Festival Amadeus returns to Whitefish for sixth year

The Glacier Symphony and Chorale will host its sixth annual Festival Amadeus in Whitefish on Aug. 4-10. The weeklong celebration will showcase eight distinguished guest soloists and the Festival Amadeus Orchestra in seven nights of chamber and orchestra concerts.

The festival will begin with a free outdoor concert at Whitefish Depot Park on Sunday, Aug. 4, with gates opening for picnic diners at 6 p.m. Subsequent concerts will be held in the Whitefish Middle School auditorium on Spokane Avenue starting at 7:30 p.m.

Chamber soloists featured at the festival this year include Brant Bayless, principal violist of the Utah Symphony; double bass virtuoso Catalin Rotaru, from the School of Music at Arizona State University; pianist Andrew Staupe, who has played with the Minnesota Orchestra; and guest violinist Simone Porter, who currently studies at The Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles.

They will be joined by the internationally acclaimed Fry Street Quartet, comprised of Robert Waters, violin, Rebecca McFaul, violin, Bradley Ottesen, viola and Ann Francis Bayless, cello.

Scheduled musical pieces for orchestral nights include:

• Aug. 6 — Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 “Elvira Madigan” and the “Oxford” Symphony by Haydn.

• Aug. 8 — Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” the Intro and Allegro by Elgar and works by Handel and Sibelius.

• Aug. 9 —  Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, Polonaise Brilliant in D Major for violin and orchestra” by Wieniawski and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F Major.

• Aug. 10 — Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Mendelssohn’s “Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony.

Tickets are availalbe online at www.gscmusic.org. A transferable pass for all six chamber and orchestra concerts is $140 adults, $125 seniors and $80 youths. Pick Four passes start at $110. For more information, call 257-3241 or visit online at at www.gscmusic.org.