InConcert Sierra: Season features music superstars

INCONCERT SIERRA OF GRASS VALLEY, whose origins date back to 1946, has a knack for spotting up-and-coming classical music talent, as well as landing world-class performers.

Some recent examples: The performing arts nonprofit presented guitarist Jason Vieaux in March 1998 as the youngest winner in the prestigious “Guitar Foundation of America International Competition.” InConcert Sierra presented Vieaux again last January with guitarist-composer Jose Luis Merlin.

This year Vieaux won a Grammy for best classical instrument solo category for his album Play. “We’re so proud to watch how his career has taken off, and he has become one of today’s most notable classical guitarists,” says Artistic Director Ken Hardin. “We hope to have him back with Jose Luis Merlin someday.”

InConcert continues to land long-established classical music superstars. It recently announced that violinist Joshua Bell, one of the most acclaimed classical musicians nowadays, will open its 2015-16 season on October 18. And on March 13, 2016, world-famous Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky is returning to perform for InConcert Sierra.

“Lugansky enjoyed himself so much while he was here last time,” says Executive Director Julie Hardin. “He and Ken played together—sight-reading four-hands piano literature one day—while Lugansky was practicing on the Grotrian piano.”

Four-hands piano literature refers to music for four hands at one piano—in this case a 9-foot Grotrian concert grand piano. Lugansky last played in Grass Valley in March 2011.

Besides Lugansky, InConcert has brought pianist Emanuel Ax, pianist Garrick Ohlsson and the Vienna Boys Choir, among others, to the foothills.

InConcert Sierra has been instrumental in creating a vibrant arts and culture scene in the foothills, rivaling bigger-city experiences at the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Pioneer Center in Reno or Mondavi Center in Davis. See below for the group’s upcoming performances.

APRIL 19
FARALLON QUINTET
The Farallon Quintet is a dynamic Bay Area ensemble and the only professional chamber music group focused exclusively on the surprisingly abundant clarinet quintet— string quartet plus clarinet—repertoire. The group seeks to perform rarely heard works as well as new music by living composers.

APRIL 26
CHAMBER MUSIC BY WORLD-FAMOUS LOCAL COMPOSER TERRY RILEY

MAY 17, 19
SIERRA MASTER CHORALE AND ORCHESTRA Spring sparkles with The Sierra Master Chorale and Orchestra. Ken Hardin, conductor and Toon Vandevorst, assistant conductor.

(Photo: Chris Lee)