Join us at noon at the Odess Theater for Bach's Lunch!

What is Bach's Lunch? It’s a free lunchtime community concert where you can enjoy world-class classical music while bringing your own Bach’s (boxed) lunch. Connect with fellow music lovers, meet the incredible artists, and experience the beauty of live music in a relaxed setting.

Thursday, June 5 at 12 p.m.

Program TBA featuring the following artists:
🎻 Zuill Bailey, cello
🎻 Christian Colberg, viola
🎻 Katerina Chatzinikolau, violin
🎶 Amy Taylor, flute
🎹 Robert Koenig, piano

Presented by the Sitka Music Festival (SMF), which inspires audiences, sparks creativity, and strengthens community across Alaska through live chamber music performances, music education, and training by artists of the highest caliber.

For over 50 years, SMF has presented classical music at the highest artistic standards. Throughout its history, SMF musicians have shared their music with Alaskans who would otherwise not have access to live chamber music of the highest caliber and, in turn, Alaskans have shared their music, traditions, and ways of life with the visiting musicians. These shared experiences have taken SMF musicians to more than 40 Alaskan communities, many of which are small, remote villages off the road system. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, SMF remains dedicated to bringing exceptional music experiences to communities statewide.

Galvin Cello Quarter with Victor Asuncion, piano

Popper, Polonaise de Concert - arr. Sebastian van Eck

Tchaikovsky, Andante Cantabile - arr. Ka-Wai Yu

Schumann, Fantasiestücke

Fauré, Romance

~ Intermission ~

Nobre, Poema Azevedo/Abreu - Brasileirinho/Tico-tico no Fubá

Wilkomirski, Ballada i Rapsodia

Composed of members from Brazil, South Korea, and the United States, the Galvin Cello Quartet burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition, followed by winning the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and joining the Concert Artists Guild roster. The Quartet takes its name from the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music where three of its members – Sydney Lee, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli – met as students in the studio of acclaimed pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen. In June of 2024, the Quartet welcomed James Baik, another former student of Jensen, as their newest member.

With their untamable desire to create, change, and ultimately bring joy through music, the Galvin Cello Quartet is incredibly excited to explore and expand the possibilities of the cello quartet. Using the limitless range of a cello ensemble, the group's mission is to bring together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds while seeking to establish the cello quartet as a core part of the classical music world. The Galvin Cello Quartet embodies virtuosity, with each member bringing their own artistic nuance and acclaimed background to the ensemble. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances and residencies at Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Ascent International Cello Festival, Newport Classical, Merkin Hall, and the Walton Arts Center.

Sydney Lee captured First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition in Dubai, as well as First Prize at the 10th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition. She has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Symphony’s Heinz Hall, and Verizon Hall. Haddon Kay first debuted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a finalist for the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition. Most recently, he captured Third Prize at the George Enescu International Competition and First Prize at the Luminarts and American Opera Society competitions. 

Luiz Fernando Venturelli made his solo debut at the São Paulo Hall at the age of 9 and has since been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the São Paulo State Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, and the Bahia Symphony. He has recently been a prizewinner in the Sphinx Competition, the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Competition, and the New York International Artists Association. Also a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen, James Baik is a First Prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Prize. He is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and has played chamber music at the Ravinia and Bridgehampton Festivals. He studies at the Colburn School under Clive Greensmith. 

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Winter Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

Galvin Cello Quartet with Victor Asuncion, piano

Rossini, Une Larme

Saint-Saëns, The Swan

Beethoven, 12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus - arr. Ka-Wai Yu

~ Intermission ~

Janacek, Pohadka

Coleridge Taylor / Perkinson - Lamentations

Elizondo, Danzas Latinoamericanas

Composed of members from Brazil, South Korea, and the United States, the Galvin Cello Quartet burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition, followed by winning the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and joining the Concert Artists Guild roster. The Quartet takes its name from the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music where three of its members – Sydney Lee, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli – met as students in the studio of acclaimed pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen. In June of 2024, the Quartet welcomed James Baik, another former student of Jensen, as their newest member.

With their untamable desire to create, change, and ultimately bring joy through music, the Galvin Cello Quartet is incredibly excited to explore and expand the possibilities of the cello quartet. Using the limitless range of a cello ensemble, the group's mission is to bring together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds while seeking to establish the cello quartet as a core part of the classical music world. The Galvin Cello Quartet embodies virtuosity, with each member bringing their own artistic nuance and acclaimed background to the ensemble. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances and residencies at Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Ascent International Cello Festival, Newport Classical, Merkin Hall, and the Walton Arts Center.

Sydney Lee captured First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition in Dubai, as well as First Prize at the 10th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition. She has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Symphony’s Heinz Hall, and Verizon Hall. Haddon Kay first debuted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a finalist for the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition. Most recently, he captured Third Prize at the George Enescu International Competition and First Prize at the Luminarts and American Opera Society competitions. 

Luiz Fernando Venturelli made his solo debut at the São Paulo Hall at the age of 9 and has since been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the São Paulo State Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, and the Bahia Symphony. He has recently been a prizewinner in the Sphinx Competition, the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Competition, and the New York International Artists Association. Also a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen, James Baik is a First Prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Prize. He is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and has played chamber music at the Ravinia and Bridgehampton Festivals. He studies at the Colburn School under Clive Greensmith. 

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Winter Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

The Galvin Cello Quartet

with

Zuill Bailey, cello & Victor Asuncion, piano

Paganini, Variations on a Theme by Rossini (“Moses”)

Forino, Preghiere for Cello Quartet, Op. 27, No. 3

Vivaldi, Winter from Four Seasons

Fauré, Sicilienne

~ Intermission ~

Menotti, Suite for 2 Cellos and Piano

Popper, Requiem

Debussy, Reverie

Composed of members from Brazil, South Korea, and the United States, the Galvin Cello Quartet burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition, followed by winning the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and joining the Concert Artists Guild roster. The Quartet takes its name from the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music where three of its members – Sydney Lee, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli – met as students in the studio of acclaimed pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen. In June of 2024, the Quartet welcomed James Baik, another former student of Jensen, as their newest member.

With their untamable desire to create, change, and ultimately bring joy through music, the Galvin Cello Quartet is incredibly excited to explore and expand the possibilities of the cello quartet. Using the limitless range of a cello ensemble, the group's mission is to bring together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds while seeking to establish the cello quartet as a core part of the classical music world. The Galvin Cello Quartet embodies virtuosity, with each member bringing their own artistic nuance and acclaimed background to the ensemble. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances and residencies at Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Ascent International Cello Festival, Newport Classical, Merkin Hall, and the Walton Arts Center.

Sydney Lee captured First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition in Dubai, as well as First Prize at the 10th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition. She has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Symphony’s Heinz Hall, and Verizon Hall. Haddon Kay first debuted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a finalist for the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition. Most recently, he captured Third Prize at the George Enescu International Competition and First Prize at the Luminarts and American Opera Society competitions. 

Luiz Fernando Venturelli made his solo debut at the São Paulo Hall at the age of 9 and has since been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the São Paulo State Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, and the Bahia Symphony. He has recently been a prizewinner in the Sphinx Competition, the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Competition, and the New York International Artists Association. Also a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen, James Baik is a First Prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Prize. He is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and has played chamber music at the Ravinia and Bridgehampton Festivals. He studies at the Colburn School under Clive Greensmith. 

