CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — Just steps away from Capitol Reef National Park, Torrey and nearby towns welcome gifted chamber musicians from around the world every summer to explore and perform amid the rugged wildlands of southeastern Utah.
The fifth annual Torrey Chamber Music Festival will be held June 16-19. The festival’s mission is to create intimate and inspiring musical experiences and to foster community through engagement with chamber music. With captivating programming, audience interaction, free community concerts and youth education initiatives, event organizers are committed to making classical music accessible to all.
“The whole community seems to be involved,” festival chair Ada Mae Crouse said. “We get a great response.”
Following the theme of “Music of Night and Day,” the 2022 festival celebrates the natural world and strives to bridge past and present by connecting Southwestern Native American moon legends with contemporary local interest in astronomy and dark sky viewing. The artist roster includes international musicians and two composers in residence.
This year’s featured work is Chickasaw composer Jerod Tate’s “Moonstrike” for string quartet and narrator. Serving as narrator will be Navajo composer Michael Begay, a former student of Tate’s and a current composition student at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.
The lineup will also feature masterpieces like Vivaldi’s “Summer” from “The Four Seasons” and Mendelssohn’s “String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20.”
The Torrey Chamber Music Festival brings the joy of classical music to new audiences and the next generation of musicians in rural Utah. Many families in the area have limited resources and opportunities for music education and ensemble experience.
In 2019, the festival expanded to offer a three-day Strings Camp with an emphasis on chamber music. Strings Camp was developed in partnership with a local string teacher, Lynsey Shelar, and her students at the Sleeping Rainbow School of Music.
Strings Camp coaches work with young musicians on technique and fundamentals, with an emphasis on collaboration and leadership skills in ensembles. The camp culminates in a concert on the first night of the festival, during which students perform side-by-side with the featured musicians.
Utah-based composer Aaron Peterson has composed a new work for the Strings Camp students to perform. This will be the first opportunity for Strings Camp participants to meet and work directly with a living composer, Crouse said.
The Strings Camp concert will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. at Robbers Roost in Torrey. It’s free and open to the public, although tickets are required due to limited seating.
Festival feature concerts are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Teasdale Cultural Hall. Borodin’s “Notturno from String Quartet No. 2,” Haydn’s “Sunrise” string quartet, “Transylvanian Nights” by László Lajtha and “Moonlight Journey” by Paul Coletti are among the additional works set to be performed.
Return to Robbers Roost Sunday at 2 p.m. for a special festival highlights concert featuring “Moonstrike,” “Summer” and Mendelssohn’s string octet.
Tickets for each of the feature concerts are still available for $30 per person, and festival passes cost $50. Reserve your seat online.
As lovers of chamber music, the organizers of the Torrey Chamber Music Festival sought to combine exquisitely orchestrated classical performances with the striking natural beauty of the Colorado Plateau. The event started as a grassroots effort and is now partnered with the Entrada Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the region’s natural, historical and cultural heritage.
“People from all backgrounds and walks of life come here,” Crouse said. “It’s been a pretty amazing experience.”
Written by ALEXA MORGAN for St. George News.
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Event details
- What: Torrey Chamber Music Festival.
- When: Thursday-Sunday, June 16-19, all day.
- Where: Teasdale Cultural Hall, 73 Main St., Teasdale and Robbers Roost, 185 W. Main St., Torrey.
- Tickets: Strings Camp concert, free; single-day passes, $30; festival passes, $50.
- Resources: Website.
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