It’s time to celebrate the start of summer! Seattle’s classical music scene offers plenty of reasons to party this month. Honor the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s birth with concerts by the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Choral Company. Help local choral ensemble The Esoterics celebrate twenty years with two festive concerts of vocal favorites. World premieres also abound, including debuts of new works by John Luther Adams and Jefferson Friedman.
Byron Shenkman (Photo: Will Austin)
For those who plan further ahead, be sure to mark your calendars for a spectacular summer of chamber music. The Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival and the Olympic Music Festival both begin in late June and continue through July.
Jun. 6 – A bassoon becomes an electronic resonance chamber in the hands of musician and instrument creator Leslie Ross. Catch this unique instrument in action at an intimate recital presented by Wayward Music Series. Outfitted with fifteen microphones, Ross’ bassoon is transformed into an electronic hub that directs sound to speakers placed around the intimate Chapel Performance Space.
Jun. 8 — Seattle Choral Company commemorates Britten’s 100th birthday with a performance of the composer’s 1963 work Cantata Misericordium, which honors the efforts of the International Red Cross. The concert also includes music by up-and-coming Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, whose “Dark Night of the Soul” and “Luminous Night of the Soul” incorporate the writings of St. John of the Cross.