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From Beethoven to Bernstein to BrahmsThe Bellingham Music Festival is the Perfect Mix of Art and NatureThe Bellingham Festival of Music is preparing for its exciting 13th season, offering “music from the mountains to the sea,” including classical, jazz, opera, and world sounds. The 2005 Festival will run August 6-21 and features 14 concerts in seven different venues throughout beautiful Whatcom County and the Bellingham Mount Baker Region. Perfectly situated on Puget Sound and the I-5 corridor, Bellingham is an hour and-a-half drive north of Seattle and just fifty miles south of beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Festival’s 2005 Season promises musical reverie against the backdrop of Bellingham’s natural beauty; musical moments inspiring passion, sensitivity and playfulness, all revolving around the human experience – with a Brahms thread woven throughout. From the opening strains of voices united in Brahms’ Song of Destiny to the closing refrains of his rhythmic and folkloric Hungarian Dances, with soulful jazz, charming chamber and unique world music mixed in, the Festival allows concert-goers to experience music both as an intensely personal endeavor and as a joyous art form to be shared among friends. Performer BiographiesMark Armanini is a native Vancouverite, who studied composition with Elliot Weisgarber and piano with Robert Rogers at UBC. Mark graduated with a Masters Degree in 1984. In 1990 Mark began composing for various combinations of Western and Oriental instrumentation. Four concerti were recorded in Riga, Latvia with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra in June 2003 with John Zoltek conducting. Mark traveled to Beijing and Shanghai in November 2003 as a guest of the Chinese Musicians Association. The visit was part of the China/Canada Composer Exchange and included performances and meetings in each city. This spring Mark is released his second CD, Green and Gold , a collection of intercultural chamber music featuring some of Vancouver's finest performers. Mark is currently President of the Vancouver Pro Musica and is on the faculty at Capilano College in North Vancouver. Learn more about Mark at his website www.armanini.ca . At the age of five, Vivian Xia (she-ah) began studying the yangqin (yan-chin) in Shanghai. At the age of seventeen she was employed by the prestigious Shanghai Opera House as yangqin and percussion soloist. Vivian immigrated to Canada in 1994 and is now building an international reputation with orchestral performances in Canada, the United States and Europe. In 2001, her performance of Armanini's Rain in the Forest concerto with the Edmonton Symphony, earned her three prizes, including the Millennium Music Award. In 2003, Vivian recorded two concerti with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under conductor John Zoltek--Rain in the Forest and Incense and Flowers, a double concerto with harpist Heidi Krutzen. Armanini's suite for yangqin solo, Whispering Winds is featured on Vivian's 2001 CD Dancing Under the Moon. Learn more about Vivian Xia at her website www.vivianxiayangqin.com . Essential Information: All tickets can be purchased through the Mount Baker Theatre Box Office at 360.734.6080. www.mountbakertheatre.com For Brochures, tickets, and festival information: Edited by Erika Wright |
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Under
the direction of famed maestro Michael Palmer, the Bellingham Festival of Music
has built its reputation on attracting high-profile musicians; principal players
from major American and European orchestras and stars like past Festival
favorites violinist Sarah Chang and piano virtuoso Garrick Ohlsson. Artists such
as the New York Philharmonic’s principal oboist, Joseph Robinson, who has
recently purchased a home in the Bellingham area, return year after year to
share their talents with the community and to relive the invigorating spirit
that is found in the authenticity of the people and the postcard-beauty of the
Bellingham Mount Baker Region. Mr. Robinson will make his first appearance with
the Festival since his retirement from his 26-year tenure at the New York
Philharmonic.