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Winter Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

Program:

Galvin Cello Quartet

Voice of the Cello

James Baik | Haddon Kay | Sydney Lee | Luiz Venturelli

Variations on a Theme by Rossini - Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) (arr. Galvin Cello Quartet)

The Swan from Carnival of the Animals - Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) (arr. Galvin Cello Quartet)

12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus - Ludvig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (arr. Kai-Wai Yu)

Une Larme (arr. Laszio Varga) - Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

Ballada I Rapsodia - Kazimierz Wiłkomirski (1900-1995)

Andante Cantabile - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Concert Polonaise, Op. 14 - David Popper (1843-1914) (arr. Sebastian van Eck)

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Winter Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

Join us for our second annual “Winterlude” at 6:30 p.m. Enjoy light fare paired with prosecco and wine, followed by an intimate, candlelit performance by the award-winning Galvin Cello Quartet. This event always sells out, so be sure to get your tickets early!

Program:

Galvin Cello Quartet

Voice of the Cello

James Baik | Haddon Kay | Sydney Lee | Luiz Venturelli

Variations on a Theme by Rossini - Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) (arr. Galvin Cello Quartet)

The Swan from Carnival of the Animals - Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) (arr. Galvin Cello Quartet)

12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus - Ludvig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (arr. Kai-Wai Yu)

Une Larme (arr. Laszio Varga) - Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

Ballada I Rapsodia - Kazimierz Wiłkomirski (1900-1995)

Andante Cantabile - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Concert Polonaise, Op. 14 - David Popper (1843-1914) (arr. Sebastian van Eck)

Composed of members from Brazil, South Korea, and the United States, the Galvin Cello Quartet burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition, followed by winning the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and joining the Concert Artists Guild roster. The Quartet takes its name from the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music where three of its members – Sydney Lee, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli – met as students in the studio of acclaimed pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen. In June of 2024, the Quartet welcomed James Baik, another former student of Jensen, as their newest member.

With their untamable desire to create, change, and ultimately bring joy through music, the Galvin Cello Quartet is incredibly excited to explore and expand the possibilities of the cello quartet. Using the limitless range of a cello ensemble, the group's mission is to bring together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds while seeking to establish the cello quartet as a core part of the classical music world. The Galvin Cello Quartet embodies virtuosity, with each member bringing their own artistic nuance and acclaimed background to the ensemble. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances and residencies at Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Ascent International Cello Festival, Newport Classical, Merkin Hall, and the Walton Arts Center.

Sydney Lee captured First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition in Dubai, as well as First Prize at the 10th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition. She has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Symphony’s Heinz Hall, and Verizon Hall. Haddon Kay first debuted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a finalist for the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition. Most recently, he captured Third Prize at the George Enescu International Competition and First Prize at the Luminarts and American Opera Society competitions. 

Luiz Fernando Venturelli made his solo debut at the São Paulo Hall at the age of 9 and has since been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the São Paulo State Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, and the Bahia Symphony. He has recently been a prizewinner in the Sphinx Competition, the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Competition, and the New York International Artists Association. Also a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen, James Baik is a First Prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Prize. He is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and has played chamber music at the Ravinia and Bridgehampton Festivals. He studies at the Colburn School under Clive Greensmith. 

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Winter Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

Program:

Galvin Cello Quartet

Voice of the Cello

James Baik | Haddon Kay | Sydney Lee | Luiz Venturelli

Variations on a Theme by Rossini - Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) (arr. Galvin Cello Quartet)

The Swan from Carnival of the Animals - Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) (arr. Galvin Cello Quartet)

12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus - Ludvig van Beethoven (1770-1827) (arr. Kai-Wai Yu)

Une Larme (arr. Laszio Varga) - Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

Ballada I Rapsodia - Kazimierz Wiłkomirski (1900-1995)

Andante Cantabile - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Concert Polonaise, Op. 14 - David Popper (1843-1914) (arr. Sebastian van Eck)

Composed of members from Brazil, South Korea, and the United States, the Galvin Cello Quartet burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition, followed by winning the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and joining the Concert Artists Guild roster. The Quartet takes its name from the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music where three of its members – Sydney Lee, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli – met as students in the studio of acclaimed pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen. In June of 2024, the Quartet welcomed James Baik, another former student of Jensen, as their newest member.

With their untamable desire to create, change, and ultimately bring joy through music, the Galvin Cello Quartet is incredibly excited to explore and expand the possibilities of the cello quartet. Using the limitless range of a cello ensemble, the group's mission is to bring together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds while seeking to establish the cello quartet as a core part of the classical music world. The Galvin Cello Quartet embodies virtuosity, with each member bringing their own artistic nuance and acclaimed background to the ensemble. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances and residencies at Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Ascent International Cello Festival, Newport Classical, Merkin Hall, and the Walton Arts Center.

Sydney Lee captured First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition in Dubai, as well as First Prize at the 10th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition. She has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Symphony’s Heinz Hall, and Verizon Hall. Haddon Kay first debuted with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a finalist for the Chicago Symphony Young Artist Competition. Most recently, he captured Third Prize at the George Enescu International Competition and First Prize at the Luminarts and American Opera Society competitions. 

Luiz Fernando Venturelli made his solo debut at the São Paulo Hall at the age of 9 and has since been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the São Paulo State Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, and the Bahia Symphony. He has recently been a prizewinner in the Sphinx Competition, the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Competition, and the New York International Artists Association. Also a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen, James Baik is a First Prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Prize. He is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and has played chamber music at the Ravinia and Bridgehampton Festivals. He studies at the Colburn School under Clive Greensmith. 

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Winter Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

Join us for the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Sitka Music Festival, hosted by our Board of Directors. This hybrid event will take place in person at the Miner Music Center at Stevenson Hall, as well as virtually for board members and stakeholders across the state. The evening will begin with a special performance by our Artistic Director, Zuill Bailey, followed by a presentation highlighting the Festival's achievements in 2024. The event will conclude with the presentation of the first-ever Paul Rosenthal Award(s).

To reserve your spot, please fill out the form below. If you're attending virtually, you will receive an email with the link to join ahead of the meeting. We look forward to celebrating another successful year with you!

Ignite Your Holiday Spirit!

Join us at the Miner Music Center in Stevenson Hall on December 18th, from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m., for a festive holiday sing-along led by Sitka's own Andrew Hames, with Debby Shabo Wade accompanying on piano! Celebrate the season by singing a variety of holiday songs and carols. Bring your voice or your instrument—music will be provided in the key of C, and all skill levels are welcome.

After the sing-along, warm up with winter refreshments courtesy of Hames Corporation and stay for the Sitka Music Festival's Annual Meeting at 7:00 p.m. We look forward to sharing this joyous occasion with you!

While it’s winter in Sitka, it’s summer in Latin America! Warm up with vibrant music by composers from the region, performed by John-Henry Crawford on cello and Victor Asuncion on piano, featuring a special guest appearance by our Grammy-winning Artistic Director, Zuill Bailey.

Program

Brazil

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)                                                                                                                              

O canto de cisne negro
Ondulando
Melodia

Marlos Nobre (b.1939)

Poema III

Argentina
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)

Danzas Argentinas

Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000)

Pampamapa

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

Le Grand Tango

Mexico

Manuel Ponce (1882-1948)

Por ti mi Corazón
Estrellita

USA/Italy 

Giancarlo Menotti (1911-2007)

Suite for 2 Cellos and Piano

Born in the small Louisiana city of Shreveport, cellist John-Henry Crawford has been lauded for his “polished charisma” and “singing sound” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and in 2019 was First Prize Winner of the IX International Carlos Prieto Cello Competition and named Young Artist of the Year by the Classical Recording Foundation.

At age 15, Crawford was accepted into the legendary Curtis Institute of Music to study with Peter Wiley and Carter Brey and went on to complete an Artist Diploma at the Manhattan School of Music with Philippe Muller, a Master of Music at The Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick, and pursue further study in Chicago with Hans Jørgen Jensen. He has given concerts in 25 states as well as Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland at venues such as The International Concert Series of the Louvre in Paris, Volkswagen’s Die Gläsern Manufaktur in Dresden, and the inaugural season of the Tippet Rise Arts Center in Montana. Crawford gave his solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as First Prize Winner of the orchestra’s Greenfield Competition and has performed Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Memphis Symphony, Dvorak and Gulda Cello Concertos with the Shreveport Symphony, and Haydn’s C Major Cello Concerto with the Highland Park Strings.

