This year’s Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy (PRISMA) Festival series of concerts will include an intimate audience experience.
Taking place Thursday, June 22, the Guest Artist Chamber Music Concert will feature performances by PRISMA’s esteemed international guest artists who hail from North America, Europe and Asia. The concert also boasts a diverse selection of international repertoire.
“It’s amazing music,” says PRISMA music director and conductor Arthur Arnold. “The Mozart is beautiful.”
The concert will feature a piece for harp and flute composed by Gareth Farr in 2001. Named after the Māori word for waterfall, Taheke represents a different New Zealand waterfall in each movement of music. Audiences will also hear Richard Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, which was composed as a Christmas gift to his wife.
“Then, we have this Russian sextet with very high-end performers on strings and piano,” says Arnold.
Arnold adds that PRISMA’s annual chamber music concerts are very special for him.
“The first half of the concert is joined by students," he says, "and it’s always great to see the students alongside guest artists.”
What Arnold finds most remarkable about the concerts is how students rise to the challenge to share the stage with professional musicians.
“I’ve played table tennis against very good opponents and became much better,” says Arnold. “In music, it’s the same.”
The chamber music concert is the first opportunity for audiences to hear performances by two violin guest artists arriving for the second week of PRISMA: Richard Roberts, a longtime PRISMA guest artist, and Dennis Kim, a new performer joining the PRISMA ranks. Pianist Sungpil Kim will also perform at the concert.
Aside from the Wagner piece, maestro Arnold takes a break from the podium for the evening. Eager to enjoy some music as part of the audience, he says he is looking forward to the concert.
“You’ll get to hear some very famous and less famous chamber music pieces," he says, "which have an intimacy that orchestral music doesn’t have.”
PRISMA Guest Artist Chamber Music Concert
When: 7:30 pm, Thursday, June 22
Where: Evergreen Theatre
Price: $22
Info: prismafestival.com/festival_events or 1.855.577.4762
