BY KAREN BOSSICK
Visionary Conductor Edwin Outwater will help curate and conduct the Sun Valley Music Festival’s upcoming Winter Season Feb. 27 through 29.
Outwater, the Music Director Laureate of Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, regularly works with orchestras and institutions through the world to create unique concert experiences.
“Edwin pairs great technical skill with an immensely creative vision and is the perfect artist to help put this season’s performances together,” said Alasdair Neale, the Music Director for the Sun Valley Music Festival.
Indeed, Outwater has been called “one of the most innovative conductors on the scene today” by Michael Tilson Thomas. He has had a long association with the San Francisco Symphony and Metallica. He created the Holiday Gaiety LGBTQ holiday concert with drag performer Peaches Christ. And he premiered and recorded “The Composer is Dead” by Nathaniel Stookey and Lemony Snicket, which has become one of the most performed works written in the 21st century.
His “Intersections” series connected orchestral music to quantum physics, neuroscience, literature, film, food and even yoga, while featuring an array of artists including an Inuit throat-singer. And he wrote “Beethoven and Your Brain” with a neuroscientist.
The second annual Winter Season will take place the last week of February 2020, culminating with public concerts Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 27-29, 2020.
Last year’s inaugural winter festival left even the most seasoned symphony watchers rubbing their hands in glee as they walked into the Tierney Theater, which had been darkened and bathed in lights of green and maroon.
The audience took their places on white sofas, ottomans and chairs resembling white thrones as they watched musicians play on the balcony, in the center of the room and on the stage.
The Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire sang spellbinding, hypnotic Gregorian chant-like music. And marimba and vibraphone players performed the “Mallet Quartet” before segueing into “Meccanico from Trio per uno,” a fast-paced piece of staccato, clatter and jackhammer-like riffs.
“It was absolutely one of the most unique performances I have ever experienced,” said one enchanted patron.
This year’s performances should be no different. Audiences should anticipate a different kind of classical music experience—an immersive evening that removes the barriers between musicians and the audiences.
Festival musicians and guest artists will also spend time with students in the Music Institute’ s education programs during the week. They will offer individual and group coaching, demonstrations, technique classes, conversations and performances.
Winter Season performances will begin at 6;30 p.m. and last about two hours. Admission is free but space is limited.
Reservations will be offered beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18, at www.svmusicfestival.org. Each household will be permitted two reservations for one night only.
The same program will be performed each evening.
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Guests with reservations must check in by 6:15 p.m.—unclaimed seats will be released to rush ticket attendees. Food and beverages will be available for purchase and may be enjoyed in the theater.