While in Chicago, Crawford appeared on WFMT’s Impromptu series and toured extensively with Steinway artist and pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion. He has appeared twice with Christopher O’Riley on National Public Radio’s From the Top. An advocate for the importance of social media, Crawford commands a strong Instagram presence, attracting tens of thousands of viewers to his project #The1000DayJourney, where he films artistic cinematic videos daily from his practice and performances for over 55,000 followers (@cellocrawford) to give a glimpse into the working process of a musician, recently passing the 1000-day mark.

Crawford’s numerous competition prizes also include Grand Prize and First Prize Cellist at the 2015 American String Teachers National Solo Competition, the Lynn Harrell Competition of the Dallas Symphony, the Hudson Valley Competition, and the Kingsville International Competition. He has competed in the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elisabeth competitions and was accepted at the prestigious Verbier Academy in Switzerland for study under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum and Torleif Thedeen. 

Crawford has been a fellow at Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico, the National Arts Centre’s Zukerman Young Artist Program in Canada, The Fontainebleau School in France, and the Perlman Chamber Music Program. He was invited to perform at Boston’s French Cultural Museum in a chamber music concert with Boston Symphony concertmaster Malcolm Lowe, Curtis President Roberto Diaz, and members of the Borromeo Quartet, and was the only student performer on a tour series to Costa Rica, Mexico, and Brazil, collaborating with artists Soovin Kim, Roberto Diaz, and Jason Vieaux as part of Curtis on Tour. While a student at Curtis, Crawford’s recital performances were broadcast on WHYY public television in Philadelphia. He was interviewed for the recently released documentary Maestro about conductor Paavo Järvi, and is also interviewed and quoted in Dan Coyle’s The Talent Code by Dan Coyle, a best-selling book about the science and neurology behind skill development. 

Crawford is from a musical family and performs on a rare 200-year old European cello smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather, Dr. Robert Popper, who evaded Kristallnacht in 1938. He also performs on a fine French bow by the revolutionary bowmaker Tourte “L’Ainé” from 1790. Before attending Curtis, Crawford studied with concert cellist Andres Diaz of Southern Methodist University. In addition to music, he enjoys reading about astrophysics, running, performing magic tricks, and photography.

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist.  He played his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra, and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival.  He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

His recordings include the complete Sonatas of L. van Beethoven with cellist Tobias Werner, Sonatas by Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff with cellist Joseph Johnson, the Rachmaninoff Sonata with the cellist Evan Drachman, and the Chopin and Grieg Sonatas, also with cellist Evan Drachman. He is featured in the award winning recording “Songs My Father Taught Me” with Lynn Harrell, produced by Louise Frank and WFMT-Chicago.  Mr. Asuncion is the Founder, and Artistic and Board Director of FilAm Music Foundation, a non-profit foundation that is dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship, and performance.

He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 2007 from the University of Maryland at College Park under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. Victor Santiago Asuncion is a Steinway artist.

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.

Jazzmas! A Holiday Jazz Brunch

Join us for a festive celebration as Sitka Jazz Week founder and director Christian Fabian returns to Sitka alongside acclaimed Broadway pianist and music director Matt Perri. Enjoy a delightful morning filled with holiday cheer, featuring mimosas, Bloody Marys, and prosecco paired with a delicious brunch

Get ready to immerse yourself in the spirit of the season with live holiday tunes. Space is limited, so be sure to grab your tickets now!

Matt Perri made his triumphant debut at Carnegie Hall with the concert and live recording of Austen's Pride and has since established himself as a celebrated name in music. He has led Broadway hits such as Bandstand and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and boasts an impressive array of credits, including Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Promises, Promises.

Matt's expertise also extends to television, where he has contributed to high-profile projects like NBC's The Sound of Music Live and Peter Pan Live, along with performances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show with David Letterman. He has made multiple appearances on ABC's The View, where he served as a staff songwriter. In 2024, he will showcase his passion for opera as Music Director and Conductor for the Seattle Opera Creation Lab Series.

In concert, Matt has collaborated with stars like Bette Midler, Kristin Chenoweth, Jessica Vosk, Kecia Lewis, and Mario Cantone, earning a reputation as a dynamic and versatile music director.

Matthew Antonio Perri's diverse educational background is integral to his development as a conductor and educator. He earned a Bachelor of Music (B.Mus) in Jazz Piano and Composition from New York University (NYU), studying under esteemed musicians such as Jim McNeely, Mike Holober, and Don Friedman. His studies in composition and orchestration were further enriched by working with distinguished composer Justin Dello Joio.

Matthew's conducting journey was significantly shaped by his mentor, Maestro Gary S. Fagin, Music Director of the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra. Under Maestro Fagin's guidance, Matthew honed his skills, drawing from the legacy of renowned German conductor Otto-Werner Mueller.

In addition to his formal education, Matthew spent years refining his vocal skills, training with Dr. Bruce Kolb in New York City to elevate his singing abilities. This comprehensive training across jazz, classical composition, conducting, and vocal performance equips Matthew with a rich, multifaceted perspective on music, allowing him to excel as a conductor and inspiring mentor.

Experience the electrifying duo of Grammy-winning cellist, Zuill Bailey and acclaimed pianist, Awadagin Pratt.

Zuill Bailey, cello & Awadagin Pratt, piano 

Program:

Keyboard Concerto in A Major, BWV 1055 – J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750)

Variations Concertantes for Cello and Piano, Op. 17 – Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)

Quartet for the End of Time: Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus – Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992) 

Sonata in A minor, D. 821, “Arpeggione” – Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)

Andante Cantabile, Op. 11 – Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher.  His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought after and active cellists today.Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide.  He won the Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017, for his recording of  Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” with the Nashville Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero.  His extensive discography includes his newest release – the world premier recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021 he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” and has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s  “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,” and his latest disc of Bach Suites was the disc of the week on Sirius’ Symphony Hall.Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni, and received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School.  He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington),  Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center (Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Through his kaleidoscopic career as a pianist, conductor, educator, and curator of memorable musical moments, Awadagin Pratt is actively inventing the artistic world he longs to live in — a world that shines light on rich voices of the past and present, amplifies the diverse talents of today’s brightest creative minds, and paves the way for a new generation of inventive musical artists. Since launching onto the international stage after winning the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992 and receiving a 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Awadagin has received acclaim for delivering “forceful, imaginative, and precisely tinted” performances (Washington Post) and is hailed as “one of the great and distinctive American pianists and conductors of our time” (WGBH). He has appeared at addresses as familiar as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (at the invitation of the Clinton and Obama administrations) and Sesame Street (at the invitation of Big Bird). His breakneck concert schedule has taken him across six continents for performances with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the New York Philharmonic, and many others; solo recitals at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center; and chamber music collaborations with Zuill Bailey, Simone Dinnerstein, and the Harlem and St. Lawrence String Quartets. Highlights of Awadagin’s 2023/24 season include concerto appearances with the Nashville, Utah, Bournemouth, and Annapolis Symphonies; A Far Cry at Boston’s Jordan Hall; and the Cincinnati, Manitoba, New Century, and IRIS Chamber Orchestras. Recital engagements include performances at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall, a program of four-hand music with Simone Dinnerstein at the Washington Performing Arts Society, and an appearance at the Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival. August 2023 marks the release of his first album for New Amsterdam Records, STILLPOINT, which explores the truth and beauty found within T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets through newly composed works by Tyshawn Sorey, Paola Prestini, Pēteris Vasks, Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Alvin Singleton, and Judd Greenstein. Between performances at the piano, Awadagin maintains a bustling conducting career. This 23/24 season marks his first as Principal Conductor of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra and a return to the podium of the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh. He recently made his conducting debut with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra (Tbilisi); his operatic debut leading Porgy and Bess with the Greensboro Opera (North Carolina); and conducted a concert featuring the music of jazz great Ornette Coleman with Bang on a Can at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. But Awadagin’s creativity cannot be confined to the stage alone. After witnessing the globally broadcast execution of George Floyd by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, he published a podcast that quickly evolved into a multimedia musical experience. Performed primarily on college campuses across the U.S., Awadagin Pratt: Black in America fuses the music of Bach, Messaien, and Liszt with still and moving pictures by filmmaker Alrick Brown and an original narration in which he chronicles his life — from his time as a music student at the Peabody Conservatory through his ascent to international acclaim — through graphic accounts of numerous police stops and arrests he experienced for Driving While Black. In 2023, a documentary film version of Awadagin Pratt: Black in America directed by Michelle Bauer Carpenter aired in more than one million U.S. households and screened at film festivals across the country. Awadagin’s commitment to ushering in the next generation of agile, creative, and inventive pianists is evidenced by his work as founding director of the Next Generation Festival, the Art of the Piano Foundation, and the Nina Simone Piano Competition, a new biennial competition that celebrates diversity in classical music by showcasing the tremendous talents of young Black pianists. He has adjudicated the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, Minnesota e-Competition, Unisa International Piano Competition, and the International Competition for Young Pianists created in memory of Vladimir Horowitz.  Having recently left his position as Professor and Artist in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) after two decades, Awadagin is now Professor of Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory. He remains the only graduate of the Peabody Institute to earn performance certificates in three areas — violin, piano, and conducting — and has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins University and honorary doctorates from Illinois Wesleyan University, Susquehanna University, and the Boston Conservatory.

