By Rebecca Spiess
Cascadia Music’s 2021 spring concert will be presented at the TwispWorks Pavilion on Saturday (May 15) at 1 p.m. — Cascadia’s first live concert since COVID restrictions went into effect last year.
The concert will feature acts including the Pipestone Youth Orchestra and small groups from the Methow Valley Orchestra. The concert is free of charge and open to all community members.
“This concert will feature performances centered around a theme of spring, but sometimes the music is also experimental,” Cascadia Music Executive Director Rebecca Gallivan said. Unlike a holiday concert, the spring theme offers musicians a chance to dabble into more unconventional territory.
For example, the Tamarack Quartet will sing a medieval round and Linda and Wayne Mendro will play the jazz standard Harlem Nocturne.
The Mendros are lifelong musicians who have been with Cascadia Music since its founding and will be performing live for the first time since COVID. “We’ve had our vaccinations and we’re so excited to be around people again,” Linda Mendro said.
In past years, the Cascadia spring concert would be held in the gym at the Methow Valley Community Center, with an audience of hundreds. The TwispWorks pavilion is offering an outdoor COVID-safe alternative. Gallivan noted that social distancing and masks are required. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs and blankets.
The Methow Valley Orchestra itself has 100 members, so the orchestra will be playing in small groups to adhere to guidelines. Trumpets, strings and flutes will all perform their own selections.
Kellen Miles, the first-place winner of the 2021 Cherrington Scholarship, will also be performing on guitar. He won the merit-based scholarship through this year’s virtual audition process, submitting a video of himself performing a Bach Prelude.
