February Fest Prepares Three Concerts

the Feb. 14 concert will feature romantic music performed by Erich Peterson, horn, Sarah Bowman Peterson, oboe, and Judith Jackson, piano. Submitted photos.

As it has done each year since 1998, Peninsula Music Festival (PMF) will again brighten Door County’s long, cold winter with a series of three chamber concerts. The February Fest events will be held at 2 pm on Feb. 14, 21 and 28 at Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, 11836 Hwy. 42 in Ellison Bay. Audiences will have the opportunity to hear members of the PMF orchestra and other favorite guest musicians in an intimate setting.

Appropriately, the Feb. 14 concert will feature romantic music performed by Erich Peterson, horn, Sarah Bowman Peterson, oboe, and Judith Jackson, piano. The program will include: Vocalise-Waltz for Oboe, Horn and Piano by Paul Basler; Air arabe, Op.72 by Heinrich Molbe; Romanza for Horn and Piano, Op. 59/2 by Jan Koetsier; Solo for Oboe and Piano by Émile Paladilhe; Romance for Oboe, Horn and Piano, Op. 43bis by Adolphe Blanc; Trio for Oboe, Horn and Piano, Op. 188, Finale by Carl Reinecke; The Shepherd and the Shepherdess by Hilmar Mückenberger; and “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story by Bernstein, arranged by Erich Peterson.

Peterson, currently the assistant principal/second horn with the Grand Rapids Symphony, also teaches at Calvin College. For six years, he was a member of the national tour of Les Miserables and, as a studio musician, recorded hundreds of TV and radio commercials and video game soundtracks. He is a regular substitute with the Detroit Symphony and appears each August as second horn in the PMF Orchestra.

Sarah Bowman Peterson is the librarian for the Grand Rapids Symphony, a position she also held with symphonies in Virginia and Dallas. Since 2013, she has also served as librarian with the PMF. A graduate of Juilliard with a degree in oboe performance, she spent the next four years as assistant principal oboe with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She performs regularly on oboe and English horn with a number of symphonies and summer festivals.

Before moving permanently to Door County, Judith Jackson was principal pianist with Chicago Opera Theater for more than a decade and also held the positions of national auditions pianist with the San Francisco Opera and the MacAllister International Opera and a judge for both the regional and district final auditions of the Metropolitan Opera in Chicago, Rochester and Denver. She enjoys a dual role with PMF as pianist in both the August series and February Fest and choral director for PMF vocal concerts. She is also the principal pianist for Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church.

Violinist/violist Thomas Kluge will return to February Fest for the third time for the Feb. 21 concert. He will be accompanied by Judith Jackson. The program will include: Sonata in A Minor, Op. 23, for Piano and Violin in three movements by Beethoven; Sonata in A Major, Op. 100 for Violin and Piano in three movements by Brahms; Suite in C Major for Viola Solo, BWV 1009 in six movements by Bach; and Sonata for Viola and Piano in three movements by Rebecca Clarke. There will be one intermission.

Judith Jackson, piano, will perform this weekend at February Fest I. Submitted photo.

Kluge is the principal violist of the Omaha Symphony and teaches and is the orchestra director at Creighton University. Previously, he was a freelance musician in New York City and performed with the New York Philharmonic, orchestras in Connecticut and a number of chamber orchestras. He holds bachelors and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and also studied in Germany and Switzerland.

The final concert will feature PMF concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich, who will return to Door County from his duties as concertmaster of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He will be joined by internationally-renowned pianist Boris Slutsky.

The program will include: Chaconne for Violin by Bach; Sonata for Violin and Piano by Frank; Barcarolle, Op.60 by Chopin; From Miroirs – Oiseaux Tristes, Alborado del Gracioso by Ravel; and “Concert Fanatsia for Violin and Piano” on the themes from Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess.

An internationally acclaimed violinist, Yuzefovich holds advanced degrees from the Peabody Conservatory. His concerts and recitals have taken him from Carnegie Hall to the Cairo Opera House and across Europe, South Africa and Asia. He previously served as concertmaster with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and assistant concertmaster with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He is an active chamber musician and is in high demand as guest concertmaster.

Slutsky made his orchestral debut with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 1980 and won every major prize at the 1981 William Kapell International Piano Competition. He has appeared on nearly every continent as a soloist and recitalist and has more than two decades of chamber music collaborations in performances and recordings. A member of the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory since 1993, he currently serves as chair of the piano department.

General admission for adults is $25 for each of the three concerts or $60 for the series. Admission for students and children is $5 per concert. No tickets will be issued. Those who have made reservations will have their names on a list at the door. A reception with the musicians will follow each concert.

February Fest is sponsored by Glen Follingstad, the PMF Sustaining Committee and Ministry Door County Medical Center. For more information: visit the PMF Office in the Shops of Green Gables, Highway 42, Ephraim; call 920-854-4060; or go to musicfestival.com.