Beautiful music together
Mozart doesn’t take second place to anyone or anything else in the eyes of most classical music fans. But he’ll be sharing the spotlight next week with Spokane’s Manito Park, which is celebrating its centennial.
Connoisseur Concerts, best known for presenting the Northwest Bach Festival, traditionally gives a pair of outdoor performances at Manito called “Mozart on a Midsummer’s Eve.” This year’s concerts Tuesday and Wednesday acknowledge the park’s centennial by changing the title to “Mozart at Manito.”
The concerts, under the direction of horn player and conductor Verne Windham, will feature a wider range of music than usual. It will be drawn from four centuries, from Mozart and Handel to the wacky modern wit of P.D.Q. Bach (aka Peter Schickele) to the premiere of a specially commissioned work by Spokane composer William Berry.
“Since this year is the 100th anniversary of Manito, our board thought of putting together a whole program of music from the turn of the last century, including barbershop quartets,” says Gertrude Harvey, executive director of Connoisseur Concerts. “But we decided that might be too much an abrupt change, so Mozart is still very much a part of what we’re doing — but so is the barbershop quartet.”
The quartet for the concerts is the local group 4 Way Street. And the featured vocal soloist is Ann Fennessy, a Spokane soprano who has performed with most of the area’s musical ensembles from the Spokane Symphony to the Spokane Falls British Brass Band.
Fennessy will sing classical arias and songs as well as parlor songs from the days of Manito’s founding and barbershop music with 4 Way Street.
“In past years we’ve sometimes done nothing but Mozart, so I don’t think we can be accused of slighting him in what we’re doing this year,” Windham says. “But did want to do something more than just use the Manito centennial as a marketing gimmick, so we decided to commission a new work for the occasion, something that might leave a legacy of the occasion.
“William Berry was the obvious choice, not only because he is a local composer, and not only because of his skill in writing for wind instruments, but because he knows how to use historical material — how to allude to, yet transcend, older style periods. So there is ragtime and a tango in it, but it’s still distinctively Berry’s own music”
Berry’s work, a five-movement suite called “Manito Sketches,” pays tribute to different locations in the park such as Duncan Gardens, the Rose Hill and the Japanese Gardens.
For “Manito Sketches” and other works on the program, Windham will be joined by eight other local and visiting instrumentalists.
“We’re particularly glad to be able to have the flutist Jonathan Keeble with us this year,” Windham says. “He is a local boy who has gone on to the big gig of becoming flute professor at the University of Illinois.”
Among the other performers are Cheney-born oboist Bethany Schoeff and her clarinetist husband Daniel Cotter, who teach in Mexico, and clarinetist Robyn Brown, a Young Artist award winner in this year’s MusicFest Northwest.
In addition to the varied music, “Mozart in Manito” offers food.
“A $25 ticket includes a dessert from Luna restaurant and Craven’s coffee,” says Harvey. “Some may want to reserve a table for eight at $200 and have a picnic with friends before the dessert and music. Those who would like a catered picnic can call Luna directly at 448-2383.”
For those content with lawn seating on lawn chairs and blankets, tickets are $10. The best locations for chairs and blankets are taken early, so early arrival is suggested. Table seating also often sells out early, Harvey warns, so early ticket purchase is advised as well.
“In the unlikely event of rain,” she adds, “the concert will be held at St. John’s Cathedral at Grand and 12th, and the food service would be in the Great Hall of the cathedral’s Jewett House.”