The Brigham Young University School of Music will host the second annual Deseret Chamber Music Festival May 9-10 and 16-17 featuring four festive concerts presenting varied programs of musical masterpieces by nationally known artists.
All performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall of the Harris Fine Arts Center.
Tickets for each performance are available for $7 for the general public and $5 for students or faculty members. A festival pass may be purchased for $15. Tickets can be purchased through the Fine Arts Ticket Office (801) 378-4322 or www.byu.edu/hfac.
"The purpose of the festival is to share the greatest masterworks of chamber music in festive concerts presented by prominent artists from the Intermountain West," said festival director and BYU faculty member Laurence Lowe.
The festival will begin Friday, May 9, with a performance by BYU's resident jazz quintet, Q'd Up. They will salute the great American songwriters in a program of Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and "Fats" Waller.
Members of Q'd Up include Ron Brough, percussion; Steve Call, keyboard; Ray Smith, saxophone; Matt Larson, bass; and Jay Lawrence, percussion.
The BYU-based Orpheus Wind Quintet will showcase sparkling modern pieces for winds, voice and piano on Saturday, May 10.
Another featured performance at the Deseret Chamber Music Festival will join longtime friends and pianists Irene Peery-Fox and Barbara Allen, who form the ensemble "Ladies at Play."
Peery-Fox, a professor of piano performance at BYU, received her master's degree from the Juilliard School and her doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Allen received her master's at BYU and a doctorate from the University of Illinois, where she studied with Soulima Stravinsky, son of the famed composer.
"Ladies at Play" will perform works by Mozart, Strauss, Saint-Saens and Ravel.
The Deseret Chamber Players featuring Jenny Oaks Baker, violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., will perform on Saturday, May 17. They will showcase works by Schubert and Brahms.
Jenny Oaks Baker will also present a violin master class in the Madsen Recital Hall at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 17.
Admission for the master class is $5 or free with any ticket from a Deseret Chamber Music Festival Concert at the door.
Writer: Elizabeth B. Jensen
