Mozart on a Summer’s Eve: Say ‘Cello’ to Bailey and friends

Renowned cellist Zuill Bailey spends the early part of his summer in Alaska, where he is artistic director of the Sitka Music Festival and where he teaches the Sitka Cello Seminar, a workshop for rising stars of the cello world.

Then, as he’s done for the past several years, he pops down to Spokane for Mozart on a Summer’s Eve, the annual two-night concert series held in Manito Park as part of Northwest Bach Festival.

This year, Bailey won’t be showing up on his own. “I’ll be bringing these amazing young cellists from around the world to Spokane to help with the presentation,” he said by phone from Alaska.

The seminar, which musicians audition for, is designed to help young cellists bridge their student lives and their professional lives, Bailey said. They’re artists on the “cusp of major careers,” he said.

Of the 11 seminar participants, three were chosen to play in Spokane: Ida Alnajem from Bahrain, Marza Wilkes from Peru, and Kristina Ignatjeva from Latvia. The cellos will team with the Connoisseur Concerts’ Wind Ensemble, directed by Verne Windham, to perform the requiem composed by Jacob Clemens non Papa. Then the cellists will perform a section from Edward Elgar’s cello concerto and the entire C major cello concerto by Joseph Haydn.

“We have a surprise in order as well,” Bailey said.

“The Elgar is one of the big monuments for cello and orchestra, and it’s one of the favorites for audiences and cellists,” he added. “But the Haydn is like popping open an incredible bottle of champagne. It’s wonderful music for this kind of event because it’s easy to listen to, it’s fun to play, it’s exciting, it’s beautiful.”

The wind ensemble will open the program, performing works ranging from W.A. Mozart – naturally, for a concert called Mozart on a Summer’s Eve – to Edith Piaf. Soprano Madeline McNeill will be the featured guest vocalist.

In addition to the Manito concerts, Bailey and the other cellists will be out in the community, “doing things all over town, in hospitals and other public spaces,” he said.

“We’ll be in the ‘pop up’ category everywhere. We’re going to be breaking up the group of cellists and hitting everything we can in those four days we’re in town,” he added, saying the pop up performances will likely be announced the the NW Bach Festival’s Facebook and Twitter account. “People should be looking for it because we’ll be everywhere.”