FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Jennifer Dahlgren, Dahlgren Communications
E-mail: dahlgrenpr@comcast.net
Phone: (530) 265-0538
Terry Brown, Music in the Mountains
E-mail: terry@musicinthemountains.org
Phone: (530) 273-1208
Music in the Mountains Announces SummerFest Schedule
Tickets on sale now
Nevada City, CA (May 13, 2011) – Music in the Mountains (MIM), the largest and longest continuously running classical music organization in the Sierra Foothills, announces the full schedule and details for SummerFest 2011, the 30th anniversary concert series.
The two-week Festival will kick off with “Dinner Divertimento,” an elegant and intimate evening of fine food and chamber music performed by Music in the Mountains Players at Miners Foundry on Saturday, June 18. Gregory Vajda, MIM’s artistic director, comments, “This is the way great music was typically shared in the old days – people would gather in small groups at various homes to enjoy fine music with a meal.”
On Thursday, June 23, MIM will present The 30th Anniversary Concert, with orchestra and chorus. Works will include “Happy Birthday Variations” by John Williams and pieces by Bernstein and Brahms. Ryan Murray, choral conductor, will conduct the 85-voice MIM Festival Chorale and the orchestra for Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Toward the Unknown Region.” According to Murray, “This is truly one of the great choral master works of all time and we are looking forward to sharing it.”
Saturday, June 25 will bring a special treat to our area with “Cirque de la Symphonie,” a world-renowned troop of aerialists, acrobats and jugglers who will perform to the music of Dvorak, Bizet, Tchaikovsky and others, played by the MIM Festival Orchestra. The audience can picnic under the stars at this outdoor concert. According to Terry Brown, MIM vice president and event producer, “There has never been anything like this in our area and we know the audience will be astounded. Gregory Vajda brought this group to Portland, where they sold out four houses.”
“Orchestra Masterworks” is the title for the Saturday, June 26 concert, which will include timeless classics like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, along with the West Coast Premier of a piano concerto written by MIM’s own Gregory Vajda.
Tuesday, June 28 will feature “All that Brass,” an energizing evening brought back by popular demand. The MIM brass and percussion sections will perform.
The orchestra and chorus will perform together again on Tuesday, June 30, offering up the great work, “Carmina Burana.” The other half of this concert will include works by Mozart and Haydn. “We’ve performed ‘Carmina Burana’ several times in our 30 –year history and it always packs the house,” comments Brown.
On the evening of Friday July 1, students in the unique MIM Young Composers program will present their pieces, performed by the MIM professional musicians. Then on Saturday morning, July 2, MIM transforms the traditional KinderKonzert into a Family Concert with lots of background information on the symphony and how it works, as well as the music itself. Prior to the concert, kids can try out instruments at the MIM “petting zoo,” which will be outside the concert hall at the fairgrounds.
As always, MIM wraps up SummerFest with the traditional “Happy Birthday USA” picnic and pops outdoor concert on July 3 at the fairgrounds. In addition to patriotic marches and old American favorites performed by the orchestra and chorus, there will be a Marine Corps color guard and a flyover. This concert is a great way to kick off the July 4th weekend.
Tickets for Music in the Mountains’ concerts and events may be purchased online at www.musicinthemountains.org or by calling the box office at (530) 265-6124.
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