MCS concert features Sounds d’Amore string quartet
Bonner County Daily Bee | UPDATED 2 months, 1 week AGO
Guest artist Jan Pellant will showcase the viola d’amore’s shimmering tone during a rare demonstration of the Baroque instrument during the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint's first Conservatory Concert of the fall season — Sounds d’Amore.
Courtesy photo
The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint is proud to announce its first Conservatory Concert of the fall season — Sounds d’Amore, an intimate evening of chamber music featuring the works of celebrated Czech composer Leoš Janáček.
The concert will take place Sunday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. at the Little Carnegie Concert Hall, 110 Main St.
Audiences will experience the emotional depth and distinctive folk-inspired voice of Janáček through three rarely performed works. His masterpieces, rooted in Slavic and Moravian folk traditions, reveal the composer’s fascination with the rhythms of speech and his deeply personal reflections on love, memory, and longing.
Adding to the evening’s uniqueness, guest artist and Czech native Jan Pellant will demonstrate and play a portion of the second movement on the viola d’amore — a rare Baroque instrument with six playing strings and sympathetic resonating strings that create a shimmering, silvery tone. Originally intended for “intimate letters,” the viola d’amore gives audiences a chance to hear and enjoy this delicate instrument.
The evening’s string quartet is comprised of MCS faculty, Keegan Bernardin on Violin I, Gayle McCutchan on Violin II, Jan Pellant on both viola and the rare viola d’amore, and Grace Chastain on cello. Grace Chastain is an active solo, chamber performer in our region, appearing as concerto soloist with the Spokane Symphony.
Violinist Gayle McCutchan is a member of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony and North Idaho Philharmonia, with extensive orchestral and chamber experience that includes touring Austria with the Poway Symphonette and serving as concertmaster of the Pend Oreille Orchestra.
The evening will open with Janáček’s March of the Bluebirds for piccolo and piano, followed by his String Quartet No. 1 “The Kreutzer Sonata.” After a brief intermission, the program concludes with String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters.”
Also joining the program are MCS faculty member Gosia Szemelak-Pellant on piccolo and MCS student Michael Tsiro on piano, bringing their artistry and energy to the opening work of the evening. Their collaboration highlights the Conservatory’s unique spirit, where seasoned instructors and rising young musicians share the stage to create inspiring performances.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for students and may be purchased online at sandpointconservatory.org/events or at the door.
This performance is generously sponsored by the Harry Morrison Foundation.