the creation myth from The Kalevala.  (Mary was last seen with PMMF as Eve in Evan Premo's opera The Diary of Adam and Eve.)  Finnish brass band Ameriikan Poijat will share the stage with the orchestra brass players to play a special brass ensemble piece. 

Pre-concert talk one hour before each performance.

June 20            (8PM) Calumet Theatre, Calumet, MI

June 23            (2PM) Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton, MI

BERGONZI STRING QUARTET

Returning for another season, the Bergonzi String Quartet offers fabulous music-making, featuring Sibelius’s seldom heard String Quartet, opus 56 in D minor. This is a rousing work and will be paired with one of Beethoven’s great string quartets. Bergonzi will bring their usual flair for the theatrical, gentle manners and brilliant music-making to our stages.  The Bergonzi will also perform free children's concerts on the same dates as their evening performances.   The children's concert features The Legend of the Loon, a book written by Kathy-jo Wargen and illustrated by Gijberst van Frankenhuzen. The Quartet performs Pamela McConnell's special musical arrangement of a composition by Jean Sibelius. Trudy Olsson, of Houghton, will narrate the story.

June 22            (7:30 PM) Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton, MI

June 24            (7:30 PM) Immaculate Conception Church, Iron Mountain, MI

June 26            (7:30 PM) Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette, MI

YOOPERA! AND ROCKLAND SCREENINGS

This summer we are providing two free and exciting cinematic offerings! A preview of Suzanne Jurva’s documentary film, Yoopera! will be shown followed by a full screening of Rockland.

June 22            (1PM and 3PM) Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton

H. RICARDO RAMIREZ ORGAN CONCERT

We are excited to welcome internationally active organist and composer H. Ricardo Ramirez to the Upper Peninsula. Based in Chicago as Music Director and Organist for the Cathedral of the Holy Name, Ricardo brings a range of organ music from the ‘many waters’ of the globe. He is a versatile and exciting organist not to be missed!

June 26            (7:30PM) First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Iron Mountain

June 28            (7:30PM) St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette

July 2               (7:30PM) St. Joseph Catholic Church, Lake Linden

VIVA VERDI

In honor of the 200th anniversary of Guiseppe Verdi’s birth, Lucy Thrasher and the emerging professional singers will be featured in an opera concert including many of Verdi’s works – Rigoletto, La Traviata, Falstaff, and more. Festival favorite Stephen Sulich will be returning to lead the singers through this unforgettable Verdi performance!

June 27            (7:30PM) Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton

June 29            (7:30PM) First Presbyterian Church, Kingsford

July 1               (7:30PM) Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette

UPSTARTS!

After last year’s ecstatic response to our UPstarts series, there is no question that we will continue our concerts devoted to musicians from the Upper Peninsula. This year we feature musicians from L’Anse, Escanaba, Negaunee, and Marquette. We believe it is vital to support the professional ambitions of our own musicians and are proud to offer these concerts in pursuit of this goal. These are first rate musicians with bright futures ahead of them!

June 29            (7:30PM) Ontonagon Theatre, Ontonagon

July 1               (7:30PM) Ironwood Theatre, Ironwood

July 2               (7:30PM) Ely Memorial Church, Land O’ Lakes

July 3               (7:30PM) First Presbyterian Church, Kingsford

July 7               (7:30PM) St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette

July 8               (7:30PM) Falling Rock Café and Bookstore, Munising

July 9               (4PM) First Presbyterian Church, Escanaba

July 11             (7:30PM) Portage Lake United Church, Houghton

LOUIS NAGEL PIANO RECITAL

After performing a wonderful Bach concert a few years ago, Louis Nagel returns this year with another program full of variety and excitement!

July 6            (7:30PM) Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Houghton

July 9            (7:30PM) Reynolds Recital Hall, Marquette

COMMON GROUND BAROQUE ENSEMBLE

Making a name for themselves in concert halls around the globe, the Common Ground Baroque Ensemble (violin, cello, and theorbo) returns to the Upper Peninsula to bring more electrifying music, some old and some contemporary, French, Spanish, and Italian. 

