Fabulous finale of music and dance a fitting farewell for concertmaster

May 5, 2006

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

SPOKANE: The Spokane Symphony and Music Director Eckart Preu will present a fitting finale for its fabulous 60th anniversary season and the 37-year career of its concertmaster Kelly Farris on Friday, May 12 at 8 p.m. in the Spokane Opera House.

The Spokane Symphony Chorale, a 2005 Musicfest Northwest Young Artist winner, and ballet dancers will add distinctive touches to make the evening even more special.

The Richard Strauss tone poem MacBeth will open the evening followed by Four Sacred Pieces by Giuseppe Verdi sung by the Chorale. Written between 1886 and 1888, Macbeth was both Strauss's first tone poem and an aesthetic manifesto - he described it as "the precise expression of my artistic ideas and feelings". Although seldom performed, the Verdi pieces find the opera composer effectively applying his theatrical talents to the spiritual realm. Ave Maria and Stabat Mater from Four Sacred Pieces will be sung by the Spokane Symphony.

The overture to the opera House of the Dead by Leo Janacek whose origin was an unfinished violin concerto will feature Farris. Saint-Saens' The Swan from Carnival of the Animals will feature cellist Joy Adams and ballerina Mimi Ewers.

Since beginning the cello two years ago, 17-yr-old cellist Joy Adams has earned the reputation of one of the most respected young musicians in the area. Having begun her musical studies on the violin, Joy later switched to viola, finally settled on the cello at age 15, and is now studying with Kevin Hekmatpanah. In May 2005, she won the String Young Artist Division of Musicfest Northwest, resulting in her concerto debut with the Spokane Symphony, under Morihiko Nakahara. In the fall of 2004, Joy was one of six young musicians selected for the Spokane Symphony's Young Chamber Players program, and was selected again in 2005. A well-rounded musician, Adams is a member of the Gonzaga Symphony Orchestra, which she joined in 8th grade.

Mimi Ewers was born and raised in Honduras before moving to Spokane in November 2002. She attended the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras, graduating with a degree in Business Administration and was honored as a student of "Academic Excellence." Ewers started her ballet training in Honduras, receiving scholarships to dance at the National Ballet Company of Guatemala and the Ballet Concerto of Miami and was invited to be a guest dancer and study with the National Ballet Company of El Salvador, under the tutelage of Professor Dr. Jurgen Pagels from Indiana University.

Ewers opened her own ballet school in the coastal city of La Ceiba, which served the young people of that city until 2002. She has worked as a model for several Honduran artists and since her arrival in Spokane she has posed for sculptors George Carlson and Steve Gevurtz and painter Melville Holmes. Ewers currently teaches ballet at Ballet Arts Academy and Julie's Competitive Edge, and dances with local company Theatre Ballet of Spokane under the Artistic Direction of Dodie Askegard.

The climax of the concert will showcase student dancers from the Theatre Ballet of Spokane as part of presentation of Tchaikovsky's very popular Suite from Swan Lake.

Tickets are $15, $23, $31, and $35. Tickets are available in advance without service charge at the Spokane Symphony Ticket office, 818 W. Riverside, Suite 100, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT or at spokanesymphony.org.