Awadagin Pratt In Recital

Program:

Glassworks, 1.“Opening”  -  Philip Glass   (b. 1937)

Second livre de pieces de clavecin, Ordre sixieme  - François Couperin (1668 - 1733)    

Castillo Interior (arr. for Awadagin Pratt)   -  Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946)

Three Character Studies: I. Nocturne for Left Hand Alone   -  Fred Hersch   (b. 1955)  

Prelude in D Major, Op. 23, No. 4   - Sergei Rachmaninoff    (1873 - 1943) 

Nocturne in B Major, Opus 62, No. 1  - Frédéric Chopin  (1810 – 1849)  

“Intermezzo” from The Nutcracker  - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), arr. M. Pletnev  

Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178  - Franz Liszt (1811 – 1866)

Through his kaleidoscopic career as a pianist, conductor, educator, and curator of memorable musical moments, Awadagin Pratt is actively inventing the artistic world he longs to live in — a world that shines light on rich voices of the past and present, amplifies the diverse talents of today’s brightest creative minds, and paves the way for a new generation of inventive musical artists. Since launching onto the international stage after winning the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992 and receiving a 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Awadagin has received acclaim for delivering “forceful, imaginative, and precisely tinted” performances (Washington Post) and is hailed as “one of the great and distinctive American pianists and conductors of our time” (WGBH). He has appeared at addresses as familiar as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (at the invitation of the Clinton and Obama administrations) and Sesame Street (at the invitation of Big Bird). His breakneck concert schedule has taken him across six continents for performances with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the New York Philharmonic, and many others; solo recitals at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center; and chamber music collaborations with Zuill Bailey, Simone Dinnerstein, and the Harlem and St. Lawrence String Quartets. Highlights of Awadagin’s 2023/24 season include concerto appearances with the Nashville, Utah, Bournemouth, and Annapolis Symphonies; A Far Cry at Boston’s Jordan Hall; and the Cincinnati, Manitoba, New Century, and IRIS Chamber Orchestras. Recital engagements include performances at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall, a program of four-hand music with Simone Dinnerstein at the Washington Performing Arts Society, and an appearance at the Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival. August 2023 marks the release of his first album for New Amsterdam Records, STILLPOINT, which explores the truth and beauty found within T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets through newly composed works by Tyshawn Sorey, Paola Prestini, Pēteris Vasks, Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Alvin Singleton, and Judd Greenstein. Between performances at the piano, Awadagin maintains a bustling conducting career. This 23/24 season marks his first as Principal Conductor of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra and a return to the podium of the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh. He recently made his conducting debut with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra (Tbilisi); his operatic debut leading Porgy and Bess with the Greensboro Opera (North Carolina); and conducted a concert featuring the music of jazz great Ornette Coleman with Bang on a Can at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. But Awadagin’s creativity cannot be confined to the stage alone. After witnessing the globally broadcast execution of George Floyd by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, he published a podcast that quickly evolved into a multimedia musical experience. Performed primarily on college campuses across the U.S., Awadagin Pratt: Black in America fuses the music of Bach, Messaien, and Liszt with still and moving pictures by filmmaker Alrick Brown and an original narration in which he chronicles his life — from his time as a music student at the Peabody Conservatory through his ascent to international acclaim — through graphic accounts of numerous police stops and arrests he experienced for Driving While Black. In 2023, a documentary film version of Awadagin Pratt: Black in America directed by Michelle Bauer Carpenter aired in more than one million U.S. households and screened at film festivals across the country. Awadagin’s commitment to ushering in the next generation of agile, creative, and inventive pianists is evidenced by his work as founding director of the Next Generation Festival, the Art of the Piano Foundation, and the Nina Simone Piano Competition, a new biennial competition that celebrates diversity in classical music by showcasing the tremendous talents of young Black pianists. He has adjudicated the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, Minnesota e-Competition, Unisa International Piano Competition, and the International Competition for Young Pianists created in memory of Vladimir Horowitz.  Having recently left his position as Professor and Artist in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) after two decades, Awadagin is now Professor of Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory. He remains the only graduate of the Peabody Institute to earn performance certificates in three areas — violin, piano, and conducting — and has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins University and honorary doctorates from Illinois Wesleyan University, Susquehanna University, and the Boston Conservatory.

Experience the electrifying duo of Grammy-winning cellist, Zuill Bailey and acclaimed pianist, Awadagin Pratt.

Zuill Bailey, cello & Awadagin Pratt, piano 

Program:

Spiegel im Spiegel – Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)

Sonata for Cello and Piano  No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69 – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Variations for Cello and Piano – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 – 1912)

Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, Op. 38 – Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher.  His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought after and active cellists today.Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide.  He won the Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017, for his recording of  Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” with the Nashville Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero.  His extensive discography includes his newest release – the world premier recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021 he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” and has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s  “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,” and his latest disc of Bach Suites was the disc of the week on Sirius’ Symphony Hall.Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni, and received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School.  He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington),  Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center (Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Through his kaleidoscopic career as a pianist, conductor, educator, and curator of memorable musical moments, Awadagin Pratt is actively inventing the artistic world he longs to live in — a world that shines light on rich voices of the past and present, amplifies the diverse talents of today’s brightest creative minds, and paves the way for a new generation of inventive musical artists. Since launching onto the international stage after winning the prestigious Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1992 and receiving a 1994 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Awadagin has received acclaim for delivering “forceful, imaginative, and precisely tinted” performances (Washington Post) and is hailed as “one of the great and distinctive American pianists and conductors of our time” (WGBH). He has appeared at addresses as familiar as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (at the invitation of the Clinton and Obama administrations) and Sesame Street (at the invitation of Big Bird). His breakneck concert schedule has taken him across six continents for performances with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the New York Philharmonic, and many others; solo recitals at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center; and chamber music collaborations with Zuill Bailey, Simone Dinnerstein, and the Harlem and St. Lawrence String Quartets. Highlights of Awadagin’s 2023/24 season include concerto appearances with the Nashville, Utah, Bournemouth, and Annapolis Symphonies; A Far Cry at Boston’s Jordan Hall; and the Cincinnati, Manitoba, New Century, and IRIS Chamber Orchestras. Recital engagements include performances at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall, a program of four-hand music with Simone Dinnerstein at the Washington Performing Arts Society, and an appearance at the Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival. August 2023 marks the release of his first album for New Amsterdam Records, STILLPOINT, which explores the truth and beauty found within T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets through newly composed works by Tyshawn Sorey, Paola Prestini, Pēteris Vasks, Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Alvin Singleton, and Judd Greenstein. Between performances at the piano, Awadagin maintains a bustling conducting career. This 23/24 season marks his first as Principal Conductor of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra and a return to the podium of the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh. He recently made his conducting debut with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra (Tbilisi); his operatic debut leading Porgy and Bess with the Greensboro Opera (North Carolina); and conducted a concert featuring the music of jazz great Ornette Coleman with Bang on a Can at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. But Awadagin’s creativity cannot be confined to the stage alone. After witnessing the globally broadcast execution of George Floyd by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, he published a podcast that quickly evolved into a multimedia musical experience. Performed primarily on college campuses across the U.S., Awadagin Pratt: Black in America fuses the music of Bach, Messaien, and Liszt with still and moving pictures by filmmaker Alrick Brown and an original narration in which he chronicles his life — from his time as a music student at the Peabody Conservatory through his ascent to international acclaim — through graphic accounts of numerous police stops and arrests he experienced for Driving While Black. In 2023, a documentary film version of Awadagin Pratt: Black in America directed by Michelle Bauer Carpenter aired in more than one million U.S. households and screened at film festivals across the country. Awadagin’s commitment to ushering in the next generation of agile, creative, and inventive pianists is evidenced by his work as founding director of the Next Generation Festival, the Art of the Piano Foundation, and the Nina Simone Piano Competition, a new biennial competition that celebrates diversity in classical music by showcasing the tremendous talents of young Black pianists. He has adjudicated the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, Minnesota e-Competition, Unisa International Piano Competition, and the International Competition for Young Pianists created in memory of Vladimir Horowitz.  Having recently left his position as Professor and Artist in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) after two decades, Awadagin is now Professor of Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory. He remains the only graduate of the Peabody Institute to earn performance certificates in three areas — violin, piano, and conducting — and has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins University and honorary doctorates from Illinois Wesleyan University, Susquehanna University, and the Boston Conservatory.

Natasha Paremski In Recital

Program:

Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op. 32 No. 12 – Sergei Rachmaninov(1873 – 1943)

Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 34 - Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849)

Selections from 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75 - Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) 

Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka  - Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971)

“Fiery & Widely Dynamic”

– London Classical Source

With her consistently striking and dynamic performances, pianist Natasha Paremski reveals astounding virtuosity and profound interpretations. She continues to generate excitement from all corners as she wins over audiences with her musical sensibility and a powerful, flawless technique.

Natasha is a regular return guest of many major orchestras, including Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Grant Park Festival, Winnipeg Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with whom she has performed and toured frequently since 2008 in venues such as Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, and Cadogan Hall. She has performed with major orchestras in North America including Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, NAC Orchestra in Ottawa, Nashville Symphony. She has toured extensively in Europe with such orchestras as Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchester, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre de Bretagne, the Orchestre de Nancy, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester in Zurich, Moscow Philharmonic, under the direction of conductors including Thomas Dausgaard, Peter Oundjian, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Jeffrey Kahane, James Gaffigan, JoAnn Falletta, Fabien Gabel, Rossen Milanov and Andrew Litton. In addition, she has toured with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica in Latvia, Benelux, the United Kingdom and Austria as well as appearances with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in Taipei.

Natasha has given recitals at the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Wigmore Hall, Schloss Elmau, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Verbier Festival, San Francisco Performances, Seattle’s Meany Hall, Kansas City’s Harriman Jewell Series, Santa Fe’s Lensic Theater, Ludwigshafen BASF Series, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Tokyo’s Musashino Performing Arts Center and on the Rising Stars Series of Gilmore and Ravinia Festivals.

A passionate chamber musician, Natasha is a regular recital partner of Grammy winning cellist Zuill Bailey, with whom she has recorded a number of CDs. Their Britten album on Telarc debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart, remaining there for a number of weeks, in addition to being featured on The New York Times Playlist. She has been a guest of many chamber music festivals such as Jeffrey Kahane’s Green Music Center ChamberFest, the Lockenhaus, Toronto, Sitka Summer Music, and Cape Cod Chamber Music festivals to name a few.

Natasha was awarded several prestigious prizes at a very young age, including the Gilmore Young Artists prize in 2006 at the age of eighteen, the Prix Montblanc in 2007, the Orpheum Stiftung Prize in Switzerland. In September 2010, she was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year. Her first recital album was released in 2011 to great acclaim, topping the Billboard Classical Charts, and was re-released on the Steinway & Sons label in September 2016 featuring Islamey recorded on Steinway’s revolutionary new Spirio technology. In 2012 she recorded Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Fabien Gabel on the orchestra’s label distributed by Naxos.

With a strong focus on new music, Natasha’s growing repertoire reflects an artistic maturity beyond her years. In the 2010-11 season, she played the world premiere of a sonata written for her by Gabriel Kahane, which was also included in her solo album.

Natasha continues to extend her performance activity and range beyond the traditional concert hall. In December 2008, she was the featured pianist in choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s Danses Concertantes at New York’s Joyce Theater. She was featured in a major two-part film for BBC Television on the life and work of Tchaikovsky, shot on location in St. Petersburg, performing excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and other works. In the winter of 2007, Natasha participated along with Simon Keenlyside in the filming of Twin Spirits, a project starring Sting and Trudie Styler that explores the music and writing of Robert and Clara Schumann, which was released on DVD. She has performed in the project live several times with the co-creators in New York and the U.K., directed by John Caird, the original director/adaptor of the musical Les Misérables.

Natasha began her piano studies at the age of four with Nina Malikova at Moscow’s Andreyev School of Music. She then studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Music before moving to New York to study with Pavlina Dokovska at Mannes College of Music, from which she graduated in 2007. Natasha made her professional debut at age nine with El Camino Youth Symphony in California. At the age of fifteen she debuted with Los Angeles Philharmonic and recorded two discs with Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in Moscow, Natasha moved to the United States at the age of eight, becoming a U.S. citizen shortly thereafter, and is now based in New York City where she is Artistic Director of the New York Piano Society, a non-profit organization that supports pianists whose professions lie outside of music.

Join Grammy-winning Artistic Director Zuill Bailey, along with violinist Kurt Nikkanen and pianist Maria Asteriadou, for an evening of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. This is teh second subscription concert of Alaska Airlines’ Autumn Classics 2024 at the University of Alaska Anchorage Recital Hall.

Program:

Violin Sonata No. 9, Op. 47 “Kreutzer” – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Kurt Nikkanen, violin | Maria Asteriadou, piano

Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50 - Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)

Kurt Nikkanen, violin | Zuill Bailey, cello | Maria Asteriadou, piano 

Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher.  His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought after and active cellists today.Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide.  He won the Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017, for his recording of  Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” with the Nashville Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero.  His extensive discography includes his newest release – the world premier recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021 he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” and has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s  “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,” and his latest disc of Bach Suites was the disc of the week on Sirius’ Symphony Hall.Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni, and received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School.  He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington),  Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center (Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

American violinist Kurt Nikkanen is an international soloist of the highest order. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he began his violin studies at the age of three, later studying with Roman Totenberg and Jens Ellerman. At twelve he gave his Carnegie Hall debut, performing with the New York Symphony; two years later he was invited by Zubin Mehta to perform the Paganini Concerto No.1 with the New York Philharmonic for a Young People’s Concert. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay.

