As fall arrives, Glacier Symphony and Chorale Music Director John Zoltek’s schedule becomes more hectic. And it’s not only because this year’s concert season is just around the corner.
It’s because next year’s is.
Every performance in the symphony’s traditional season between October and May – and a shorter summer season – must be “locked in, planned and scheduled” a year in advance. So while the symphony’s performers are practicing and memorizing music for this season, featuring three internationally-known solo acts, Zoltek is already thinking about the next one.
This year’s season begins on Oct. 15 with Israeli cellist Amit Peled, an acclaimed performer who is currently a professor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at John Hopkins University, in a solo performance backed by the 70-person symphony.
“That’s a major thing to offer to the community, the opportunity to experience high-quality artists,” Zoltek said. “To have them here is very exciting.”
Zoltek said he uses his intuition to decided whom to invite to perform with the symphony and there’s no “magic to it.” He hopes international headliners will attract a new audience, expanding on the group’s already dedicated followers. Zoltek said it’s his job to find a balance in the music that excites current symphony goers and intrigues others.
“There are some cultural barriers that have always existed between the fine arts and the general population, thinking that they won’t enjoy the symphony, but they go and they’re always blown away,” Zoltek said. “It’s just a whole phenomenon to hearing symphony music in a live setting, not on your iPod, but coming into a music hall. It’s not something that can be duplicated anywhere else.”
Attracting a new crowd – especially a younger one – can be tough, but once people do come, they are often hooked, according to spokesperson Marti Kurth.
“I think people are blown away by our concerts because they think this is a small town,” Kurth said.
She said people are often surprised by the ability of the local symphony musicians – most of whom are volunteers – and the talent the group can attract.
That talent includes Jenanne Solberg, who plays viola and teaches at North Valley Music School. Solberg has been playing the instrument since the late 1970s and has been with the Glacier Symphony for the past decade. She said the reputation of the group and Zoltek are what first attracted her to join, adding music has always been important to her.
“I wouldn’t be the whole me if I didn’t do that,” she said.
Solberg has played for symphonies in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula, but Kalispell’s is one of the most developed she has been involved with. She said part of that has to do with the guest performers the symphony attracts. Besides Peled, who will be playing later this month, Japanese violinist Mayuko Kamio will perform for two nights in late January and Croatian pianist Martina Filjak will help wrap up the season in late April.
Yet it’s Peled who excites Solberg the most.
“The fact that we get to have him here is just, wow!” she said.
Solberg said playing with greats such as the three soloists coming this season confirms her love for symphony.
“We do not take it for granted, that’s for sure,” she said.
The Glacier Symphony and Chorale performs throughout the winter in Kalispell and Whitefish. For more information about the solo acts headlining this fall or the symphony itself visit www.gscmusic.com.