Fall Arts: Classical music

Thu., Sept. 6, 2007

Travis Rivers Correspondent

The Inland Northwest’s new classical music season is rife with hellos, farewells and returns.

The Spokane Symphony’s Classics series will bid goodbye to the INB Performing Arts Center (formerly the Spokane Opera House), which has been the orchestra’s home since 1974, and move to the newly remodeled Fox Theater.

But the symphony is not leaving the INB Center immediately, or entirely.

The first two Classics concerts will be given there. The opening concert Sept. 14 features the music of Ravel with pianist Louis Lortie. The Classics farewell to the INB, appropriately, will be Verdi’s monumental Requiem on Oct. 19.

Following a special opening gala symphony concert at the Fox on Nov. 17 – featuring the return of mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, who appeared with the orchestra in 1999 – the regular Classics season shifts there with Saturday evening and Sunday matinee concerts Dec. 1 and 2 with piano soloist Cecile Licad.

The Casual Classics series, which bade farewell to the Bing Crosby Theater last spring, also switches to the Fox for Friday evening performances beginning Dec. 14 with cellist Joshua Roman.

The orchestra will continue to visit the Big Easy Concert House for its progressive Symphony on the Edge programs (beginning Oct. 5) and the Davenport Hotel for its intimate Chamber Soiree series (starting Oct. 23 and 24).

The symphony’s SuperPops series will remain in the INB Center, opening with singer-actress Bernadette Peters on Oct. 13, followed by Latin jazzman Poncho Sanchez on Nov. 10. The Holiday Pops concerts, though, will be performed at the Fox on Dec. 21 and 22.

A holiday tradition, the symphony’s annual presentation of “The Nutcracker” with Alberta Ballet, also stays at the INB Center with four performances Dec. 7-9.

One not-to-be-missed symphony-sponsored event at the Fox is a special appearance Dec. 29 by Spokane’s internationally famous opera star, baritone Thomas Hampson.

For symphony tickets and information, see www.spokanesymphony.org or call (509) 624-1200.

The symphony this fall introduces its new concertmaster, Mateuz Wolski. The Polish-born, New York-trained Wolski will also serve as first violinist in the Spokane String Quartet.

Wolski, along with violinist Tana Bland, violist Jeannette Wee-Yang and cellist Helen Byrne, will open the quartet’s season at the Bing on Oct. 21. (www.spokanestringquartet.org, 509-998-2261)

Allegro, Spokane’s baroque-and-beyond chamber music series, will fire its season-opening volley Oct. 26 at the Bing with a concert titled “Baroque Battles: Italy vs. France.”

Allegro’s Music in Historic Homes series features two performances of Christmas music at the Witherspoon House, 2124 Rockwood Blvd., on Dec. 5 and 6. ( www.allegrobaroque.org, 509-455-6865)

Spokane’s Clarion Brass returns with its 16th annual holiday concerts, featuring bass John Frankhauser and beat box artist Jacob Sampson, Dec. 17 at Opportunity Presbyterian Church in Spokane Valley and Dec. 18 at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Spokane. (www.figarotunes.com, 509-489-4633)

In Coeur d’Alene, Opera Plus will produce two performances of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” on Sept. 29 and 30. (www.operaplus.org, 208-964-4469)

And the Coeur d’Alene Symphony opens its season Oct. 13 in a concert featuring violinist Meredith Arksey and cellist Ruth Boden of the Washington State University music faculty, followed by a “Christmas Showcase” on Dec. 1. (www.cdasymphony.org, 208-765-3833)

Idaho also has one of the country’s most adventurous chamber music programs, the Auditorium Chamber Music Series, easily worth the drive to the University of Idaho in Moscow.

This is the series that introduced the Inland Northwest to groups such as the Kronos Quartet and eighth blackbird. The season begins Sept. 18 with the New York-based Trio Solisti, followed by Ensemble Amarcord on Oct. 23. (www.class.uidaho.edu/concerts, 208-885-7557)

The Palouse boasts its own symphony orchestra, The Washington Idaho Symphony. Its season opens with a program featuring a new work by WSU composer Ryan M. Hare in Pullman on Sept. 22, repeating Sept. 23 in Clarkston. (www.washingtonidahosymphony.org, 509-332-3408)

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