Dining for Music in the Mountains

by Ann Butler

Article Last Updated; Saturday, June 20, 2009 8:11AM

Photo by Courtesy of Julie Dunn

From left, Karen Barger, owner of Season’s Rotisserie & Grill, and Susan Lander, executive director of Music in the Mountains, are happy after a successful fundraising dinner Sunday for the annual music festival.

Every year, it seems as though Music in the Mountains begins with a fundraiser on a Sunday night in July and merges right into a marathon of wonderful music and great socializing.

This year, in a new twist, the organization held a fundraising dinner Sunday that included both of the latter combined with the fine cuisine of Season's Rotisserie & Grill paired with some equally fine wines. A month before the festival begins, it was an evening of delightful anticipation.

Karen Barger, who owns Season's with her husband, Wayne, welcomed guests and told them how much chefs David Stewart and Scott Thompson had enjoyed creating dishes to go with the selected wines. Mark Price of Platinum Beverage and Leah A. Deane, a wine specialist with Republic National Distributing Co., selected the wine.

Florence "Foxie" Mason, president of the board of Music in the Mountains, brought her own Â¡PasiÃ³n! to inviting the diners to join the festival for a season Music Director and Conductor Guillermo Figueroa has planned on that very theme. Concerts have titles such as Fantasy, Elegance, Symphonic Passion, Handel with Care and Fireworks. In addition to favorite musicians such as Philippe Quint, Vadim Gluzman and David Korevaar, this year includes the Celtic music of Eileen Ivers and the first alternative-country performance at the festival with Texas couple Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison.

As is the case for every nonprofit in 2009, Music in the Mountains has to work extra hard to raise the money needed to produce the festival. One way people can help, Mason said, is to buy their tickets for individual concerts early, giving the festival working capital up front.

The evening at Season's began with a NV Marquis de la Tour, Brut Rosé from the Loire Valley in France. It accompanied scrumptious anchovy-sage roulades, house-made potato chips and jamÃ³n Serrano grissini, with the ham rolled on breadsticks. Not only was that delicious, it was handy, too, so much better than skewers or toothpicks that are hard to dispose of at parties.

Appetizers were served to the jazz sounds of the Swingtone Trio, with Chauncey Larsen on keyboard, Brad Schoolland on saxophone and Robert Demmon on bass.

After guests sat down, they were poured glasses of a 2007 Gordon Brothers Estate Grown Sauvignon Blanc from the Columbia Valley in Washington. It was paired with a perfect plate of jumbo sea scallop and mango salad.

The compliments for the salad continued with the next course, braised lamb cannelloni with baby arugula and shaved Manchego cheese. The lamb was served with a 2005 Millbrandt Vineyards "Legacy" syrah, also from Washington.

While everyone was replete with delicious food after that course, no great meal is complete without a sweet ending. A fresh apricot panna cotta with homemade almond tuiles filled that bill in spades. I wasn't too sure about my first sip of a 2006 Quady Essensia Orange Muscat from California that accompanied the panna cotta, but the bottom note tasted like orange blossoms smell. Yum.

Russ Smith helped organize the evening.

I hadn't made it in to Season's since it reopened, but the quality of the food and the serene environment are still the same. I'm so glad it is back.

Celebrating their birthdays around the solstice are Tyler Erickson, Erin Carman, John Gardella, Will Jernigan, Mack Otter, Danial Ciluffo, Hamilton Wright, Cheryl Lillard, Ann Willard, Calan Barnhardt, Debbie Casto, Ann Tidwell, Kate McElwain, Emma Russell, Ricky Hermesman, George San Miguel, Tiffany Mapel, Sharon Kinton, Mollianne Eckart, John Waters, Joe Foti, Matt Redbear, Daniel Grinnan, Meme Berspacher, Elizabeth LaFortune, John Gardella, Ben Bader, Jessica Hahl, Frank Campana and Caleb Ontiveros.

Congratulations go out to Kelli AliceMarie Horvath, who graduated summa cum laude with an accelerated baccalaureate degree in international studies from Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Ore.

(In case you're wondering about the accelerated part, Horvath graduated from Durango High School in 2006, so she completed her bachelor's degree in just three years.)She also was named the American Association of University Women's SOU Department of International Studies Outstanding Woman Graduate and SOU's College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Female Graduate in International Studies. Horvath also received SOU's Queer Resource Center Lavender Leadership Award. That's a lot of words to say that Horvath was outstanding in her discipline in her graduating class as well as being an effective leader.

Horvath minored in political science and Spanish. She plans to continue working in Oregon on higher-education student advocacy for the Oregon Student Association.

Her achievements were celebrated by family who attended her graduation. Her parents, Roy and Suzy Horvath, of Hesperus, her sister, Kristi Horvath, of Greenbelt, Md., and her cousin and fellow SOU student Elizabeth Morgan-Beesley of Reno, Nev., were all on hand for the big day.

It's farewell to Kate Haspel, who has left Durango after 22 years. It was one of those chance encounters that happen so often when it comes to people discovering Durango. In Haspel's case, she came on a ski trip and never left.

She began her life in Durango with a job at the Mother's Center, now the Family Center, and went on to both volunteering and working for KDUR-FM (91.9 and 93.9).

Her first exposure to the public radio station was hosting classical shows such as "The Maestro." After becoming a staff member, Haspel produced Art Beat and Arts Forum and played music for hundreds of hours. Many who knew her got to know her at the numerous fundraisers she helped organize for KDUR.

Then, of course, there was her stint on the board of directors of Durango Acoustic Music and as president of the board of Durango Community Access Television. (That almost made her a local media mogul.)Another favorite volunteer job was serving on the Shorts Committee for the Durango Film Festival.

Haspel is moving to Santa Monica, Calif. Her daughter Laura Haspel is attending Linfield College in Oregon, and her other daughter, Meredith, is living and working in San Francisco. So being on the coast will make both daughters more accessible.

We're sorry she's leaving, but are grateful she shared her time and talents with the community when she was here.

Joining the cornucopia of June anniversary couples are Tom and Penni Compton, Deck and Diane Shaline, Bill and Sheri Collins, Brett and Holly Englund, Harold and Cathy Sparks, John and Angela Mainwaring, Carl and Linda Curtiss, Jeff and Brenda Nelson, Amos and Julie Cordova, Al and Betty Calkins, Richard and Eileen Kippen and Jim and Pat Garofalo.

For information on upcoming events and fundraisers, check Local Briefs.

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