Mr. Nikkanen regularly receives invitations from the leading orchestras and presenters in the USA and Europe, and has toured Japan and the Far East. In North America he has appeared with the Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra, and in Europe with the BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Dresden Staatskapelle. He has worked with many leading conductors.An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, Kurt Nikkanen has given numerous performances of the John Adams Violin Concerto, with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Oregon Symphony, Hallé Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony (all under the composer’s direction).

Highlights of recent seasons have included a UK tour with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, performances with the Gothenburg Symphony and Neeme Jarvi at the BBC Proms, and concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Prague Symphony and RTE Orchestra in Dublin; also with the Bayerischer Rundfunk and Suddeutscher Rundfunk orchestras, both with the late Yakov Kreizberg, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Junichi Hirokami. He has also appeared with the Belgian National Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony and the orchestra of RAI Turin, the Detroit Symphony and Orchestra of Galicia, the Bilbao Symphony, the Malaysian Philharmonic and performances of the Dvorak concerto with the Czech Philharmonic and Vladimir Ashkenazy, both in Prague and on tour in the USA, with concerts in New York and Chicago. In 2011, he was featured as soloist in a performance of the Barber Violin Concerto and Ravel Tzigane with the Turku Philharmonic in a live webcast that was streamed worldwide.

Mr. Nikkanen has had many works written for him, including Steven R. Gerber’s violin concerto, which he has recorded for Koch International. In 2009, Mr. Nikkanen performed the world premiere of Mikko Heinio’s concerto Alla Madre, subsequently recording it for Sony Classical with the Turku Philharmonic under Petri Sakari and released in 2010. His recording of William Walton’s Violin Concerto with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra was released on the Nimbus Alliance label in 2010 and was chosen as “Critics Choice for 2010” in Gramophone Magazine.

Mr. Nikkanen gave the New York premiere of the Violin Concerto by Thomas Adès in May 2010 and has since performed it in Australia with the Perth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Daniel.In addition to his orchestral appearances, Kurt Nikkanen performs regularly as a recitalist both in the US and abroad with his wife, pianist Maria Asteriadou, presenting repertoire ranging from the complete Beethoven sonatas to Piazzolla tangos.He is the Concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and maintains a private teaching studio in New York, where he resides with his family.

A native of Greece, Maria Asteriadou is an acclaimed soloist and chamber musician highly praised as an artist with intense personality, virtuosic flair and beautiful tone.

Maria Asteriadou has performed in major halls throughout the United States and Canada as well as Austria, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Germany. Her orchestra engagements include appearances with the Moscow Radio Symphony, Academy of St. Martin of the Fields, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Kamerata, Luxembourg Philharmonia, Bucharest Chamber Orchestra, Virtuosi Moldavi Romania, Iasi Philharmonic Romania, Manhattan School Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Chamber Academy, Athens State Orchestra, Kamerata (Athens Chamber Orchestra) as well as the Thessaloniki State and City Orchestras.

Her love for her native Greece and her enthusiasm for new music has resulted in prestigious premiere performances of works by many of Greece’s most important composers such as Manos Hadzidakis, Perikles Koukos, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Emilios Riadis, Christos Samaras, Yiorgos Sicilianos, Nikos Skalkottas, as well as American born Greek composer George Tsontakis.

As an active chamber musician, Maria Asteriadou has collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic and performs regularly in festivals and summer music institutes. Together with violinist Kurt Nikkanen founded the Elektra Chamber Players, an ensemble comprised of performers from the great orchestras and conservatories of New York City.

The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, Maria Asteriadou won first prize in performance from the State Conservatory in Greece as well as top prize in the Maria Callas International Piano Competition. Maria Asteriadou enjoys the distinction of being the only pianist selected from the Musik Hochschule in Freiburg to perform in honor of the composer-conductor Pierre Boulez in Baden Baden, Germany. Both her Geneva debut recital, as well as her debut at Weill Hall in New York’s Carnegie Hall, for which she won the sponsoring competitions, were greeted with rave reviews. In 1992 she won the Dora Zaslovsky piano competition at Manhattan School of Music in New York and consequently was selected to collaborate with the renowned conductor, Christopher Keene, in a critically acclaimed performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

Maria Asteriadou has recorded the complete piano and string chamber works by Nikos Skalkottas and the complete violin and piano works by Carl Nielsen for BIS (recording label). She has also recorded works by Greek composers Yiorgos Sicilianos and Emilios Riadis. A CD with solo and chamber music works by Dimitri Mitropoulos, will be released in 2006. Maria Asteriadou has been heard frequently in live performances on radio and television in Europe and in the United States, including the WQXR-FM with Robert Sherman.

Maria Asteriadou holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Constance Keene. She received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, as a scholarship student of Jacob Lateiner. Following her undergraduate studies at the State Conservatory of Music in Thessaloniki, Greece, Maria Asteriadou was accepted at the Musik Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany as a student of Tibor Hazay and received her Graduate Soloist Diploma with high honors. She has also worked with Gyorgy Sebok, Richard Goode, Domna Evnouchidou and Vitalji Margulis.

An energetic and passionate teacher, Maria Asteriadou has been faculty at the Algonquin International Music Institute in Canada and the Summer Arts Institute in University of Michigan. From 1992 to 2002, she was the Artistic and Chamber Music Director of the Silver Bay Summer Music Festival in New York. In the summer of 2002 and 2004 she served as a chamber music coach at the New York Piano Competition. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Children’s Foundation.

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Autumn Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

Join Grammy-winning Artistic Director Zuill Bailey, along with violinist Kurt Nikkanen and pianist Maria Asteriadou, for an evening of Ravel, Debussy, an Fauré. This concert marks the season opening of the Alaska Airlines’ Autumn Classics 2024 at the University of Alaska Anchorage Recital Hall.

Program:

Sonata for Violin and Cello, M.73 - Marice Ravel (1875 - 1937) 

Kurt Nikkanen, violin | Zuill Bailey, cello 

Sonata for Cello and Piano - Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)

Zuill Bailey, cello | Maria Asteriadou, piano 

Violin Sonata No.1 Op. 13  -- Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)

Kurt Nikkanen, violin | Maria Asteriadou, piano 

Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher.  His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought after and active cellists today.Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide.  He won the Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017, for his recording of  Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” with the Nashville Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero.  His extensive discography includes his newest release – the world premier recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021 he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” and has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s  “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,” and his latest disc of Bach Suites was the disc of the week on Sirius’ Symphony Hall.Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni, and received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School.  He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington),  Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center (Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

American violinist Kurt Nikkanen is an international soloist of the highest order. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he began his violin studies at the age of three, later studying with Roman Totenberg and Jens Ellerman. At twelve he gave his Carnegie Hall debut, performing with the New York Symphony; two years later he was invited by Zubin Mehta to perform the Paganini Concerto No.1 with the New York Philharmonic for a Young People’s Concert. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay.

Mr. Nikkanen regularly receives invitations from the leading orchestras and presenters in the USA and Europe, and has toured Japan and the Far East. In North America he has appeared with the Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra, and in Europe with the BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Dresden Staatskapelle. He has worked with many leading conductors.An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, Kurt Nikkanen has given numerous performances of the John Adams Violin Concerto, with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Oregon Symphony, Hallé Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony (all under the composer’s direction).

Highlights of recent seasons have included a UK tour with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, performances with the Gothenburg Symphony and Neeme Jarvi at the BBC Proms, and concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Prague Symphony and RTE Orchestra in Dublin; also with the Bayerischer Rundfunk and Suddeutscher Rundfunk orchestras, both with the late Yakov Kreizberg, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Junichi Hirokami. He has also appeared with the Belgian National Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony and the orchestra of RAI Turin, the Detroit Symphony and Orchestra of Galicia, the Bilbao Symphony, the Malaysian Philharmonic and performances of the Dvorak concerto with the Czech Philharmonic and Vladimir Ashkenazy, both in Prague and on tour in the USA, with concerts in New York and Chicago. In 2011, he was featured as soloist in a performance of the Barber Violin Concerto and Ravel Tzigane with the Turku Philharmonic in a live webcast that was streamed worldwide.

Mr. Nikkanen has had many works written for him, including Steven R. Gerber’s violin concerto, which he has recorded for Koch International. In 2009, Mr. Nikkanen performed the world premiere of Mikko Heinio’s concerto Alla Madre, subsequently recording it for Sony Classical with the Turku Philharmonic under Petri Sakari and released in 2010. His recording of William Walton’s Violin Concerto with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra was released on the Nimbus Alliance label in 2010 and was chosen as “Critics Choice for 2010” in Gramophone Magazine.

Mr. Nikkanen gave the New York premiere of the Violin Concerto by Thomas Adès in May 2010 and has since performed it in Australia with the Perth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Daniel.In addition to his orchestral appearances, Kurt Nikkanen performs regularly as a recitalist both in the US and abroad with his wife, pianist Maria Asteriadou, presenting repertoire ranging from the complete Beethoven sonatas to Piazzolla tangos.He is the Concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and maintains a private teaching studio in New York, where he resides with his family.

A native of Greece, Maria Asteriadou is an acclaimed soloist and chamber musician highly praised as an artist with intense personality, virtuosic flair and beautiful tone.

Maria Asteriadou has performed in major halls throughout the United States and Canada as well as Austria, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Germany. Her orchestra engagements include appearances with the Moscow Radio Symphony, Academy of St. Martin of the Fields, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Kamerata, Luxembourg Philharmonia, Bucharest Chamber Orchestra, Virtuosi Moldavi Romania, Iasi Philharmonic Romania, Manhattan School Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Chamber Academy, Athens State Orchestra, Kamerata (Athens Chamber Orchestra) as well as the Thessaloniki State and City Orchestras.

Her love for her native Greece and her enthusiasm for new music has resulted in prestigious premiere performances of works by many of Greece’s most important composers such as Manos Hadzidakis, Perikles Koukos, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Emilios Riadis, Christos Samaras, Yiorgos Sicilianos, Nikos Skalkottas, as well as American born Greek composer George Tsontakis.

As an active chamber musician, Maria Asteriadou has collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic and performs regularly in festivals and summer music institutes. Together with violinist Kurt Nikkanen founded the Elektra Chamber Players, an ensemble comprised of performers from the great orchestras and conservatories of New York City.

The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, Maria Asteriadou won first prize in performance from the State Conservatory in Greece as well as top prize in the Maria Callas International Piano Competition. Maria Asteriadou enjoys the distinction of being the only pianist selected from the Musik Hochschule in Freiburg to perform in honor of the composer-conductor Pierre Boulez in Baden Baden, Germany. Both her Geneva debut recital, as well as her debut at Weill Hall in New York’s Carnegie Hall, for which she won the sponsoring competitions, were greeted with rave reviews. In 1992 she won the Dora Zaslovsky piano competition at Manhattan School of Music in New York and consequently was selected to collaborate with the renowned conductor, Christopher Keene, in a critically acclaimed performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

Maria Asteriadou has recorded the complete piano and string chamber works by Nikos Skalkottas and the complete violin and piano works by Carl Nielsen for BIS (recording label). She has also recorded works by Greek composers Yiorgos Sicilianos and Emilios Riadis. A CD with solo and chamber music works by Dimitri Mitropoulos, will be released in 2006. Maria Asteriadou has been heard frequently in live performances on radio and television in Europe and in the United States, including the WQXR-FM with Robert Sherman.

Maria Asteriadou holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Constance Keene. She received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, as a scholarship student of Jacob Lateiner. Following her undergraduate studies at the State Conservatory of Music in Thessaloniki, Greece, Maria Asteriadou was accepted at the Musik Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany as a student of Tibor Hazay and received her Graduate Soloist Diploma with high honors. She has also worked with Gyorgy Sebok, Richard Goode, Domna Evnouchidou and Vitalji Margulis.

An energetic and passionate teacher, Maria Asteriadou has been faculty at the Algonquin International Music Institute in Canada and the Summer Arts Institute in University of Michigan. From 1992 to 2002, she was the Artistic and Chamber Music Director of the Silver Bay Summer Music Festival in New York. In the summer of 2002 and 2004 she served as a chamber music coach at the New York Piano Competition. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Children’s Foundation.

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education.  Autumn Classics is presented in part by Alaska Airlines, The Atwood Foundation, University of Alaska Anchorage, GCI, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Sitka Music Festival Foundation.

Join Juilliard Professor and Director of the Harvard Baroque Orchestra, Phoebe Carrai for an intimate evening of Baroque Cello. 

Phoebe Carrai, a native Bostonian, completed her post-graduate studies in Austria with Nikolaus Harnencourt, after studying with Lawrence Lesser and  receiving her B.M. and M.M. at New England Conservatory of Music. She became a member of Musica Antiqua Köln in 1982, making over 40 recordings for Deutsche Gramophone and touring the world.

Ms. Carrai’s teaching career in historical performance started at the Hillversum Conservatory in the Netherlands and spending 16 years on the faculty of The University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany. She is presently on the faculties of The Juilliard School and The Longy School of Music. She started “New Years Resolution Baroque Cello Bootcamp” 15 years ago and it is still one of her greatest joys each year! In the summers, when not at her favorite spot on Cape Cod, she can be found teaching at Amherst Early Music, Aria Camp, The Bach Cello Suites Workshop and at Juilliard sponsored courses in Montisi, Italy and Brugge, Belgium.

Along with her solo and chamber music concerts, she directs Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra and performs regularly with Philharmonia Baroque, The Arcadian Academy, Juilliard Baroque, The Boston Early Music Festival and the Göttingen Festival Orchestra.

Ms. Carrai has released recordings of the Bach Solo Cello Suites, a duo recording of Frederich August Kummer, and has now also released “Out of Italy” for Avie Records. She has also recorded for Decca, Deutsche Gramophone, Aetme, Telarc and BMG. She plays on an Italian cello from ca. 1690.

This concert is part of the Sitka International Cello Seminar Concert Series presented by the Sitka Music Festival. The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education. 

For over 10 years the Sitka International Cello Seminar has brought some of the brightest young emerging professional cellists in the world to Sitka to be mentored by leading professionals in the field and inspired by the nature of Sitka. Under the leadership of Grammy-winning cellist, Zuill Bailey, this seminar's concert series now acts as an extension of the Sitka Music Festival's summer programming bringing summer programming to 7 weeks in Sitka from early June through mid July. 

Each summer the fellows present several recitals and community engagement events throughout Sitka. Past cello seminar fellows have gone on to perform as soloists at the Aspen Festival, San Francisco Symphony, and more. Hear them first right here in Sitka!

2024 fellows include emerging artists from Beijing, Salzburg, and throughout the United States. Join these rising stars for a fun evening showing off their creativity while enjoying Mean Queen's full menu in the Dungeon! 

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education. 

Join us for a special event that will delight your senses! A wine tasting led by Greg Lipskur, Winemaker and Owner of Barrister Winery followed by a recital by Victor Asuncion, piano. 

5 p.m. Doors open and wine tasting begins 

6 p.m. Music begins

Greg Lipsker and Michael White were vacationing with their families in British Columbia. En route, they stopped in a local shop to buy wine and walked out with a five-gallon Zinfandel wine making kit. 

Five gallons turned into fifty gallons, which then turned into crushing 1½ tons of grapes in Greg’s garage in 2000. Validation came when they submitted their wine to the Indy International Wine Competition and walked away with three golds and a silver medal.  Their passion ignited, Greg and Michael forged ahead with a mix of trial and error, conversations with local vintners, and courses at Walla Walla Community College. In 2001, the two lawyers decided to name their new business after the British word for lawyer; Barrister Winery was launched.

