Summer Festival 2024
Tickets & Events Below
Zuill Bailey & Danielle Talamantes in Wasilla
Join Grammy-winning cellist and former Metropolitan Opera soprano, Danielle Talamantes for an evening of music in Wasilla.
Soprano Danielle Talamantes in Ketchikan
Selections of French chanson
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
Aprés un Rêve
Chanson d’Amour
En Sourdine
Tres arias
Joaquín Turina (1882 - 1949)
Romance
El pescador
Rima
Selections from Ten Poems of James Joyce
Henry Dehlinger (1966 - )
Strings in the Earth and Air
Alone
At That Hour
Selections from Moments in Sonder
Elizabeth Brittany Boykin (1989 - ), poetry by Maya Angelou
Tears
Passing Time
How Can I Lie to You
The Lesson
Selections from the American Songbook
Duke Ellington (1899 - 1974)
Solitude
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
Sentimental Mood
Danielle Talamantes –
“It’s not often that an operagoer is fortunate enough to witness the birth of a star!,” noted of Soprano Danielle Talamantes’ recent turn as Violetta in La Traviata with Hawaii Opera Theatre. Last season she made her Washington National Opera début as Maria Hernández in Kamal Sankaram’s Rise as part of their production Written in Stone, returned to her signature role as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème with Jacksonville Symphony and three world premiers: Mosaic for Earth by composer Dwight Bigler at her Alma Mater, Virginia Tech, the rhapsody written for Talamantes and orchestra based on T.S. Eliot’s iconic poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock with the National Philharmonic, and the stunning choral cantata Kohelet with the Washington Master Chorale and Santa Clara Master Chorale; the latter two works by acclaimed composer Henry Dehlinger. The conclusion of the season was with the Fairfax Symphony in the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and a debut as guest soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic.
This season’s engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Ginastera’s Milena with the National Philharmonic, Verdi’s Requiem with the Pensacola Symphony and the NC Master Chorale, Britten’s War Requiem with Opera Roanoke, Handel’s Messiah with The US Naval Academy, as well as concerts with Lyric Fest, Choralis, and the Artist Series of Sarasota.
Recent seasons performances include Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen and Anna in Verdi’s Nabucco with The Metropolitan Opera, Beatrice in Catán’s Il postino with VA Opera, Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Princeton Festival; Violetta in La traviata with Hawaii Opera Theater, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and Finger Lakes Opera, Mimì in La bohème with St Petersburg (FL) Opera and Jacksonville Symphony; the title role of Susannah with Opera Roanoke; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Cedar Rapids Opera Theater; and a Spoleto Festival USA début as Sergente in Cavalli’s Veremonda.
Professional recordings include At That Hour: Art Songs by Henry Dehlinger on the Avie Record Label; Canciones españolas and Heaven and Earth: A Duke Ellington Songbook on the MSR Classics label.
Sponsored by:
Bawden Street Brewing
Alaska Airlines' Autumn Classics Week 1
Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.
Catalyst Quartet & Zuill Bailey - Sitka
Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.
More than just a Summer Festival - The Sitka Music Festival is Alaska’s Premier Chamber Music Presenter
Founded in 1972 by Paul Rosenthal, the Sitka Summer Music Festival quickly became noted as a leading chamber music festival when Gregor Piatigorsky came to perform in 1974. The festival also drew national attention with articles in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Now in its 53rd season, the festival has grown to have a full year presence throughout Alaska. In 2021, the name “summer” was removed and the festival began using the name Sitka Music Festival. Under our current Artistic Director, Zuill Bailey, the festival has invested heavily in the community with community engagement concerts and events, and educational outreach. In 2023, the festival presented 79 events of which over half were free.
In Sitka, the Festival has grown to fill four weeks every June with as many as 28 concerts and events in various locations around Sitka with at least one free concert or event each week. In July, we host three weeks of concert programming featuring renowned guest artists and fellows at the Sitka International Cello Seminar.
Since the early ‘80s the Sitka Music Festival has presented the Autumn Classics concert series in September and Winter Classics in February – usually nine concerts per year held in Anchorage. Recently we have expanded to include concerts in Ketchikan and Sitka as a standard part of the Alaska Airlines’ Autumn and Winter Classics
Across Alaska, thanks in part to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Atwood Foundation, Festival musicians travel to at least three other Alaska communities per year. The Festival partners with local arts organizations, schools, or borough governments for these tours. To date, 42 Alaskan communities from Selawik to Port Alexander have enjoyed professional classical music performances, courtesy of the Sitka Music Festival.
What is Chamber Music?
Chamber Music is Classical Music in its most intimate and inviting form.
Attending a Concert for the First Time?
We want you to feel welcome! There is no formal dress code. Some people come wearing their finest attire and some people come wearing their rain gear or snow gear.