The Winter Concert Series—a series of musical performances organized by two Wood River Valley residents—will kick off its first performance next week with "An Evening of Chamber Music." The show will take place at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood in Ketchum on Wednesday, Dec. 30, at 8 p.m. The first of four concerts will feature the Mendelssohn D minor trio and the Brahms G minor piano quartet. A "Meet the Artists" reception will take place in the church lobby after every performance.
Musicians performing include Rudy Kremer on violin, Marylene Gingras-Roy on viola, David Premo on cello and Susan Spelius Dunning on piano. Kremer, Roy and Premo all perform for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony.
"We all start counting the days to come back for the summer," Kremer said. "I can't wait to come back in the winter to hang out in Sun Valley and play music with friends."
Kremer has played for the San Francisco Symphony and also plays with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. He will play his 14th consecutive season with Sun Valley Summer Symphony in 2010.
"I did an album, 'S & M: Symphony and Metallica,' which was recorded in 1999," Kremer said. "It was a lot of fun to work with Metallica and do crossover material. Once you have basic classical technique, it transfers to pretty much everything."
Premo plays for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Premo and Kremer have performed together and both have known Winter Concert Series artistic director and pianist Dunning for a number of years.
"This is completely special," Premo said. "I also understand Susan will be doing educational things with the music students and schools. Now is the time to do something in the winter in Sun Valley."
Premo said chamber music is much more intimate than a symphony because the audience can see the musicians up close and the music is accessible.
"People in Sun Valley know us and treat us like stars," Premo said. "One of the nice things about coming to Sun Valley is that everyone takes an interest in music."
Gingras-Roy, a native of Quebec City, Canada, has been performing with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony since 2000. She plays viola in the fourth chair in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She is a world-traveling musician and maintains a full teaching schedule as an adjunct professor at Duquesne University and at her private studio in the Carnegie Mellon Preparatory School of Music.
Dunning is an accomplished pianist and has given solo appearances in Europe as well as performed in chamber music concerts throughout the Western U.S. and Hawaii. She has recorded a solo CD that features works by Rachmaninoff, Khatchaturian, Schumann and Chopin. She splits her time between Sun Valley and Perugia, Italy.
Tickets are $35 and $15 for students. Tickets for the entire series are $120. The rest of the concerts will take place on Saturday, Jan. 16, Saturday, Feb. 27, and Wednesday, March 10. All shows begin at 8 p.m. and take place at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood.
For tickets, call 725-5807 or visit svwas.org.
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
Musicians Rudy Kremer and David Premo will perform in the debut of the Winter Concert Series on Wednesday, Dec. 30, at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood, in Ketchum. Photo by
