Search For The Stars Music And Art Students Get Chance To Shine At The Greater Spokane Music And Allied Arts Festival
This coming week, the 52nd Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival will overwhelm Spokane and the Gonzaga University campus. The festival is huge this year.
With 1,685 participants from all over the West Coast - Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and California - and adjudicators from all over the country, this is the largest turnout in the competition’s history.
Competitors for this event are students of music and the arts ranging from the first grade through post-graduate levels. Each of the eight divisions is broken down by age and repertoire, so there are winners at many levels. The divisions include art, ballet, brass and percussion, flute, piano, reed, string and voice.
Since its inception, the top honored young musicians have had the opportunity to perform with the Spokane Symphony, but for the past two years, this practice has been put on hold. Still, there are certificates, monetary prizes and the chance to perform at the Festival Highlight Concert at The Met and the Young Artists Concert at Spokane Falls Community College with the Spokane Youth Symphony.
This is a big deal for students of the arts, half of whom come from out of town to participate. Students work hard to prepare for this event, one of the premiere competitions of its kind in the nation.
Due to the fact that the festival is a large and long-standing event, several people have risen to prominence after participating. Nearly 45,000 students have stood in front of adjudicators and learned from their experience. The likes of baritones Thomas Hampson and Frank Hernandez, pianist Stephen Drury and Spokane Symphony concertmaster Kelly Farris have passed through the festival’s doors.
To help young artists prepare for arts careers or take the most from the experience to other careers, the festival brings in top educators from Seattle to the East Coast to offer comments on their performances.
To help raise money for the festival, the hilarious Perry Lorenzo, director of education for the Seattle Opera, will give a lecture entitled, “Magic Fire: An Exploration of the Passionate Life and Wonderful Music Drama of Richard Wagner.” To say that Lorenzo’s recent appearance in Spokane, introducing opera choruses for the Spokane Symphony’s fall 1996 program, was well received would be a severe understatement.
He has a legendary knack for taking grand opera off its pedestal. It is Lorenzo’s vocation to bring life and understanding to the art form for many people who thought they were supposed to despise opera. There is an admission charge for his lecture, which will benefit the festival.
In addition to the competitions, the Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival features these activities, open to the public:
The Young Artists Concert, with the Spokane Youth Symphony, will be held Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Spokane Falls Community College Music Building. Admission is free.
The Festival Highlights Concert will be Friday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m. at The Met. Admission is free.
Perry Lorenzo’s benefit lecture on Richard Wagner will be Wednesday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. at Gonzaga University’s Hughes Auditorium. Tickets are $10 at the door. Tickets for the post-lecture reception are $25 and available from Davis and Hosch Music (326-9060).
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration