2015 Pittsburg Chamber Music Festival begins Sunday
Thursday, May 14, 2015 2:00 AM
News
Pittsburg, KS
Six straight days of free entertainment begins on Sunday, May 17, with the opening of the third annual Pittsburg Chamber Music Festival.
Raúl Munguía, festival director, said the festival begins at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, with “Festival After Hours” at Chatters House of Wings.
“This is a very relaxed and completely laid back evening of live jazz, Americana, pop music, bluegrass, and much more,” Munguia said.
The festival begins in earnest at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 18, when Ensemble Rosso performs early chamber music in the McCray Hall lobby. The group includes professionals from Drury University, the University of Arkansas, Cottey College, Missouri Southern State University and Pittsburg State University, as well as PSU graduate assistants Ian Classe, Alex Urbina and Sarah Huang.
At 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, the festival moves to the stage of the Linda & Lee Scott Performance Hall of the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts. In keeping with the intimate nature of chamber music, the audience will be seated around the performers on the stage. Performers for Tuesday night’s concert include Barbara York, piano; Jeeyeun Kim, soprano; Denissa Rivas, flute; Alex Urbina, violin; Raúl Munguía, violin/viola; and others.
Two performances are scheduled for Wednesday, May 20. The first performance, Fanfare in the Park, will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Europe Park in downtown Pittsburg. That performance will feature PSU’s Trombone Ensemble, led Bob Kehle, and PSU’s Trumpet Ensemble, led by Todd Hastings.
At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the historic Himmel House B&B, 402 West Euclid Street, will open its doors for a spirited evening of singing and playing. Lisa Gerstenkorn, mezzo-soprano; Madison Youngberg-King, soprano; Younghee Lee, soprano; Barbara York, piano, and many others will entertain the audience.
The festival moves to the beautiful University Lake on the PSU campus on Thursday, May 21, where PSU President Steve Scott and his wife, Cathy, will host an outdoor sunset concert featuring jazz, Americana, bluegrass and pop music at 6:30 p.m. on the lawn behind the Crossland Family University House. The Scotts will provide lemonade and ice cream for concertgoers who are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.
At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 22, the festival moves to the nearly perfect acoustics of the St. Peter's Episcopal Church sanctuary. That concert will feature strings and piano.
The festival concludes at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, with a concert by the Joplin Quintet in the Sharon Kay Dean Recital Hall in PSU’s historic McCray Hall.
All of the festival performances are free and open to the public.