By JULIANNE HOMOKAY
Special to the Alpine Mountaineer
Coming off the heels of pianist John Reith’s successful concert at St. Richard’s Episcopal Church last month, soprano and Arrowhead Arts Association board member Kirsten Ashley Wiest is producing another classical music offering for the mountain communities. “Opera Through The Ages” is set to delight audiences this Saturday, June 20, at 4 p.m. at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Lake Arrowhead.
A while back, Wiest proposed the idea of a summer chamber music series to “expose the community to more music, get people interested,” she said. Her colleagues responded, “Yeah, go ahead and do it!” “Opera Through The Ages” will be the first installment in this brand-new series.
Wiest’s colleagues also empowered her to serve as Artistic Director for the event. Her instincts guided her to create a program that might welcome the audience into a classical musical experience. “I chose user-friendly, recognizable tunes from television, pop culture,” she said, including selections by beloved composers such as Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel and contemporary composer and musical theatre star Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Wiest managed to squeeze in a couple of her all-time favorites, too. “Queen Of The Night” [by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart] is near and dear to my heart for so many reasons, as well as [Giacomo] Puccini.” She decided to close the concert with Mozart and Puccini simply because their arias are so well-known.
Joining Wiest onstage will be tenor Elias Berezin, a Los Angeles-based classical singer who is very active in the opera world. Jonathan Keplinger will accompany them on the piano. Keplinger is an in-demand accompanist and eclectic musician who is on staff at the University of California, Riverside.
Also joining the professional musicians will be 10-year-old soprano Sara Zhou. Zhou came to the concert via the Arrowhead Arts Association and is receiving support for her music education from the organization: “I thought it was important to showcase what our lesson scholarships can do,” said Wiest.
“Opera Through The Ages” is free to the public, but donations to the Arrowhead Arts Association are of course welcome. The next offering in the series takes place on Saturday, August 1 and is entitled “The Whispering Winds”, featuring a flute quintet. Whist Duo will close the series on Saturday, August 29. For more information on the series and other programs, visit arrowheadarts.org.
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