{"id":26343,"date":"2024-07-31T16:32:59","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T22:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/music-in-the-mountains-from-star-wars-to-shostakovich\/"},"modified":"2024-07-31T22:32:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T22:32:59","slug":"music-in-the-mountains-from-star-wars-to-shostakovich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/music-in-the-mountains-from-star-wars-to-shostakovich\/","title":{"rendered":"Music in the Mountains: From \u2018Star Wars\u2019 to Shostakovich"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Artistic
Artistic Director and Conductor Guillermo Figueroa is heading into his last weekend with Music in the Mountains. (Judith Reynolds)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Sandwiched between two classical concerts, the final Pops Concert of Music in the Mountains 2024, will unfurl Saturday at Sky Ute Event Center. Promoted as an \u201cintergalactic musical showdown,\u201d the concert will feature the music of John Williams and the Star Wars franchise plus themes from \u201cStar Trek.\u201d Conductor Richard Kaufman will lead the festival orchestra in a friendly competition, juggling fans of both fantasy worlds. Kaufman is a leading conductor of film music who understands the importance of trumpet fanfares and drum rolls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our biggest fundraiser,\u201d Executive Director of MiTM Angie Beach said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping people will show up in costume.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Star Wars-Star Trek mashup begins at 5 p.m. with cocktails and appetizers then a multicourse sit-down dinner with wine.<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

WHAT: <\/strong>38th Music in the Mountains finale.<\/p>\n

WHEN: <\/strong>Friday, Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n

WHERE: <\/strong>Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive and Sky Ute Event Center, 14324 Highway 172 North, Ignacio.<\/p>\n

TICKETS: <\/strong>$50, $70 and $200-$250.<\/p>\n

MORE INFORMATION: <\/strong>Visit www.musicinthemountains.com<\/a> or call 385-6820.<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Preconcert lectures will be given one hour before concert time for both concerts in the Lyceum of Center of Southwest Studies at FLC by Linda Mack Berven.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bookending Saturday\u2019s Pops Night are two unusual concerts in the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. On Friday, Artistic Director and Conductor Guillermo Figueroa will lead the orchestra in a program titled \u201cClassical Hit Parade.\u201d Known and beloved by many, the nine program works include mostly overtures and dances. Mozart\u2019s lighthearted overture to his comic opera \u201cThe Marriage of Figaro\u201d opens the program. Tchaikovsky\u2019s danceable \u201cPolonaise\u201d from the opera \u201cEugene Onegin\u201d continues the toe-tapping spirit.<\/p>\n

More overtures, an intermezzo and a few dances later, you\u2019ll hear Johann Strauss II\u2019s polka, \u201cThunder and lightning.\u201d The whole program sums up the delights of familiar classical music and should be a romp.<\/p>\n

To close the 38th festival, Figueroa will conduct the Festival Orchestra in a Sunday program of contrasting masterworks. Glinka\u2019s preamble to his opera \u201cRuslan and Ludmilla,\u201d based on a Pushkin fairy tale, opens the concert. Then settle down for Shostakovich\u2019s 1959 Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat with guest soloist Paul Watkins.<\/p>\n

Watkins is part of the festival\u2019s stellar triumvirate of soloists this summer. Along with pianist Olga Kern and violinist Hina Khuong-Huu, Watkins adds luster to a farewell salute to Conductor Figueroa.<\/p>\n

Born in Wales, Watkins teaches in the graduate program at the Yale School of Music, coaches chamber ensembles and maintains a career as soloist, professor and conductor. Since winning the 2002 Leeds Conducting competition, he\u2019s added that role to his vita and has conducted major orchestras in the USA, Europe, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. Given all that, Watkins may be best known as a member of the Emerson String Quartet with a basketful of recordings.<\/p>\n

He will perform Shostakovich\u2019s lyrical concerto with Figueroa and the Festival Orchestra.<\/p>\n

After intermission, Figueroa will appear for the last time as artistic director and conductor of the festival. He will conduct Beethoven\u2019s majestic Seventh Symphony. Composed in 1813, the monumental work was introduced to the world at a benefit concert for soldiers wounded in the battle that failed to stop Napoleon\u2019s armies.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Guillermo, for being an important part of our cultural history. May the force be with you.<\/p>\n

\u2018Star Wars\u2019 at FLC<\/div>\n

\u201cHopi R2-D2,\u201d a whimsical motorized sculpture, is the centerpiece of an inventive exhibition at the Center of Southwest Studies. The creation of Duane Koyawena (Hopi\/Tewa), the beeping robot is covered with Hopi symbols. He zips around the museum gallery at Fort Lewis College where he can be seen through the end of September in an exhibition titled \u201cThe Return of the Force.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cHopi
\u201cHopi R2-D2\u201d was created by Duane Koyawena (Hopi\/Tewa) and is currently on display at the Star Wars exhibition, \u201cThe Return of the Force,\u201d at the Fort Lewis College Center of Southwest Studies through September. (J. Reynolds)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Aware of the exhibition, Angie Beach, executive director of Music in the Mountains, said she had hoped \u201cHopi R2-D2\u201d would be a guest at the Pops Concert Saturday out at Sky Ute Event Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reached out to Duane Koyawena,\u201d she said. \u201cUnfortunately, we weren\u2019t able to make arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans of both \u201cStar Wars\u201d and \u201cStar Trek\u201d will gather Saturday for an intergalactic showdown, as MiTM publicity goes. Pops Conductor Richard Kaufman and the Festival Orchestra will present arrangements from John Williams\u2019 \u201cStar Wars\u201d film scores as well as themes from \u201cStar Trek.\u201d Word has it that many fans will show up in costume.<\/p>\n

Would that MiTM had scheduled at least one chamber music event in the Center\u2019s beautiful high-ceilinged gallery. It seems like a missed opportunity given the interest and the big fundraising concert. A recital in the Center or Southwest Studies would have underscored the \u201cStar Wars\u201d connections and brought festivalgoers into one of the college\u2019s finest resources.<\/p>\n

After the festival concludes, fans might consider a trip to the Center, adjacent to the Concert Hall. \u201cThe Return of the Force\u201d reveals many connections between pop culture and Native American imagination. Koyawena sought out Native artists who have explored the \u201cStar Wars\u201d world with surprising results. Several works are on loan from private collectors. Four pieces come from the Center itself. And Koyawena\u2019s reinvention of R2-D2 as a Hopi robot is among the most imaginative.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuane\u2019s career as a creator and curator of contemporary Native American art is exploding,\u201d said Cory Pillen. Pillen is director of the center and has known Koyawena since he brought \u201cPIVOT,\u201d the skateboard-art exhibit, to the center in 2020. \u201cWe are thrilled to have the \u2018Star Wars\u2019 exhibit here another two months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Center of Southwest Studies Gallery is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday or by appointment. Don\u2019t miss \u201cThe Return of the Force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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