Symphony to play passionate music in honor of passionate teacher Margie May Ott

Apr 20, 2010

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow - 464-7071

SPOKANE—Music Director Eckart Preu will conduct the Spokane Symphony in a program entitled “Entangled in Passion” on Saturday, May 1, 2010, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 2, 2010, at 3 p.m. at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. The Saturday performance will be played in honor of one of leading influences in Spokane’s music community: Margaret (Margie May) Saunders Ott, whose passion is teaching music. Instead of the usual pre-concert lecture, there will be a piano recital given in the hall at 6:30 p.m.

The concert will begin with an excerpt from Richard Wagner’s opera, Tannhäuser.  Wagner, who was a firm believer in the opera as a perfect blend of music and poetry designed to elevate the audience to a panicle of aesthetic transcendence, frequently ignored operatic conventions.  When Tannhäuser  was scheduled to be performed in Paris, there were complaints that the work lacked the ‘obligatory’ ballet in the Second Act; in response, Wagner agreed to insert a Bacchanale entitled ‘Venusberg’, a reworking of the opera’s themes, into the First Act. Despite this concession, the Parisian audience was not happy, and Wagner’s music did not return to the city for another fifty years.  ‘Venusberg’ begins with a strident theme of the protagonist, Tannhäuser, who been a troubadour of profane love, and concludes with more intimate music drawn from the song of Venus’ handmaidens.

Richard Strauss’ music is dazzling in his great tone poem, Don Juan, an unqualified success that is both filled with passion and yet is virtuoso in its technical demands. It was the expression Strauss’ mature voice and catapulted him to national attention. Inspired by Wagner’s writings, young Strauss chose to compose music to describe scenes from Nikolaus Lenau’s poem. The music begins with Don Juan’s upbeat theme, interspersed with the distinctive themes of his three conquests on violin, flute and oboe. The story turns with the Carnival scene, when Don Juan has a new heroic theme that become increasingly manic as he slides into insanity.  It concludes with sword fight, followed by melancholy horns the as Don Juan surrenders to both his adversary and despair.

The concert concludes with Cesar Franck’s Symphony in D Minor. Although the Belgium-born organist was one France’s most influential music teachers, his compositions were generally ignored or dismissed during his lifetime. His Symphony in D Minor was no exception. Music ‘experts’ were outraged by the use of an English horn solo in the second movement, and the fact that the Symphony only had three movements.  It is a rare fusion of the cyclical form, common in French music of the time, and the Germanic romantic symphony.

This concert is a tribute to Margaret (Margie May) Saunders Ott, teacher, mentor and friend. After a lifetime of music, she has built a great legacy to the Spokane community. A native of the Inland Northwest, she was one of the first women to get a Masters degree from Julliard Conservatory. She taught at WhitworthCollege and GonzagaUniversity and in 2003, at the age 83, she was named MTNA Teacher of the Year . Click to hear an interview with Margie May.

A list of her past students reads like a Who's Who of pianists in the Inland Northwest and beyond; it includes Greg Presley, Jody Graves, Philip Aaberg, Linda Severts, Jed Moss, Sheila Zilar Gephart, and Stephen Drury. On Saturday, the usual pre-concert lecture will be replaced by a performance of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mossorgsky on piano. Sixteen of Mrs. Ott’s past students will perform on piano in honor of their teacher. The receital will begin at 6:30 p.m., to ensure enough time to complete the performance and set the stage for the orchestra. The following is a partial list of the pianists who will take part:

Linda Siverts studied with Margaret Ott at WhitworthUniversity. She is a much-lauded teacher and chamber music performer in the Northwest. She was the principal keyboard player for the Spokane Symphony for many years, under 5 conductors. She teaches at HolyNamesMusicCenter.

Karlyn Brett studied with Margaret Ott as an adult teacher in Spokane after studying piano performance at WeberCollege and at BrighamYoungUniversity.  She is internationally recognized for her work in the Suzuki teaching method, for which she is a sought-after clinician. She is an active performer and church musician.

Margee Websterhas studied with Margaret Ott as an adult teacher and while earning a degree at WhitworthUniversity. She has also studied with Dr. Judith Schoepflin and Dr. Jody Graves. She is well-known in the Washington State Music Teachers Association, where she has filled many positions, including President. She is an active adjudicator for WSMTA. She is a piano instructor at GonzagaUniversity.

Jody Graves studied with Margaret Ott while obtaining her undergraduate degree at EWU. She went on to earn advanced degrees at CatholicUniversity and Eastman. She is an extremely active adjudicator, teacher and performer and among other exciting opportunities, in recent years has gone on 2 tours of the Middle East with her chamber group, the Sapphire Trio. She is on the faculty at EWU.

Owen Fahey studied with Margaret Ott in grade school, high school, and at WhitworthUniversity. After receiving an MM from WWU, he went on to have a long career with the military as Concert Pianist for the US Air Force Academy Band with many national and international tours. Since his recent retirement from the military, he has been teaching privately in Colorado.

