Week devoted to chamber music performances
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 2:00 AM
News
Pittsburg, KS
Chamber music lovers will have their choice of performances and venues when Pittsburg State University hosts its second annual Chamber Music Festival May 24-30. All of the nightly concerts are free and open to the public.
Raul Munguia, artistic director and conductor for the Southeast Kansas Symphony and professor of violin and viola at PSU, said the festival is designed to appeal to both long-time lovers of chamber music as well as the uninitiated. Venues for the nightly concerts range from the intimate confines of the McCray Hall lobby to the elegant Sharon K. Dean Recital Hall. There is even one concert planned for the shore of PSU’s University Lake.
The entertainment begins with an informal “Festival Prelude” at 9 p.m. at Bobby G’s, 108 W. 6th, in Pittsburg. Munguia said the venue gives performers an opportunity to share chamber music classics on a different kind of stage.
The festival officially opens at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 26, with a concert in the intimate and historic confines of the McCray Hall lobby. Munguia said the acoustics of the lobby are a perfect fit for chamber music as it was meant to be heard.
The festival continues on Tuesday, May 27, with a performance by the vocal ensemble, Mosaic, at 7:30 p.m. in the Sharon K. Dean Recital Hall in McCray Hall. Based in Springfield, Mo., Mosaic is a collection of vocalists who have performed as soloists in some of the great venues around the world.
On Wednesday, May 28, the festival moves outdoors for a special concert at 7:30 p.m. at PSU’s University Lake behind the Crossland Family University House. Concertgoers are invited to bring blankets, lawn chairs, food and drink to enjoy the sunset and some of the best musicians in the area performing jazz, blues, rock ‘n roll, fiddling, pop and more. Groups like the Area 51 Trio, the Crowder Jazz Combo and musicians including Rusty Jones, Stella and Todd Hastings, Jon Barlow, Bob Endzer, Bob Laushman, and many others will perform.
“A Kaleidoscope of Styles” is the title for the Thursday, May 29, concert, to be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Sharon K. Dean Recital Hall. The event is designed to highlight the talents of a diverse set of area performers including Reena Berger Natenberg, Rebecca Cutler, John Atteberry, Joanne Britz, and others.
The 2014 Chamber Music Festival concludes with a “Grand Finale” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 30, in the Sharon K. Dean Recital Hall. The Chamber Orchestra, led by violist Raul Munguia, will present Brandenburg’s numbers 3, 4, & 5; Vivaldi’s Double Violin Concerto and a symphony by CPE Bach. The artists performing will include cellist Trilla Ray Carter, artistic director of the Kansas City Baroque Ensemble; cellists Matt Herren and Alejandro Gonzalez; harpsichordist Ian Classe; violinists Rebecca Cutler, and Alex Urbina, and many other PSU alumni.
For more information, contact the PSU Department of Music at 620-235-4466 or visit the Chamber Music Festival website at http://rmunguia.wix.com/pcmf.