Peter Bay and the Big Sky Festival Orchestra perform Sunday at the Big Sky Classical Music Festival
The Mambo Kings, upstate New York’s foremost Latin jazz ensemble, ads a Latin flare to this year’s Big Sky Classical Music Festival, Aug. 11-13 in Big Sky.
The seventh annual festival opens Friday with celebrated trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden, renowned pianist Molly Morkoski and well-known Bozeman violinist Angella Ahn performing at 7:30 p.m. at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center (($15-$35).
The festival continues at 6 p.m. Saturday with a free concert at Town Center Park featuring the Mambo Kings. The group, together since 1995, has earned a national reputation for their explosive blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz improvisation.
The Big Sky Festival Orchestra, under the baton of maestro Peter Bay of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, offers a free concert at 5 p.m. Sunday, also at Town Center Park. Players from various symphonies in Utah, Austin, Great Falls, Bozeman, Missoula, Helena and Billings, join Bowden and Ahn for a selection that includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 in D Major; Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major; Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending; and Schubert’s Symphony No. 3 in D Major.
Music in the Mountains
The Arts Council of Big Sky’s free Music in the Mountains series continues at 7 p.m. Thursdays, through Aug. 31, at Town Center Park. Boulder-based DeadPhish Orchestra offers a unique presentation of Grateful Dead and Phish songs performed seamlessly by a quartet of close friends and professional musicians Aug. 10.
Get ready for a fun and funky evening with Andy Frasco and the U.N. Aug. 17; the 27-year old Los Angeles singer-songwriter, band maestro, and entrepreneur and his band meld blues, soul, funk, and rock with tones of roots and Americana in orchestrated chaos.
The Ghost of Paul Revere from Maine delivers inspired folk-sounds Aug. 24; this powerful, energetic, non-traditional folk band is renowned for harmony-fueled, heart-pounding performances.
Con Brio, declared “the best new live band in America” in 2015 by PopMatters, sends the summer concert series off in style Aug. 31 with Latin-infused sounds, funk and psychedelia.
Call 406-995-2742 or visit www.bigskyarts.org.