The closing weekend for Music in the Mountains 2023 begins with Brahms and ends with a dance. The final three concerts of the 37th annual festival take place starting Friday (July 28). With a balance of European, American and Latin music, the concerts look more like a new chapter than the completion of an old one.
In early festivals, Founder and Conductor Mischa Semanitzky often closed with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. But the booming cannon didn’t set a template under the white-tent ramparts. From the beginning, creativity and change have been in the wind.
In 2007, a new leadership team took over. Greg Hustis, artistic director, and Guillermo Figueroa, music director and conductor, continued to reshape the festival. Every year, except for the pandemic, they amassed a first-rate summer orchestra, planned a variety of concerts and attracted top soloists. Last season, Hustis stepped down and turned the complex artistic reigns over to Figueroa, who plans, persuades, performs and conducts the orchestra with the able support of Angie Beach, executive director, and her hardworking team.
“Every year, Greg’s deep connections in the classical music field enabled him to put together a collection of world-class musicians devoted to the festival,” Figueroa said. “Working with him was both a great pleasure and a tremendous learning experience.”
If you go
WHAT: 37th Music in the Mountains finale/
WHEN: Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $50 and $70.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.musicinthemountains.com or call385-6820.
NOTE: Preconcert lectures will be given one hour before concert time Friday and Saturday, in the Lyceum of Center of Southwest Studies at FLC by Linda Mack Berven.
Here’s a summary of the final weekend.
Sandwiched in between familiar works by Brahms and Stravinsky, guitar soloist Jason Vieaux will play two works for orchestra and guitar.
“We will open with Brahms’ ‘Variations on a Theme of Haydn,’” Figueroa said. “It is a pure, classical work, and it will be familiar to many people. We will close with Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird Suite,’ which is one of the most popular pieces in the whole orchestral repertoire – and of Stravinsky, the most often performed.”
Two works for orchestra and guitar fill in the concert.
“Angie (Beach) wanted a guitar program this year,” Figueroa said. “So, that’s what we’ve planned. I’ve worked with Jason Vieaux before. I invited him to come and play the two amazing guitar pieces – a fantasy by Rodrigo and a Vivaldi concerto, originally composed for lute. Although the two pieces come from different centuries, they are classical standards. It’s a wonderful program.”
“Jazz may be in the title, but the term ‘jazz’ is misleading,” Figueroa said of Saturday’s concert. “We, the orchestra, will play two essentially jazzy pop compositions, Gershwin’s ‘Cuban Overture’ and Ellington’s ‘Medley for Orchestra.’ But this is essentially what’s known as a World Music Concert. In the past, for example, we’ve included Celtic and Bluegrass music on a program like this. So, I’m putting my stamp on this and the festival in general by including Latin music.
“The last works are by contemporary Puerto Rican composer, arranger, music director and instrumentalist Mariano Morales,” he said. “He is from my generation and also from a big musical family, like mine, in Puerto Rico. He has six talented brothers and one sister who are all musicians. Morales writes music for many different settings and for classical orchestras. I’ve worked with him many times.”
Figueroa and Morales are colleagues in many ways beyond cultural heritage. Morales holds master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from Indiana University’s famous School of Music. He has appeared as a guest pianist with orchestras around the world, including the New Mexico and Houston Symphonies, among others.
“The second half of our program will feature Morales as a pianist with his bass player and drummer, the Pikante Trio,” Figueroa said.
The festival finale is dedicated to the memory of past MiTM Board Presidents: John Anderson, Mary Jane Clark and Ann Flatten. To its credit, MiTM keeps institutional memory alive by paying tribute to those who have guided it.
To open the program, Figueroa chose Schumann’s “Spring” Symphony No. I, a beautiful, life-giving work.
After intermission, he looks to the future with Morales’ “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra” featuring Figueroa’s colleague, flutist Néstor Torres. The final work will be Arturo Márquez’s “Danzon No. 2.”
“It may seem an odd combination,” Figueroa said of the Schumann symphony followed by two contemporary works of Latin heritage. “But these mean a lot to me. I’m bringing Puerto Rican talent here.
“Puerto Rico is a funny place,” he said. “For its size, it is one of the must musical countries I’ve ever seen. And I understand the saying ‘not a prophet in your own land.’ I feel a great responsibility to bring Puerto Rican music here. It’s an important statement for me to make.”
Figueroa and Torres have appeared together before. The concerto was commissioned by the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University. Figueroa conducted the premiere on April 21, 2018, with Torres as soloist, and they have performed together since.
Marquez’s “Danzon No. 2,” from a suite of seven, will bring new vigor to the festival finale. Based on a Cuban dance style with African, Spanish, French and especially Mexican antecedents, it is so well loved, it is informally known as Mexico’s second national anthem.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
