Chamber Festival offers music for summer
Friday, June 2, 2017 2:00 AM
News, Arts & Entertainment
Pittsburg, KS
The fifth annual Pittsburg Chamber Music Festival will open with an outdoor concert by the Pittsburg Summer Band at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6, in front of the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts. The festival is staged annually by local artists who donate their time and talent during the summer months.
The Pittsburg Summer Band is composed of PSU students, faculty, community members and alumni under the direction of Doug Whitten, a professor of tuba and euphonium in PSU’s Department of Music and director of athletics bands.
Tuesday’s program includes movie music, pop music, classical music, and marches. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and a food truck, Maggie’s Curbside Café, will be available for those wishing to purchase food and beverages. In the event of rain, the concert will take place inside the Bicknell Center.
The festival continues at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 7, with an intimate concert for which both the performers and the audience will be seated on the stage of the Bicknell Center’s Linda & Lee Scott Performance Hall. The musicians will include faculty and graduate students who will perform works from the 20th and 21st centuries.
On Thursday June 8, Susan Marchant will present an organ recital at 7:30 p.m. in McCray Hall’s Sharon Kay Dean Recital Hall. Marchant, director of choral activities, organ and harpsichord, as well as chair of the Music Department, will perform works for solo organ as well as the chamber setting.
Two events are scheduled for Friday, June 9. At 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 306 W. Euclid, Denissa Rivas de Munguía will present a flute lecture recital, “The Other Half: Meeting Women Composers through Flute Music.”
At 10 p.m., Friday, local bands will take turns performing their original works in “Festival After Hours,” which will take place in the Bicknell Center lobby.
At 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, June 10, the festival returns outdoors to the front of the Bicknell Center for a performance by the Summer Kicks Jazz Band, under the direction of Bob Kehle, a professor in the Department of Music and director of the university’s jazz program.
As on Tuesday, concertgoers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and the food truck will return for food and beverages. The rain site will be inside the Bicknell Center.
Information about the Pittsburg Chamber Music Festival can be found on Facebook or contact Raúl Munguía at rmunguia@pittstate.edu, 620-235-4466.