Tahoe SummerFest: “Passport to a world of music” this summer

THE NAMES ARE WORLD RENOWNED — New York Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Symphony, American Symphony and the New York Philharmonic — and the only place to experience them together is Lake Tahoe SummerFest, July 31-August 16 in Incline Village, NV.

The classical music festival’s fourth season, titled “Passport to a World of Music,” brings Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn to audiences at Sierra Nevada College in an intimate 500-seat acoustical tent pavilion.

The three weekend series of nine different concerts transports audiences through masterpieces translated by famed artists and a nationally acclaimed orchestra of 40 players. Many of the artists are principal players in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Celebrated pianist Joseph Kalichstein returns to the SummerFest stage opening weekend July 31. With a career spanning more than four decades and many notable highlights, Kalichstein made his first guest appearance with the New York Philharmonic in 1968 as part of a national television broadcast under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. He made his debut with the London Symphony under André Previn.

A member of the faculty at Juilliard, Kalichstein also performs regularly with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.

Kalichstein will render the genius of Viennese composers in the ‘Emperor’ concerto of Beethoven, a Mozart piano quartet, and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17.

Guitarist Ana Vidovic will perform Aug. 7-9. “Ana has become a major international artist in the classical guitar world,” writes the Baltimore Sun. “She has a finely honed technique and a remarkable stylistic sensitivity that allows her to communicate eloquently.”

Cellist Paul Watkins of the Emerson String Quartet and music director of the English Chamber Orchestra (UK) will highlight the festival’s finale on August 14-16. Fanfare magazine calls Watkins “one of today’s foremost cellists.”

SummerFest also hosts “Finding Beethoven,” a free family concert on Aug. 1, at 10 a.m. Audience members can meet the musicians, learn about their instruments, and ask questions.

Visit TahoeSummerFest.org for more information.

(Photo: Dalia Smallwood Photography)