Birch Creek Announces 2008 season

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, pianist Jodie DeSalvo has been a frequent guest artist with orchestras across the U.S. and Europe, has performed at Carnegie Hall, and is shown here in a 2007 performance at Birch Creek. She will be performing at Birch Creek on July 3 and 5.

Birch Creek Music Performance Center begins its 33rd season of music in 2008 with an invigorating schedule of high quality concerts and professional performing artists.

Birch Creek, located three miles east of Egg Harbor on County Highway E, is Door County’s unique summer music school and concert venue, where top professionals come together by day and perform by night in the 500-seat Dutton Concert Barn.

Birch Creek offers concerts for the public in three genres: Symphony (June 26 through July 5), Percussion & Steel Band (July 10 through July 19) and Big Band Jazz (July 23 through August 16). In addition, two special “STARZ” series concerts showcase Birch Creek faculty members.

Returning for his 11th season, seventh as program director of the Symphony Series, is Ricardo Castañeda. Principal oboist with Lake Forest Symphony (Ill.), the Chicago Sinfonietta and Joffrey Ballet orchestras (Chicago), Castañeda teaches oboe at Birch Creek by day and performs at night with the 80-member Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra. Castañeda guides the innovative educational symphony program at Birch Creek.

Conductor Brian Groner, who is also conductor of Appleton’s Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, will return to the podium to conduct the Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra in Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra by American composer Russell Peck with a featured solo performance by Birch Creek faculty member Robert Everson, timpani. On another summer evening at Birch Creek the featured soloist will be piano faculty member Jodie DeSalvo performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor.

In the Percussion & Steel Band Series program director Robert Chappell and steel band director Al O’Connor lead numerous ensembles in everything from traditional calypsos to jazz to original compositions, not to mention the return of the popular “Comedy and Pops” night and featured performances by steel pan artist-in-residence Liam Teague. Salsa dancing is on the calendar for July 12.

The month-long Big Band Jazz series with program director, bandleader and bassist Jeff Campbell at the helm will delight audiences. Also part of this series, the faculty Academy Band’s top quality playing will present works by Ellington, Basie, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and more. Concertgoers will put on their dancing shoes for the “Basie, Ellington & Miller” concerts July 25 and Aug. 8.

The STARZ series of special concerts begins on July 27, taking audiences on a whirlwind of tour of the roots of Dixieland, blues and American jazz. The Birch Creek Faculty Jazz Ensemble, led by Jeff Campbell (bass) and Lennie Foy (trumpet), will begin in the late 1890s with the ragtime music of Scott Joplin and follow the evolution through the innovative improvisations of Louis Armstrong.

The second STARZ series concert on August 10, presenting the music of Nat King Cole, is led by Reggie Thomas (piano) and features vocalist Mardra Thomas.

More than 60 Birch Creek performances throughout the summer include not only 31 evening concerts in the Dutton Concert Barn, but also off-campus performances at all points on the peninsula. Additional opportunities to enjoy the music of Birch Creek faculty members are scheduled for several special benefit events during the summer.

While concerts formally begin at 8 pm, every evening includes pre-concert and intermission performances by student ensembles in the courtyard gazebo, weather permitting, or in the new Juniper Hall in inclement weather beginning at 7:30 pm. Concertgoers may also stroll the sidewalks on campus past the three new buildings that have been added over the winter. In the new Rehearsal Center, several areas are open to the public, and visitors are invited to view "Birch Creek: Through Lens and Brush," an exhibit of paintings and photography in the new Rehearsal Center’s Melzer Gallery.

Birch Creek also offers a picnic grove on a landscaped acre of gentle rolling lawn that offers visitors a pleasant place to enjoy a pre-concert carry-in meal. The public is also welcome to visit the campus during the day to learn more about the programs.

For complete information about Birch Creek, or to reserve tickets, call 920.868.3763. Tickets are $27 for adults, $10 for young adults ages 12 through 20 and college students, and $6 for children 11 and under. Also check http://www.birchcreek.org for additional information.