Colleen Hunter studied with Margaret Ott in high school. A native of Hartline, Colleen went on to receive advanced degrees from the University of Missouri Kansas City as a student of Richard Cass. She is quite active as an MTNA adjudicator, teacher, and church musician in Washington and Idaho. She is a piano instructor at GonzagaUniversity.

Sheila Zilar Gephart studied with Margaret Ott at WhitworthUniversity. She earned an advanced degree from WSU. She is widely known as a chamber musician and accompanist through the Northwest, collaborating frequently with theater groups and instrumentalists. She is teaching music at a private school in the Tri-cities.

Ruth Leib studied with Margaret Ott at Whitworth. She is a native of Montana and has worked in Idaho for many years now as an elementary school teacher, a private piano teacher, a musical director for musical theater and opera, as a teacher for the Idaho Virtual Academy, (an online charter school) , and as a church musician.

Steve Drury, a native of Spokane, is an internationally known pianist and conductor. He studied with Margaret Ott in grade school and high school. He earned degrees at Harvard and at the New England Conservatory, where he currently teaches. A winner of many competitions and awards, he is lauded everywhere he concertizes for his performances of contemporary music, which he has been championing since his years studying with Mrs. Ott. He continued this advocacy when the US government  chose him to give international tours presenting American music.  He has made a number of highly-praised recordings, and has commissioned numerous pieces from contemporary composers.

Deborah Dewey studied with Margaret Ott in high school. She went on to receive degrees from Wellesley and from YaleUniversity. She has served on the faculties of WhitworthUniversity and the University of Washington. She is part of a 4-hand piano duo (Ventiditi) which has performed widely in the Northwest over the past 10 years. She has also collaborated with a number of instrumentalists and singers in the Seattle area. She is an active soloist and adjudicator and teaches privately in Seattle.

Ricklen Nobis studied with Margaret Ott in high school and college. He has had a long and diverse music career, including as pianist/keyboardist for the Salt Lake Symphony, as a touring pianist with many Broadway shows, as a chamber musician and soloist in the SLC area, and in collaborations with the dance community in SaltLake.

Joyce Kelly studied with Margaret Ott as an adult teacher. After a career as a lab-technician, she went back to school to earn a degree in music and has been an active performer and successful private teacher in the Spokane area for the past 15 years.

Chet Noll studied piano with Margaret Ott at WhitworthUniversity, before going on to the University of Montana for an advanced degree. He has been crafting musical instruments by hand from wood since the seventh grade, including all sorts of stringed instruments. He built a harpsichord/clavichord for Margaret Ott which graced her studio for many years. He is nationally known as one of the premier woodworkers in the United States, both for the musical instruments he has made, and for his numerous artworks, including wood sculptures of hummingbirds and butterflies. Chet has a career as a computer programmer and system architect for the hospital industry and teaches piano and cello in Wrightwood, California.

Thiwangkorn Lilit is a native of Thailand. He studied with Margaret Ott in Thailand before going on to get degrees in piano performance and composition at New England Conservatory. His primary interest is in composition, although he is also an active performer of contemporary music and teacher of piano at the RoyalAcademy for Music and the Performing Arts in the Boston area.

Barbara Miller is a native of Montana. She studied with Margaret Ott as an adult teacher in Spokane, after earning a music degree at the University of Montana. She was a frequent competition winner in Montana and in other parts of the Northwest in her school days and is renowned throughout the Northwest as an outstanding teacher. Her students have won many competitions locally, state-wide, and regionally.

Greg Presley studied with Margaret Ott in high school, before going on to earn degrees at YaleUniversity and the JuilliardSchool. He was the winner of many competitions in high school and college. He has worked with numerous singers, instrumentalists, dancers, and other pianists. His two-piano partners have included Kendall Feeney, Jody Graves, and Barbara Miller. In his most recent collaboration, he performed Beethoven's 4-hand arrangement of the Grosse Fuge with Christopher O'Riley for the Northwest Bach Festival. He is a piano instructor at GonzagaUniversity.

Concertgoers can access new Interactive Program Notes, now available for each of the concerts in the Classics series on the Spokane Symphony website. These notes include audio clips from the music and a pop-up glossary of musical terms to enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the concerts. Notes for this concert can be accessed at http://www.spokanesymphony.org/notes/classics10.htm

Tickets for either performance are $22, $32, $40, and $44. Tickets are available in advance at the Box Office, located at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.spokanesymphony.org Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets.

CALENDAR LISTING:

Entangled by Passion, Classics Concert; Eckart Preu conducts the Spokane Symphony; Saturday, May 1 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 2 at 3 p.m. in Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. Tickets are $22 to $44; tickets are available by calling the Box Office at (509) 624-1200 or in person at Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague; tickets are also available at www.spokanesymphony.org and through all TicketsWest outlets.