Full Orchestra Returns for Three Weeks
Programs Feature Iconic Works from Artistic Director’s 29 Seasons
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson Returns for Complete Beethoven Concerto Series
Other Soloists Include Stefan Jackiw, Maria Valdes, Katie van Kooten
Bellingham, WA—The Bellingham Festival of Music will return with full orchestra and three-week programme to celebrate Artistic Director and Conductor Michael Palmer’s Laudatory Season, July 1—24, 2022. Seven orchestra concerts featuring iconic repertoire with special emphasis on Ludwig van Beethoven’s concerted works highlight the schedule. The Calidore String Quartet, BFM’s chamber ensemble in residence, will return for its annual recital, July 1 with a hunt-themed program. The Orchestra and Calidore concerts will all be performed in the Western Washington University Performing Arts Center.
Also returning will be the popular Chamber Music by the Bay concert at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal at 4:00 PM on July 10.
In a major scheduling change, ALL BFM ORCHESTRA CONCERTS and THE CALIDORE QUARTET WILL START AT 7:00 PM.
Season Ticket Subscriptions will go on sale Monday, March 28 by calling the WWU Box Office 360-650-6146. Subscribers from 2019 may order their same seats if purchased by April 8, 2022. Individual concert tickets will go on sale, April 11. They can be ordered through the festival website.
Complimentary concert parking will be available in Lots 9G and 7G.
Celebrating Michael Palmer’s Achievements
Since 1993, Maestro Palmer has served as Founder and Artistic Director of the Festival; 2022 will be his final season as Artistic Director, after which he will become Conductor Laureate. In that new role, he will return to conduct a concert annually beginning in 2025.
Throughout the three-week festival, numerous events will honor Palmer’s extraordinary three-decade contributions to the musical life of Bellingham and Whatcom County. Among these are the annual Gala Auction, “Celebrating a Musical Legacy,” April 2. Check our website for more information.
Because the music of Beethoven has been an ongoing thread throughout the history of the Festival and because Palmer’s Beethoven 250th Birthday retrospective was cancelled twice due to Covid-19, the conductor will restore highlights of those planned seasons. The centerpiece in 2022 will be performances of the five Beethoven piano concertos with the much acclaimed pianist Garrick Ohlsson. It was Ohlsson who played the Festival’s Beethoven concerto marathon in 2000, leading to a CD recording of the event.
Longtime musical colleagues of Maestro Palmer, Steven Thomas, BFM Principal Cello and pianist Edith Kraft, will join with guest violinist Justin Bruns for the Beethoven Triple Concerto. And the Festival Chorus plus favorite soloists Katie van Kooten, Ellen Graham, Eric Barry, and Clayton Brainerd will conclude the season with Beethoven’s paean to brotherhood, the Ninth Symphony.
Other performances will feature some of the gifted young artists Palmer has brought to Bellingham, including violinist Stefan Jackiw playing the Bruch Scottish Fantasy and soprano Maria Valdes singing orchestral songs by Richard Strauss.
Season programs as of March 2, 2022 include the following:
Friday, July 1, 7:00 PM
The Calidore String Quartet
Haydn: String Quartet in B-flat major, op. 1, no. 1, Hob. III: 1, La chasse
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 458 “The Hunt”
Widmann: String Quartet no. 3, Jagdquartett
Brahms: String Quartet No.3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67
Saturday, July 2, 7:00 PM
Brahms: Tragic Overture
Max Bruch: Scottish Fantasy in E-flat Major Op.46
Stefan Jackiw, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Friday, July 8, 7:00 PM
Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56
Justin Bruns, violin; Steven Thomas, cello; Edith Kraft, piano
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 (the Great)
Sunday, July 10, 4:00 PM
Chamber Music by the Bay
Principal players from the BFM Orchestra
Tuesday, July 12, 7:00 PM
Mozart: Magic Flute Overture
Richard Strauss: Selected Lieder
Das Rosenband
Ich wollt’ ein Strausslein binden
Waldseligkeit
Sausle, liebe Myrte
Die heiligen drei Konige aus Morgenland
Maria Valdes, soprano
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Friday, July 15, 7:00 PM
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerti No. 1 and 3
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Saturday, July 16, 7:00 PM
Beethoven: Piano Concerti No. 2 and 4
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Sunday, July 17, 7:00 PM
Beethoven: “Leonore” Overture, No. 3
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Sunday, July 24, 7:00 PM
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Katie Van Kooten, soprano; Ellen Graham, mezzo soprano; Eric Barry, tenor; Clayton Brainerd, bass
