Spotlight: Northwest Bach Festival sets dates in December

The Northwest Bach Festival is getting things going a little early this year.

The festival from Feb. 25 through March 9, 2014, has scheduled a Winter Classics Tour featuring new artistic director, cellist Zuill Bailey. Also appearing with Bailey will be his frequent collaborator, pianist Natasha Paremski.

The tour will include a number of public and private events. The public events include:

• Dec. 5 in Metaline Falls, Wash., a 2 p.m. education event with the Selkirk School District and a 7 p.m. concert with Bailey and Paremski at the Cutter Theater, 302 Park St., in Metaline Falls. They’ll perform works by J.S. Bach, Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy and César Franck. Tickets are $12 and available through the Cutter box office, (509) 446-4108. A pre-concert reception and discussion will be open to ticket holders beginning at 6:15 p.m.

• Dec. 7 in Spokane, a 3 p.m. concert with Bailey and Paremski at Barrister Winery, 1213 W. Railroad Ave. Bailey and Paremski will perform works by Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Franck, Benjamin Britten, Gabriel Fauré and Jules Massenet. Tickets are $30 general admission, $15 for students and are available through TicketsWest, (800) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.

• Dec. 8 in Coeur d’Alene, a 3 p.m. concert in a private residence. Bailey and Paremski will both perform. Tickets are $50 and the event will feature light fare and wine from Seasons in Coeur d’Alene. Tickets are available through Connoisseur Concerts, (509) 924-1132.

Bailey, who most recently released a recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto, succeeds Gunther Schuller as the Bach Festival’s artistic director. He’s also artistic director of the El Paso Pro Musica Festival and Series in El Paso, Texas, and the Sitka Summer Music Festival and Series in Sitka, Alaska.

For more information, visit nwbachfest.com.

Gala in Liberty Lake

Liberty Lake Community Theatre is hosting Heart for the Arts, a grand opening event, beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday. The one-night-only event will feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony honoring the theater’s new home, a one-act play called “Well Written,” music in the lobby by Cross My Heart, an auction, beer, wine and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are $30 and are available at www.libertylaketheatre.com.

The 5-year-old theater company will stage “Death by Chocolate” in October. It tells the story of a private investigator looking into a death at a coffee shop. The play will run from Oct. 19-27. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for children and seniors during the matinees, and are available online at the theater’s website.