Glacier Symphony's Easter Festival features pianist Ketevan Kartvelishvili.
Glacier Symphony and Chorale launches the inaugural Easter Festival with concerts April 6, 8 and 9 at Flathead High School Performance Hall in Kalispell. Patterned after the great spring Easter Festivals held annually in Europe and around the world, this concert series focuses on the varied and rich repertoire of music written for orchestra and chorus.
“Three distinctly different concerts each night means there will be something for everyone,” says artistic director and conductor John Zoltek. ”My hope will be for the audience to hear the synergy that comes from the masterful coupling of vocal writing with symphonic writing.”
The festival begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with a free solo concert by the delightful and accomplished Russian pianist Ketevan Kartvelishvili performing works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and a 20th century piece by Paul Aurandt (Paul Harvey Jr.). Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Kartvelishvili began playing at 5 and made her debut performance with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra at 12. She has won first place in numerous international competitions. A “Talk-Back” session from the stage follows her performance.
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Glacier Symphony and Chorale join forces in “Eternal Light.” The symphony begins the program with Wagner’s transcendental Good Friday Spell from his opera, “Parsifal.” The chorale joins the orchestra for Morten Lauridsen’s sacred work, “Lux Aeterna,” and the concert concludes with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D, the “Reformation.”
The “Choral Fantasy Finale,” at 3 p.m. Sunday, offers a diversity of musical styles, beginning with the “Hungarian March” by Berlioz. Kartvelishvili returns to the stage as soloist in Piano Concerto No. 1 in Eb for piano and orchestra, a demanding, virtuosic work by Franz Liszt. The second half employs the orchestra and chorale in Faure’s popular “Pavane”; and the piano soloist returns for the thrilling finale, Beethoven’s Fantasia in C minor.
“We hope our audiences will take this new festival concept to heart as we celebrate the return of spring to our valley,” says Zoltek.
Tickets to individual concerts are $25 and free for students in grades 12 and under. Purchase concert tickets online at www.gscmusic.org or call 406-407-7000.