By Dr. Ginger Gabriel
Special to the Alpine Mountaineer
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” Arrowhead Arts Association engaged the director of the Riverside Philharmonic, Tomasz Golka, to schedule and then reschedule the Fall Festival of Classical Music. Originally scheduled for September, the festival was postponed due to the Line Fire.
The festival was finally held on Oct. 27 at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Arrowhead. The sanctuary was overflowing with classical music lovers. No one was disappointed.
Rescheduling a 50-piece orchestra was not a small task. Maestro Golka, who has good friends in the music world, was able to accomplish that task. He chose the best studio musicians for a performance that culminated in a long standing ovation at the concert’s finale. And this amazing program was free. The expenses for this Fall Festival were entirely underwritten by the Arrowhead Arts Association and very generous donors.
The afternoon program opened with the MountainTop Strings, who recently returned from a successful Italian tour. MountainTop Strings has grown out of the school programs sponsored by the Arrowhead Arts Association and is composed of accomplished student musicians. One interesting detail is that this string group performs without a director, in what is called an “ensemble.”
They have been trained by their teacher, Sharon Rizzo, to be in tune with each other, so that they play as a unified unit. They coordinate their timing. Each musician actively listens to each other and adjusts their playing to blend seamlessly with the group and they are mostly high school students.
Music Director Tomasz Golka conducted the 50-piece Philharmonic in selections from Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Duke Ellington and Gershwin. (Photo by Dirk Rinker)
Tomasz Golka conducted his 50-piece orchestra as Inna Faliks, the special guest artist, performed Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Faliks is the head of the piano department at UCLA. Her commitment to contemporary music often showcases the works of leading composers. She has performed across the U.S., Europe and Asia. The Yamaha concert grand piano, on which she played, was transported to Our Lady of the Lake specifically for this concert.
The program of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven were mostly familiar pieces; however, Golka appeared to be painting his own picture as he expressed through his body, the quivering of excitement, the marching as of a soldier through certain parts of the composition imagining strength and power. Through his physicality he seemed to pull each emotion from the musicians into their instruments and expressed as a whole to the hearts of the audience. His interpretations of these composers was felt in the audience. Many in the audience expressed later that they felt as if they were were being drawn into Golkas’s world as he experienced Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. One audience participant said, “I’ve never felt so much emotion from an orchestra as I did today.”
A highlight of the afternoon was Inna Faliks (3), the head of UCLA’s piano department, playing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at lightning speed, to the great delight of the crowd. (Photo by Dirk Rinker)
The program concluded with a tribute medley to Duke Ellington. The audience was standing, clapping, even cheering. The afternoon concert was over.
At the information table, at the end of the program, people were asking, “How was Lake Arrowhead able to have such an amazing program here?” The answer was, “Arrowhead Arts Association (AAA) is a nonprofit organization located here. It was founded in 1985 by a group of mountain residents and businesses to help provide a rich cultural life for the area.” The host went on to say that the primary purpose is the provide high quality music education to children who live in the rural mountain communities. AAA provides music education in the local schools. They provide direct funds to students for instruments and private lessons. AAA supports performances by local ensembles and visiting artists and focuses on providing classical music and fine arts for the mountain communities.
The host then invited the inquirer, “Join with us in keeping the richness of music alive in our schools and the mountain communities.” Arrowhead Arts Association has provided free string lessons for over 23 years on the mountain and given young musicians the support they needed to continue making music for the world around them. One of the Arrowhead Arts Association convictions is “a society without music is a society without soul.”
For more information, visit www.arrowheadarts.org.
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