As Barrister grew, so did the accolades. Vintage after vintage won awards, including “Best of Show” at the prestigious Los Angeles Wines of the World competition. As well, Barrister Wines claim consistent 90+ point scores in the industry’s most prestigious wine magazines.

As the winery grew, the need for an assistant was apparent.  Tyler Walters, knowing nothing about wine, but willing to learn and committed to creating a welcoming winery experience was a great fit.  Tyler has been helping make Barrister wine since 2009. Now part owner, Tyler is fully immersed in all things Barrister.  As Barrister has grown, passion for great winemaking has always been at the forefront of the business.  But, the relationship with customers and community has always set Barrister Winery apart.

In November 2015, Barrister opened its second Tasting Room, located at 203 North Washington Street, across from the Davenport Grand Hotel in downtown Spokane. This location features a selection of our wines at an easily accessible location for downtown shoppers, sight-seers, and theatre goers.

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist.  He played his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra, and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival.  He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

His recordings include the complete Sonatas of L. van Beethoven with cellist Tobias Werner, Sonatas by Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff with cellist Joseph Johnson, the Rachmaninoff Sonata with the cellist Evan Drachman, and the Chopin and Grieg Sonatas, also with cellist Evan Drachman. He is featured in the award winning recording “Songs My Father Taught Me” with Lynn Harrell, produced by Louise Frank and WFMT-Chicago.  Mr. Asuncion is the Founder, and Artistic and Board Director of FilAm Music Foundation, a non-profit foundation that is dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship, and performance.

He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 2007 from the University of Maryland at College Park under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. Victor Santiago Asuncion is a Steinway artist.

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education. 

For over 10 years the Sitka International Cello Seminar has brought some of the brightest young emerging professional cellists in the world to Sitka to be mentored by leading professionals in the field and inspired by the nature of Sitka. Under the leadership of Grammy-winning cellist, Zuill Bailey, this seminar's concert series now acts as an extension of the Sitka Music Festival's summer programming bringing summer programming to 7 weeks in Sitka from early June through mid July. 

Each summer the fellows present several recitals and community engagement events throughout Sitka. Past cello seminar fellows have gone on to perform as soloists at the Aspen Festival, San Francisco Symphony, and more. Hear them first right here in Sitka!

2024 fellows include emerging artists from Beijing, Salzburg, and throughout the United States.

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education. 

For over 10 years the Sitka International Cello Seminar has brought some of the brightest young emerging professional cellists in the world to Sitka to be mentored by leading professionals in the field and inspired by the nature of Sitka. Under the leadership of Grammy-winning cellist, Zuill Bailey, this seminar's concert series now acts as an extension of the Sitka Music Festival's summer programming bringing summer programming to 7 weeks in Sitka from early June through mid July. 

Each summer the fellows present several recitals and community engagement events throughout Sitka. Past cello seminar fellows have gone on to perform as soloists at the Aspen Festival, San Francisco Symphony, and more. Hear them first right here in Sitka!

2024 fellows include emerging artists from Beijing, Salzburg, and throughout the United States.

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education. 

Join legendary cellist, Clive Greensmith in recital with pianist, Victor Asuncion as part of the Sitka International Cello Seminar Concert Series. For over 10 years the Sitka International Cello Seminar has brought some of the brightest young emerging professional cellists in the world to Sitka to be mentored by professionals and inspired by the nature of Sitka. Under the leadership of Grammy-winning cellist, Zuill Bailey, this seminar's concert series now acts as an extension of the Sitka Music Festival's summer programming bringing summer programming to 7 weeks in Sitka from early June through mid July. 

From 1999 until its final season in 2013, Clive Greensmith was a member of the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet, giving over one hundred performances each year in the most prestigious international venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, London’s South Bank, Paris Chatelet, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He has collaborated with international artists such as Andras Schiff, Pinchas Zukerman, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Alicia de Larrocha, and Emanuel Ax.

Mr. Greensmith has given guest performances at prominent festivals worldwide. In North America, he has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo, La Jolla SummerFest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Cleveland Chamber Fest, and the Ravinia Festival. He is a regular guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and will undertake a national tour with Paul Huang, Wu Han, and Matthew Lipman in 2020. Internationally he has appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. As a soloist, Clive Greensmith has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and the RAI Orchestra of Rome among others.

During a career spanning over twenty-five years, Mr. Greensmith has built up a catalog of landmark recordings, most notably The Complete Beethoven String Quartets for Harmonia Mundi with the Tokyo String Quartet, Mozart’s ‘Prussian’ Quartets with the Tokyo String Quartet, Brahms Cello Sonatas with Boris Berman for Biddulph Recordings, and Clarinet Trios of Beethoven and Brahms with Jon Nakamatsu and Jon Manasse for Harmonia Mundi. In June 2018 he performed the newly reconstructed Pál Hermann cello concerto (1925) with the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor, Theodor Kuchar. Toccata Classics released a live recording of his world premiere performance of the Concerto with Theodore Kuchar and the Lviv International Symphony Orchestra in the spring of 2019.

Deeply committed to the mentoring and development of young musicians, Clive has enjoyed a long and distinguished teaching career. In addition to his fifteen-year residency with the Tokyo String Quartet at Yale University, Mr. Greensmith has served as a faculty member at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Royal Northern College of Music in England, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. In 2013, following the final concerts of the Tokyo String Quartet, Mr. Greensmith joined the faculty at the Colburn School where he is currently a professor of cello and coaches chamber music for the Conservatory of Music and the Music Academy. Students of Mr. Greensmith have gone on to secure major positions in orchestras throughout the world and have won a number of prestigious awards.

In July 2019, he succeeded Günther Pichler as director of string chamber music at the Accademia Chigiana International Festival and Summer Academy in Siena, Italy. Also in 2019, Greensmith became the Artistic Director of the Nevada Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Greensmith is a founding member of the Montrose Trio with pianist Jon Kimura Parker, and violinist Martin Beaver.

Clive Greensmith proudly uses Pirastro strings. For more information click here.

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist.  He played his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra, and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival.  He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

His recordings include the complete Sonatas of L. van Beethoven with cellist Tobias Werner, Sonatas by Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff with cellist Joseph Johnson, the Rachmaninoff Sonata with the cellist Evan Drachman, and the Chopin and Grieg Sonatas, also with cellist Evan Drachman. He is featured in the award winning recording “Songs My Father Taught Me” with Lynn Harrell, produced by Louise Frank and WFMT-Chicago.  Mr. Asuncion is the Founder, and Artistic and Board Director of FilAm Music Foundation, a non-profit foundation that is dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship, and performance.

He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 2007 from the University of Maryland at College Park under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. Victor Santiago Asuncion is a Steinway artist.

The Sitka Music Festival, a 501 (c)(3) Nonprofit is Alaska's premier chamber music presenter with the mission of providing the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education. 

Join us for the 2024  Brunch Concert in our beautifully renovated home, The Miner Music Center at Stevenson Hall!  This fundraiser is one of the Festival's most intimate events as the audience is limited to 40 attendees and it is the final summer festival event.

Doors open at 11 a.m. for a beverage while you find your seats followed by a concert around 11:30  and finishing with a full catered brunch. Beverages will include Prosecco, Mimosas, Orange Juice, Coffee, Tea and more. Every year the brunch has at least one Alaskan themed item, which is often Moose Pastrami. 

This year, the event will be even more special as we showcase the Sitka Violin, an instrument made of salvaged wood from Sitka, including Sitka Spruce that used to be in our building, the Miner Music Center at Stevenson Hall. Meet the violin maker and learn about this project. 

Also new this year - all ticket fees are included in the price and not added at the end. So, get your ticket online in advance, because the brunch sells out!