Seattle Times
For starry-eyed romantics, summer in Seattle means only one thing: the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival, in its 28th year under the artistic direction of cellist and University of Washington music professor Toby Saks. There is, quite simply, nothing else that stirs the heart quite like the live performances of this series, with its world-class roster of talent and rousing programs. The festival runs Monday-July 31 at Seattle’s Lakeside School and moves to Redmond’s Overlake School Aug. 5-14.
Seattle-Russian partnership brings Silk Road rhythms to town
The Seattle Times:
Big, vital and almost ferociously listenable, Vladimir Martynov’s “Night in Galicia” (1996) is the opening-night highlight of “Silk Road Modern!” — a pair of concerts being presented by Joshua Roman’s TownMusic Series. But it’s in good company with the other pieces on the bill, including “Ulari Udila” by Vladimir Nikolayev and “Voices of a Frozen Land” by Alexander Raskatov. The titles alone suggest the tribal-chant energy that informs all three works on this invigorating program. The Seattle Chamber Players, an adventurous local ensemble, is bringing the pieces to town with the help of members of Russia’s Opus Posth, featuring violinist Tatiana Grindenko, and the Dmitri Prokrovsky Ensemble, a choral group formed in 1973 that specializes in traditional Russian song and contemporary “avant-folk” work.
