Music festival in full flow

  • 2015-01-16
A three-event festival is currently underway in Stockton, letting locals explore a diversity of music.

Last week, Frank Wiens will be the featured soloist at the first event, playing Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto with support from the Zion Chamber Orchestra. Conductor Paul Kimball also had Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony on the program for the evening.

The second concert is slated tonight, and its focus is the music of Cole Porter, the prolific American composer who wrote music for numerous Broadway productions. Porter's songs include such classics as ‘Anything Goes’ from the show Anything Goes, ‘Begin the Beguine’ from Jubilee, and ‘I Love Paris’ from Can-Can. The audience at this event will be treated to 16 Porter songs, featuring the pops choir, which is a 40-voice ensemble conducted by Kimball.

The last of the three concerts is next week, and will treat audiences to a performance of ‘The Haggin Suite’ by local composer Max Simoncic. Simoncic based his work on paintings in the Haggin Museum. The music will be enhanced by projections of the artworks onto a screen. Also on the agenda is ‘Pulcinella’ by Igor Stravinsky.

The Cole Porter evening is tonight, January 16, starting at 7.30 pm, and the Simoncic concert is slated for Sunday, January 25, beginning at 5:00 pm. All performances are at Zion Lutheran Church, and tickets are available at the church's website.