Olympic Music Festival begins new season this weekend

PORT TOWNSEND — The Olympic Music Festival will kick off its 41st summer season with concerts at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The concerts will be in Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden, 200 Battery Way.

Tickets are $40 per person, $15 for students, and are available by calling 360-385-9699 or visiting www.olympic musicfestival.org.

Season passes for nine concerts, which include only one performance of Beethoven’s Complete Cello Sonatas on either Aug. 24 or Aug. 25, are available for $324.

The season includes 10 classical music performances ranging from Classical Masters on Saturday through Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee performing The Virtuosic Piano on Sept. 8.

This weekend’s performances feature violinists Evan Johanson, Coco Mi and Wonhee Bae; violists Vicki Powell and Luther Warren; cellists Jennifer Culp amd Annie Hyung; and pianists Julio Elizalde and Amy Yang.

Saturday’s program, Classical Masters, includes Haydn’s String Quartet in B minor, Hob III:68; Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 70 No. 2; and Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor, K. 516.

Sunday’s program, American Legacy, includes Harry Thacker Burleigh’s Four Southland Sketches for Violin (Viola) and Piano; Dvorak’s String Quartet in F major, Op. 96, “American;” and Florence Price’s Piano Quintet in A minor (1936.)

The concerts on Aug. 17-18 feature violinists Evan Johanson, Joseph Maile, Coco Mi and Angela Wee; violists Juan-Miguel Hernandez and Luther Warren; cellists Annie Hyung and Matthew Zalkind; and pianist Julio Elizalde.

The festival will present Folk Melodies and Dances on Aug. 17 featuring Jean Francaix’s String Trio (1933); Beethoven’s String Quartet in C major, Op. 59 No. 3, “Razumovsky;” and Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25.

The Aug. 18 program, Orchestral Soundscapes, will include Grażyna Bacewicz’s Quartet for Four Violins (1949); Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57; and Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings in E-flat major, Op. 20.

Cellist Matthew Zalkind and pianist Julio Elizalde will perform Beethoven’s Complete Cello Sonatas on Aug. 24-25.

Both days will include Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in F major, Op. 5 No. 1; Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 5 No. 2; Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69; Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 102 No. 1; and Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 102 No. 2.

The Chamber Music Masters, consisting of violinists Alexi Kenney and Scott St. John; violist Jonathan Vinocour; cellist Efe Baltacıgil; and pianists Julio Elizalde and Robert McDonald, will perform The Final Romantics on Aug. 31 and From the Wars on Sept. 1.

The Final Romantics includes Brahms’ Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118; Strauss’ Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18; and Dvorak’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 87.

From the Wars includes Rebecca Clarke’s Dumka for Violin, Viola, and Piano (1940); Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D minor, op. 40; and Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84.

The season finale will feature pianists Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee performing The Romantic Piano on Sept. 7 and The Virtuosic Piano on Sept. 8.

The Romantic Piano includes selections from Brahms’ Waltzes for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 39; Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16; and Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178.

The Virtuosic Piano includes Debussy’s Petite Suite for Piano, Four Hands; three pieces by Chopin: Nocturne in F major, Op. 15; Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1; and Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 “Funeral March;” and finished with Rachmaninoff’s Moment Musicaux, Op. 16.

All performances will be at 2 p.m. on Saturdays or Sundays.

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