Free outdoor performances, master classes, and youth music camp
EBS STAFF
The Big Sky Classical Music Festival is a three-day event Aug. 10-12 that consists of two free outdoor performances in Town Center Park, a ticketed event at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center, a youth music camp, and master classes for student musicians.
The Arts Council event begins at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center with a ticketed chamber music concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 10 featuring violinist Bella Hristova, and Angella Ahn and Friends. Acclaimed for her passionate, powerful performances, beautiful sound, and compelling command of her instrument, Hristova is a young musician with a growing international career.
Ahn, professor of violin and viola at Montana State University and artistic director of the Big Sky Classical Music Festival, is well-known for her career with the Ahn Trio. She will be bringing an established group of musicians to join her and Hristova on the stage.
The next morning the public is invited to the Talus Room at Big Sky Resort to observe a 10 a.m. student master class led by Hristova and Ahn. At 1 p.m., Time for Three, the string trio performing in Town Center that evening, will host an open rehearsal and discussion in the same location.
Saturday evening, music will begin at 6 p.m. in Town Center Park with a free, outdoor performance by the MSU Summer Music Conservatory. Time for Three, a band Arts Council Executive Director Brian Hurlbut calls “one of the hottest groups in the country right now,” will follow at 7 p.m. Defying traditional genre classification, Time for Three plays music from Bach to Brahms and beyond. They have premiered works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers William Bolcom and Jennifer Higdon, and play originals and inventive arrangements of genres that include bluegrass and folk, as well as mash-ups of hits by the Beatles, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and others.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12, the MSU Summer Music Conservatory will perform a free concert at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center.
The event concludes with a performance by the Big Sky Festival Orchestra in Town Center Park at 5 p.m. Sunday. Led by Austin Symphony music director, Maestro Peter Bay, and featuring Hristova as a soloist, the program will include Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, Haydn’s Symphony 94 in G Major, and selections from Milhaud and Fauré.
“The Big Sky Classical Music Festival is truly a signature event for Big Sky, bringing in some of the most well-known performers in that genre to Big Sky each summer,” Hurlbut said. “It’s a great, family-friendly event that showcases amazing musicians and beautiful music.”
Visit bigskyarts.org for details.
