Music Teachers Association presents ‘monster’ piano concert

Just in time for Halloween, Spokane is getting what’s billed as its first-ever “monster” piano concert.

With six grand pianos on stage at Eastern Washington University on Saturday, the Spokane Music Teachers Association will present a program of duets, trios, quartets, quintets and sextets.

Various groupings of piano teachers, professional pianists and students – ranging in age from 11 to 86 – will perform works by Bach, Bennett, Brahms, Dahl, Frackenpohl, Gershwin, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff and Sousa.

There will be two performances, Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m., in EWU’s Music Building Recital Hall, just off Washington Street on the Cheney campus.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors, students with ID and youths under 18, at the door. Proceeds will go to the Spokane Music Teachers Association scholarship fund.

Seattle Opera Young Artists

Singers from the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program will present Peter Brook’s “The Tragedy of Carmen” on Sunday at EWU.

Adapted from the full opera “Carmen,” it will tell the story of the intense love between the title character and Don Jose and the ensuing consequences. It will be sung in English.

The Young Artists Program is a seven-month training program designed to help emerging opera singers develop their skills. Participants are chosen through national auditions.

The cast for Sunday’s performance, sponsored by Opera Buffs of Spokane, includes Teresa Herold as Carmen; Jonathan Lasch as Escamillo; Marcus Shelton as Don Jose; Holly Boaz as Micaela; Michael McGee as Zuniga/Garcia; and Ani Maldjian as Lilas Pastia.

It begins at 1:30 p.m. in the Music Center on the Cheney campus. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for students with ID, available at the door.

For more information, call (509) 535-7051 or (509) 891-0642.

String Quartet at CenterStage

The Spokane String Quartet will present a pops concert Friday night at CenterStage.

The program includes works by Pachelbel, Mozart and Vivaldi, as well as the Beatles and the Beach Boys.

Quartet members Tana Bland, violin; Jeannette Wee-Yang, viola; and Helen Byrne, cello, will be joined by violinist Misha Rosenker, an EWU music professor.

The concert begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. at CenterStage, 1017 W. First Ave., with free dessert at intermission.

Tickets are $10 at the door (cash or check only).