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Lake Tahoe SummerFest to wrap with Mozart, Tchaikovsky and more

Staff report

A tour de force of classical music from Beethoven and Mozart to Tchaikovsky, Strauss and Wagner will close the final weekend of Lake Tahoe SummerFest in Incline Village.

The finale features acclaimed guest conductor Paul Watkins and New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra principal oboist Nathan Hughes, recently mentioned in the New York Times.

Led by Joel Revzen, artistic director and conductor, many of the orchestra players throughout the entire SummerFest series (which began July 31) hold principal positions in prestigious symphonies including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the philharmonics of New York and Los Angeles, and the symphonies of San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, and Vancouver.



Friday and Sunday concerts include the 40-member orchestra, while Saturday performances feature an intimate “Meet the Music ­— Meet the Musicians” chamber music series, featuring smaller ensembles from the orchestra followed by post-event receptions for attendees and artists to mingle.

Now in its fourth season, the Lake Tahoe SummerFest orchestra performs in the 500-seat JetBlue Festival Pavilion on the campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village.



The third and final weekend of SummerFest, Friday-Sunday, Aug. 14-16, features the award-winning Watkins as guest conductor. Watkins, a principal cellist with the BBC Symphony through much of the 1990s, was the past music director of the English Chamber Orchestra and is a current member of the Emerson String Quartet.

A native of Wales, Watkins won the prestigious BBC Young Musician of the Year for his string section musicianship.

Watkins’ extensive performance range also led him to make five concerto appearances at The BBC “Proms” ‹ an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually in the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Hughes’ resume includes principal oboe of the Seattle Symphony and guest appearances as principal oboe with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony.

“Heroic Journey,” featuring great works by larger-than-life composers filled with tender surprises, proud survivors, and crowning achievements, is the theme of Friday’s performance.

Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. Chamber Music performance, “White Nights, Golden Moons,” is in the theme of the mystical spirit of a Baltic summer, featuring two of the giants of Russian music — Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky.

Themed “The Danube-Baltic Express,” the final Sunday concert of the SummerFest 2015 season is a tour of music greats from Vienna, Austria, to the Baltic gem of St. Petersburg, Russia, and one of Mozart’s masterpieces, “Night Music,” Serenade No. 12, will be performed ­— this is the piece Mozart used to woo his wife.

Tickets are $85 (Fridays and Sundays) and $65 (Saturdays) for adults, $15 for children 15 and under, and $20 for students and include reserved seating, free parking, and complimentary desserts.

Visit tahoesummerfest.org or call 775-298-0245 to learn more and reserve seats.


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