July 10            (7:30PM) Immaculate Conception Church, Iron Mountain

July 12            (7:30PM) First Presbyterian Church, Marquette

July 13            (4PM) Baroquatunitea at Four Seasons Team Room, Houghton  Note: Advance ticket required.  Deadline to purchase July 10.

July 13            (7:30PM) Portage Lake United Church, Houghton

OPENING GALAS

We opened our season with three Gala concerts in our main performing locations. These galas were an occasion to meet our Resident Opera Artists in a more intimate and personal setting, who were featured in our production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

ANA VIDOVIC GUITAR RECITAL

The extraordinary Ana Vidovic returned to the Upper Peninsula! She was last seen in our 2008 season and was a stunning addition to the Festival. This international guitar sensation brought her exceptional musicianship, technical mastery, and grace to our concert stages once again. This was a special evening set in the intimate venues of the Upper Peninsula.

COSÌ FAN TUTTE

Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the third collaboration with Lorenzo da Ponte, is a masterpiece of comic invention and dramatic detail.  Two young men disguise themselves to test their lovers’ fidelity and what starts out as fun and games, turns into something no one quite bargained for. The alternative title, The School for Lovers (La scuola degli amanti) is perhaps a more precise description of the opera – four naïve young lovers trying to understand and figure out the nature of love and relationships. The mischief makers, Don Alfonso and Despina, two characters with a little more experience, lead the young lovers through the opera, imparting their worldly advice and cynical points of view. The opera was conducted by the remarkable Joseph Mechavich (Il matrimonio segreto 2010) and directed by Artistic Director, Joshua Major. (Pre-opera talk one hour before performance by Joseph Mechavich.)

UPSTARTS!

This concert featured the future of classical music with all Upper Peninsula musicians! Miles Mykkanen, tenor, from Bessemer and Amanda Boundy, soprano, from Eben Junction are the featured vocalists. Also featured on flute was Savannah Clayton from Calumet. Joining these soloists on piano was another Calumet musical star Susan Byykkonen.  These sensational musicians offered a thrilling concert of music familiar and new.

BERGONZI STRING QUARTET

The Bergonzi String Quartet returned to the Festival with their humor, joy, and spirited music making. We were very excited to roll out the red carpet to this foursome so dear to all of us. They were joined by pianist Tian Ying to perform a new arrangement of Gershwin’s great Rhapsody in Blue for Piano and String Quartet.

AN EVENING OF BRAHMS

This concert featured the romantic and lush music of Johannes Brahms including solo piano music with the beautiful playing of Tian Ying at the keyboard and two Brahms Lullabies with Pamela McConnell of the Bergonzi Quartet on viola and Mezzo Soprano Natalie Easter. Steven McGee (Piano), Alison Scherzer (Soprano), Natalie Easter (Mezzo), Kyle Tomlin (Tenor) and Jonathan Christopher (Baritone) joined Tian Ying to present the romantic and thrilling Liebeslieder Waltzes for two pianists and four singers.

VOICE MASTER CLASS

Luretta Bybee, guest artist in our production of A Little Night Music, offered a public Master Class for our Resident Opera Artists. This Master teacher, with an international performing and teaching career, worked with our singers in a Master Class format. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn a little bit about what goes into becoming a successful opera singer. 

JEREMY DAVID TARRANT ORGAN RECITAL

Young rising star, Jeremy Tarrant, brought his exciting organ playing to the U.P. He has been Organist and Choirmaster of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (Episcopal) in Detroit since 2000 and is quickly developing an exciting international career. 

