Allied Arts Gives Many Performers Their Start
The Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival is in full swing for the 50th time. This is an exceptional learning experience for young artists which is unique not only for the region, but in the country, for fostering the artistic growth of some of the best and brightest.
Many students who have passed through the festival over the years have gone on to lead “normal” lives and careers, possibly treasuring their memories of the event and enriched by the discipline the arts have offered. Many, however, have used the festival as a starting point or a turning point in an artistic career. I was fortunate enough to speak with three of those artistically successful alumni about their views on the festival: Francois Martinet, Kelly Farris and Sandra Hebert.
Dancer Francoise Martinet lived in Spokane for only six months, but in that short time her career took on direction. “My command of English was not that strong when I arrived from Casablanca at Christmas in 1949,” she says. “The country was all new.
“I knew I wanted to be a dancer, come hell or high water, and I entered the festival in the spring of 1950 - I believe it was the first year there was a dance division. They say I was the division winner, but I don’t remember that part of it. I remember being adjudicated by Mary Ann Wells from Seattle. Her comments were on a corner of notebook paper; it was just a line indicating level of excellence. But she was so helpful to me.
“I told her that I wanted to go to New York City to dance,” Martinet says, “and she told me that if New York didn’t work out, then she would take me in Seattle. I went to New York for about a month, but it was very difficult being there and being only 16. The apartments I could afford were so terrible. So by June I was back in Seattle to study with her.”
Martinet went on to become a principal with the Joffrey Ballet and the New York City Opera Ballet. She is now on the dance faculty at the University of Iowa and travels throughout the United States and abroad as a choreographer, adjudicator and guest teacher. She returned to Spokane this week to adjudicate the festival’s Ballet Division.
“The festival is bigger and better organized than it was,” she says. “The whole country is bigger. Right after World War II everything was popping, everything was done on a handshake - that was it. Now things are weighed down by rules. Things are larger, so there have to be more rules.
“But the quality has improved, too, oh yes. The quality of the teaching has improved, so there are more good young dancers.”
Violinist Kelly Farris is well known locally. He is concertmaster of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, first violinist of the Spokane String Quartet, and director of the Eastern Washington University Symphony and Baroque Orchestra. Farris came up from Walla Walla to perform in the festival twice, in 1956 and 1959.
“When I was 13, I played the Bach A Minor Concerto,” Farris says. “I came in second to Judith Blegen, a soprano and violinist. I came back when I was 16 and won the Young Artist Division. I played two movements of the Lalo Symphonie Espanol with the Spokane Symphony.
“It changed my career. I was going to major in engineering and had signed up for math classes. But the experience of standing up in front of the orchestra at the festival stayed with me and changed my direction.”
On the festival’s format over the years, Farris says, “It really hasn’t changed. … It’s a successful formula. I am glad to see the Junior Symphony performing on the Young Artists Concert again, though. The first 20 years or so they always participated, then for some reason they stopped. It’s nice to have them back.”
Sandra Hebert is a pianist who is on the faculty of Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is co-artistic director of the new music ensemble Hyperprism, has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician across the country and has recently performed the U.S. premiere of Erland von Koch’s Third Piano Concerto. The Spokane native has returned home this week to adjudicate for the festival.
Hebert, who took piano lessons from Mary Toy, participated in the festival every year from 1966 to 1975, when she was graduated from Shadle Park High School.
“Over the years, the festival has gotten bigger, which I think is good, but I don’t think the essence has changed. Although I am more familiar with the piano portion, I think there has always been a very high level of artistry.
“I think the festival is just remarkable,” she says. “It needs to have a higher profile and attract students from all over. It should be on the national news. It is really an exceptional event.
“I live in Boston, and you think of Boston as such an artsy town, and it is. Well, I adjudicate for a competition there, and they don’t have a festival anywhere close to this.”
Of her own festival experiences, Hebert says, “Overall I did well, but some years were better than others. Winning was nice, but it’s like the whipped cream on top - the dessert’s always there, winning or not. What it’s all about is participating, getting the comments from the adjudicators, listening to other students from other teachers’ studios, meeting people and making friends whom I’ve kept in touch with over the years.
“It’s the learning experience that makes it great - the opportunity to hear and participate.”
My parting question to each of these three was to get their advice to students who are currently involved in the festival. With years of experience to back them up, these words of wisdom speak volumes.
Farris: “People care so much how well they do that they end up getting very stressed and depressed. You should decide on what level you are competing. If you want to win, make it just like any other day - the 10th or 20th performance of a piece you’ve known for years.
“Just play it for the judge. This is how you get hired in the real world; it’s like a practice job interview. You just play how you play and have fun.”
Hebert: “It is important to remember that whoever is chosen as the winner is one person’s opinion of one performance at one moment. The winner might not be the best player. The judges try to be fair, but different people listen for different things.
“Winning is great, but learning from the experience, win or lose, is better. Take it seriously enough to gain something, but not too seriously.”
Martinet: “I stress the word ‘festival,’ not the word ‘competition.’ You should compete only against your own vision of what you want to become, not other people.
“‘Festival’ indicates something joyous, a joyous gathering of artists who come together to share, enjoy and learn. It should be an occasion for rejoicing.”