Community Musicians Play All Kinds of Classics

North Coast community musicians in three chamber music groups play rare works by Mozart, Beethoven and Bach, plus some classic ragtime and Thelonious Monk, on Sunday, January 20 at 8 P.M. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.

Highlighting the evening is the popular ensemble, Trombones @ 4. Well-known for appearances at various community celebrations, this will be their first concert appearance. Also on the bill are PianoVoce and the Humboldt Camerata, playing works by Mozart and Beethoven rarely or never before heard on a North Coast stage.

For the community musicians in these ensembles, chamber music is a labor of love, involving frequent trips up and down Highway 101 for rehearsals at private homes. “It’s typical for chamber music groups worldwide to represent a great variety of occupations,” notes Val Phillips, retired HSU dean who plays horn with one of the featured groups, the Humboldt Camerata. The “day jobs” of players in this upcoming concert include food service manager, college deans (active and retired), dentist, land surveyor, teacher, music librarian, teachers (including piano teachers), dental surgeon and artist. They live in the communities of McKinleyville, Blue Lake, Kneeland, Arcata, Eureka and Bayside.

”Many of our players have leadership roles with other North Coast music organizations,” Phillips notes, “such as the Eureka Symphony, Humboldt Light Opera Company, College of the Redwoods Big Band, Humboldt Brass Band, the All Seasons Orchestra and various church music organizations.” This is the second concert of community ensembles sponsored by the HSU Music Department.

The first group taking the stage will be PianoVoce, which features works that combine piano and voice. Pianists Nancy Correll and Annette Gurnee Hull are especially fascinated by relatively unknown masterworks composed for two pianists at a single piano, and they will present one of these rarely performed pieces: Mozart’s Sonata for Piano Four Hands in B-flat Major. Joining them will be speaker Richard Dunning. Annette and Nancy have long been very active as staff pianists in the HSU Music Department choral and vocal recital programs, as well as with the Humboldt Light Opera.

Next, the Humboldt Camerata will play another seldom-heard work (according to Phillips, this will be the first North Coast presentation): Beethoven’s Sextex for Winds. “Beethoven was in his early twenties when he composed this piece,” Phillips explains. “It was what is often called his ‘classical period,’ when his music was strongly influenced by the most eminent composers of the time, Mozart and Joseph Haydn.”

Musicians of the Humboldt Camerata are HSU dean Ken Ayoob, Gwen Gastineau Ayoob, Virginia Ryder, Val Phillips, Justin Sousa and Wendell Row.

Finally, Trombones @ 4 takes the stage for an eclectic program that ranges from Bach to Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust,” Scott Joplin and Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight.” George Epperson, Doug Beckstead, Doug Hendricks and Dick LaForge are the musicians.

The concert begins at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.

Media: HSU Now, Eureka Reporter, Northern Lights, Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon.