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ASTORIA MUSIC FESTIVAL’S 16TH SEASON COMBINES STAR POWER, LOCAL VOICES, FRESH TALENT
By WILLIAM HAM
FOR COAST WEEKEND
T
he musical and cultural event
of the summer is upon us once
again. The Astoria Music Festi-
val is poised to kick off its 16th season
of bringing the finest of fine arts to the
North Coast.
The Festival runs Friday, June 15,
through Sunday, July 1, with perfor-
mances all three weekends at the Lib-
erty Theatre and smaller, more intimate
midweek performances scheduled at
the Liberty’s upstairs McTavish Room,
Clatsop Community College’s Perform-
ing Arts Center and Grace Episcopal
Church.
The 20 planned events represent
a wide array of operatic, symphonic
and chamber music, as performed by a
collection of internationally renowned
soloists and relative newcomers, as
personally selected and recruited by
Artistic Director Keith Clark.
“I wouldn’t like to say I take ad-
vantage of my friends, but I do!” Clark
said.
This year’s Festival promises to
be the most wide-ranging and diverse
yet. Highlights include a celebration of
the centenary of the birth of Leonard
Bernstein and the passing of Claude
Debussy; the premiere of new works
by a dozen Oregon composers; and, as
Clark puts it, “lots and lots of Bach.”
Among the many noteworthy
performers are alto saxophonist Chika
Inoue, violinist and conductor Monica
Huggett, and two longtime favorites:
cellist Sergey Antonov and pianist Ilya
Kazantsev.
This last pair will perform multiple
times throughout the Festival, including
Kazantsev’s solo recital debut and the
return of “Sergey’s Happy Hour,” where
the duo are joined by Astoria’s celebrat-
ed visual artist Darren Orange, who will
create a new painting onstage to their
accompaniment.
DWIGHT CASWELL PHOTO
Astoria Music Festival co-founder and ar-
tistic director Keith Clark
FILE PHOTO
Continued on Page 16
Deac Guidi, an Astoria resident and baritone
COURTESY ASTORIA MUSIC FESTIVAL
Cellist Sergey Antonov, left, and pianist Ilya Kazantsev