Glacier Symphony Orchestra & Chorale Annual Spring Festival

The annual Spring Festival of the Glacier Symphony, Orchestra and Chorale will take place at the Performance Hall of Flathead High School on Saturday, April 30th and Sunday May 1^st, and the second concert weekend on Saturday May 14^th and Sunday, May 15^th.

Tickets are available by calling the box office at 406-407-7000.  More information about the concerts, performance times, and the purchase of tickets online can be found on the website https://glaciersymphony.org/.

The Glacier Symphony and Chorale Marks Spring in Montana with Musical Favorites of Mozart and Mahler

The 39^th Season of the Glacier Symphony and Chorale continues its celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the leadership of Maestro John Zoltek as Music Director and Conductor of the musical organization with  a return to the concert hall featuring both the Orchestra and Chorale and distinguished guest soloists in two weekend performances of monumental works in the classical music repertoire. The concert programs are comprised of several of the greatest works by both Gustav Mahler and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The first concert features the Orchestra, Chorale, and guest vocal soloists. Opening the program are orchestral songs by Mahler – considered some of the finest ever written for soloists and orchestra and a hallmark of Mahler compositions – including selected Rückert Leider and the complete Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). The second half of the performance will continue to delight audiences with one of the most transcendent and important masterpieces for chorus, soloists and orchestra – Mozart’s stunning Requiem in D minor, made familiar to audiences world-wide through the movie Amadeus. Mozart’s Requiem is considered one of the crowning jewels of this type of repertoire and one of his most popular works. The first several movements were literally written on his deathbed (the work was finished by an assistant using sketches of the whole mass), giving rise to the legend that the mysterious cloaked stranger who visited the composer to commission the work was perhaps Death himself, knowing that he was coming for Mozart soon. The work will showcase beautifully the combined talents of the Orchestra and Chorale. The acclaimed vocal soloists include soprano Danielle Pastin, tenor Brian Cheney, bass-baritone Tyler Putnam and alto Robin Bier, formerly of Kalispell. Born in Alaska, her family moved to the Flathead Valley when she was in 3^rd grade and her musical background is deeply rooted in our area and the Glacier Symphony organization.

The Glacier Symphony and Maestro Zoltek return again with Mozart and Mahler in the second weekend. This program features Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No.5 for large orchestra, composed mostly in the summer of 1902. The year 1901 had been an eventful one for the composer. He had had an almost fatal hemorrhage early in the year and at the same time had had one of his most successful years as both a composer and conductor.  1901 is also the year he met and fell in love with his future wife Alma Schindler, and this powerfully expansive, technically demanding, 5-movement masterpiece includes the exquisitely beautiful Adagietto. Frequently performed as a stand-alone piece, it is said to be a musical expression of love to Alma. The second concert will open with one of Mozart’s most popular and beloved piano concertos, the No. 21 in C Major, nicknamed the “Elvira Madigan, once again because of the use of its second movement in a feature film of that name.  The soloist for the Mozart will be internationally recognized pianist Robert Satterlee, originally from the Flathead. In addition to playing with orchestras globally, Satterlee is an accomplished chamber musician and solo recitalist. Since the fall of 1998 he has been a member of the piano faculty of Bowling Green State University in Ohio and also teaches at the renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in the summers

In explaining his choice of repertoire for these festival performances, Maestro John Zoltek explains, “Last year, unfortunately, we were not able to perform the Spring Festival concerts due to the pandemic.  I knew that once we returned to the spring concerts with the combined forces of the Orchestra and Chorale, that I wanted to present truly spectacular music to our audiences and also give our musicians the experience of tackling and performing music that would showcase their collective talent. I am also pleased to be bringing back some of my favorite guest collaborators originally from the Flathead Valley who I have worked with in my 25 years with the Glacier Symphony.”