THIRD COAST BRASS

Led by PMMF regular trombonist, Mark Fry, this exciting group of Brass players brought their passion and virtuoso playing to the U.P.  Third Coast Brass is comprised of some of the finest brass musicians in the Midwestern United States holding positions in prestigious ensembles including the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, Elgin Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Their repertoire included Mozart, Sibelius, Ewald, Sondheim and more.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Sondheim’s enduring and touching masterpiece, A Little Night Music, continued where Così fan tutte leaves off. With a sweeping, lush score, (“Send in the Clowns,” “A Weekend in the Country”) and a plot that cleverly weaves together stories of love, intrigue and heartache, Sondheim continues our exploration of love. Based on Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night, A Little Night Music is set in a weekend country house in turn-of-the-century Sweden. This witty and romantic story with music set in ¾ time is the perfect midsummer musical. A middle-aged lawyer, an 18-year-old bride, a sardonic old woman, the somber brooding son of the middle-aged lawyer, a former actress lover, the military lover of the former actress lover, the manic depressive wife of the military lover of the former actress lover, and a maid all end up spending a weekend together in a country estate. Wit, romance, heartache and finally, reconciliation ensue.

ROCKLAND OPERA

Jukka Linkola, Composer

The New World Premiere performances of the Pine Mountain Music Festival's new opera Rockland took place on July 15 and 17, 2011 at the Rozsa Center for Performing Arts on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. Both performances were sold out, and audience reactions were very enthusiastic.

This opera is based on a long-forgotten incident in Rockland, Ontonagon County, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in 1906, when a group of striking Finnish copper miners were confronted by sheriff’s deputies.  Shots were fired, and two Finnish miners were killed.

One of the miners, Alfred Laakso, wrote an account of the events, which his grandson, Andy Hill, read a few years ago and thought would make a good piece of musical theater.  He discussed this with John Kiltinen, who saw possibilities for an opera.

John Kiltinen pitched the idea to Pine Mountain Music Festival, whose board liked it.  In short order, John Kiltinen and his wife, Pauline, raised the money for the commissioning phase, partly from themselves and partly from the late Gloria Jackson, who had family roots in Nivala, Finland.

Jussi Tapola, a well-known stage director at Finnish National Opera, was hired as librettist, and Jukka Linkola, a renowned composer with several other operas and symphonic works to his credit, was given the job of composing the opera.  It was completed in mid-2009.

The Nivala Festival (Jokilaaksojen Musiikkisäätiö)produced the Old World Premiere of "Rockland" in June 2011 production in Finland.

The Michigan production was supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts; Finlandia Foundation National; Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission; The American-Scandinavian Foundation; Wisconsin Public Service Foundation; and Finn Spark, Inc.

THE LOGO

In the Rockland logo, the pick symbolizes the mining profession of the protagonists, and generally the frontier life in which so many of the early settlers, our ancestors, struggled to survive and make a better life for their descendants.

The white rose is to provide contrast to the pick, as the opera includes a love interest.  It also provides an interesting historical reference, as Alfred Laakso was a member of the White Rose Temperance Society in Rockland.

The thorns on the rose stem (the arm of the "R") symbolize that life could be hard, and difficulties could arise.

ROCKLAND RECEPTIONS

On Friday July 15, purchasers of the $125 premium tickets were invited to a reception with the composer at 6:00 PM in the Rozsa Center Art Gallery (downstairs from the lobby).

Following the Sunday July 17 performance, all attendees were invited to mingle in the lobby and to meet various descendents of Alfred Laakso, on whose first-hand account the opera is based, and to mingle with the artists.  Light refreshments were served.

WEB-STREAM

Rebroadcast of "Rockland" performance! The "Rockland" performance on Sunday, July 17, was web-streamed live, and was rebroadcast on Wednesday July 20,  and Sunday July 24.  Click here to view the web stream and for more information. These broadcasts had over 60,000 viewers in 28 countries.

THE STORY LINE

To help promote the opera, Pine Mountain Music Festival worked with community artist Mary Wright on a project called "The Story Line."  Schoolchildren and others in many communities in the Upper Peninsula were invited to write the story of an ancestor who worked hard and overcame adversity, like the people in the opera.  These one-page stories were then transferred to dishtowel-sized pieces of fabric and hung from "clotheslines" as a way of honoring our ancestors and making young people aware of the history on which their lives are built.  These displays appeared in various communities and ultimately around the Rozsa Center at the time of the opera’s premiere in July 2011.

PHOTOS

To view photos of Rockland, visit our Facebook gallery.