One of the great traditions of the Music in the Mountains is the way it kicks off its three-week season every year – with a private party for the people who make it possible, the donors.
That leads me to unusual territory for Neighbors: budgets.
I know some people would say it’s the concertgoers who make the festival a success, and of course, it couldn’t happen without us, either. Ticket sales bring in roughly $160,000 of the $845,000 it costs to put on the festival itself, or about 19 percent of the budget. Roughly 60 percent of the cost of the festival is picked up by corporate and individual donors and grants. (That’s excluding the educational programs, Conservatory Music in the Mountains and Music in the Mountains Goes to School, which require more donations, although the conservatory brings substantial income through tuition, fees and ticket sales.) Benefits and events, another way donors contribute, bring in the final 20 percent or so.
So when I say Music in the Mountains has cause to be quite thankful to donors, that’s an understatement. And that doesn’t include the gratitude we should all feel to donors for their generosity to all music lovers in the community.
The event began with a chance to nosh at Purgy’s Slopeside at Purgatory Resort. Dan Furlong and his crew created quite the spread, including salmon, shrimp, tuna with wasabi and a roast beef carving station with a choice of chimichurri or wine-reduction sauces.
I, for one, am delighted to see Animas Chocolate Co. come on board as a sponsor this year. It created an elegant and tantalizing chocolate bar for the party. Guests could savor their way through Twilight dark chocolate truffles, milk chocolate bites, cacao whiskey caramel chocolates made with Honeyville’s Colorado Honey Whiskey and, as the coup de grâce, a chocolate fountain with cherries, strawberries, dried apricots and pecan sandies for dipping.
The highlight of the evening is a recital, and for many years it has served as an introduction of musicians beginning what promise to be stellar careers. The audience will be able to say they heard her perform before she made her name, so to speak.
This year’s artist was Fei-Fei Dong. A graduate of The Juilliard School (with both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees) and a finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, she won both the Concert Artists Guild Competition and Juilliard’s 33rd Annual William Petschek Recital Award.
This was her second, but I hope not final, visit to Durango. She visited in 2015 when the documentary “Virtuosity” aired at the Durango Independent Film Festival.
I found myself writing phrases such as “lyrical,” “passionate,” “a musician who becomes one with the music,” “She’s the storyteller of Schumann’s saga;” (“Papillons, Opus 2”), “She would have made Liszt, the rock star of his day, jealous;” and “Wow!” Her encore, “Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon,” reflected Dong’s heritage as a native of Shenzhen, China. It was composed/transcribed by her friend Jianzhong Wang.
Most charming, perhaps, was her encouragement of 8-year-old Mia Sholes, who is taking piano lessons. Dong insisted on taking a photo with her young fan, signed Mia’s program and encouraged her to continue her piano education. Mia is the daughter of Scott Sholes and Mariel Balbuena.
In our conversation afterward, Dong said she performs 30 to 40 times a year, and the solitary existence – between travel and practice time – can be tough. It may be that the solitude is what’s needed to really dive into the music.
There are still two-and-a-half weeks of the festival awaiting us. To learn more, visit www.musicinthemountains.com to pick out a concert (or two, or three or ...)
Enjoying the last of the Cancer birthdays are – but blowing out their candles very carefully, as fire danger will continue to be significant in the next week – are Nancy Van Mols, Dick Imig, Gene Bacus, Cissy Anderson, Brian Shafer, Ginny Brown, Jeff Haspel, Charlie Arbaugh, Chuck Williams, Addie Sage, Lee Dalenberg, Nancy Van Dover, Kristina Johnson, Colton Cheese, Shanna Stordahl, Margaret Hjermstad, Valerie Peduto, Jerry Hickman, Maureen Chamberlain, Joan Levine Russell, Peggy Zemach, Victoria FittsMilgrim, Sandy Bielenberg and Ozzie Goldman.
neighbors@durangoherald.com
