Focused on its mission to enrich the lives of Northern Arizona residents and visitors by presenting the finest international, national and regional musical performing artists and to promote a love of the performing arts through arts education programs, Chamber Music Sedona will present its fourth Winter Music Festival led by cellist Nicholas Canellakis, clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein and CMS artistic director Bert Harclerode.
“We’ve assembled a wonderful series of events that build upon each other featuring four gifted musical friends with multiple points of entry for Sedona youth, community members and visitors,” Canellakis said.
On Friday, Jan. 6, the Festival Quintet will perform in-school Concerts for Youth at Big Park Community School for youth in third through sixth grades, and Sedona Red Rock High School for the entire school.
“Our goal with these programs is not to inspire youth to become professional musicians, but rather to develop an appreciation for classical music at a young age — hence becoming the audiences of the future,” Harclerode said.
On Saturday, Jan. 7, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., a free open rehearsal will take place at the Sedona Performing Arts Center. “This is an opportunity for the community to see us in action as we put final touches on our Sunday concert,” said Alexander Fiterstein. Many SRRHS and regional young musicians from Winslow, Prescott, Flagstaff and outlying areas will be in attendance and will be participating later in the morning during the Musical Explorations and Discoveries training program.
“The MEAD concept this year has taken a fantastic turn,” SRRHS music teacher Courtney Yeates said. “We’re using the fabulous talents of the festival artists as we prepare our students, and hopefully others in the region, for the Arizona All-Regional Auditions. Bert has invited high school music teachers from Winslow, Cottonwood, Flagstaff and Prescott to join us at SRRHS as we prepare our students for these important auditions at SPAC. The chance to work with world-class artists here in Sedona is for many students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. While we’ll work on the etudes, we’ll also work with ensembles, and by the end of the day we’ll showcase students’ talents from 2 to 3 p.m. in an informal concert. We’re super excited,” Yeates said.
The MEAD program and Concerts for Youth are funded by a grant from the city of Sedona. Call 204-2415 for more information.
On Sunday, Jan. 8, the festival will come to a rousing finish at 2:30 p.m. at SPAC when Canellakis, Fiterstein, together with violinists Bella Hristova and Meira Silverstein, and violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama perform their concert, Back to Mozart.
“All of our efforts and the hearts we’ve touched will celebrate the human experience and creative process as we perform Ingolf Dahl’s Sonata a Tre, Ernst Dohnanyi’s String Trio and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet,” Canellakis said. “We’ve carefully sculpted these three composers’ works in a cohesive program that will progressively give greater appreciation and understanding to classical music and the creative process. We’re looking forward to seeing many friends from past festivals, and we’re very excited to meet new friends.”
A Q-and-A will take place immediately after the concert.
The concert is made possible with support from Birgit Loewenstein, and John and Ann Steinbrunner. Tickets to the concert can be purchased at ChamberMusicSedona.org or at the door.
Chamber Music Sedona is supported by a grant from the city of Sedona and nearly 250 Sedona and regional households.
