Alaska News

Horn concerto by the late Curtiss Blake premieres

Alaska lost a musical treasure when band man Curtiss Blake died with his wife and daughter in July 2004, in a small plane crash that also killed the pilot. Blake came to Alaska in 1971, taught music in Anchorage schools for years and became the go-to guy for making arrangements and orchestrations.

But he never got around to orchestrating an early sonata for horn, probably written while he was a student at the University of Minnesota. That task fell to his friend Dan Heynen. Heynen discovered the piece while helping sort through Blake's office after the fatal crash.

The finished product, with Heynen as soloist, will debut as a horn concerto at Saturday's concert by the Anchorage Civic Orchestra. Heynen describes the work as tonal, if a bit scholarly, with retrogrades and such. "The final movement is a galloping 6/8 which is somewhat reminiscent of Mozart's rondos and has lots of challenges," Heynen says.

The program will also feature a timely overture by Hong Kong composer Daniel Law, inspired by the late SARS outbreak in Asia and the heroic efforts of medical personnel to bring it under control. Dvorak's "New World Symphony" will wrap up the program that starts 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Sydney Laurence Theatre. Tai Wai Li will conduct.

Solo debut

Speaking of Maestro Li, daughter Christine Harada-Li, winner of the Anchorage Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, performed the first movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the AYS on Tuesday. The beautiful spring weather may have been on the minds of some players, or perhaps they were thinking of their upcoming trip to play in the Sydney Opera House. But their performance, while good, was more distracted and ragged than they sounded in concerts earlier this season.

The Mendelssohn started off that way too. Even the soloist seemed to be off her game. But somewhere in the middle, the East High senior took full command of the instrument and, as if by magic, the other players followed suite. Her cadenza was excellent and the orchestra's playing from there to the end was spot on, drawing a standing ovation from the Discovery Theatre audience.

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The program, which also included Kabalevsky's Overture to "Colas Breugnon" and Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, had some unexpected accompaniment from the hall's ventilation system and a podium that squeaked whenever conductor Linn Weeda shifted his weight. Nonetheless, it made for ingratiating listening (especially the Hanson) and we wish them well on their long flight to Australia.

Kokopelli send-off

Anchorage's Kokopelli theater company is having a "chic fundraising event" to help fund its first project to be staged in New York, local playwright Schatzie Schaefers' cheeky, poignant, stimulating "Fourplay."

It's a good choice for the company's first step into the Big Apple. Previous reviews have called Schaefers' work "spectacular." "She's a master of surprise and a romantic at heart," wrote critic Dawnell Smith.

"Wine tasting, food, music, door prizes and a slide show of Kokopelli's history in Alaska," says the flier. The time is 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. The cost is $25. For tickets or information, call 244-8944.

Singers sought

Anchorage Opera will hold general auditions for chorus and comprimario roles for the 2009-2010 season 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, and 1-4 p.m. Sunday, May 24, at Anchorage Opera offices located at 1507 Spar Avenue, just behind Alaska Mill and Feed.

Bring an opera aria suitable to your voice and level of musicianship. If you do not have an aria, please bring a prepared section of a choral work or opera chorus with you. An accompanist is provided (please bring copies of your music for the accompanist), the company says, "but if you prefer to use your own accompanist, we encourage it."

As always male voices are particularly sought. To schedule a time, call music director Andrew Sweeney at 279-2562 or e-mail asweeney@anchorageopera.org.

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.

By MIKE DUNHAM

mdunham@adn.com

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham has been a reporter and editor at the ADN since 1994, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print.

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