Music and theater are still blooming in Duluth as we move deeper into August. Hundreds of blues fans migrated to our bayfront for this year’s 27th annual Bayfront Blues Festival. I am not a strong fan of the blues genre, although I can frequently hear the bands pretty clearly from my rear balcony. I enjoyed reading reviews by a fan who knows what seems exciting and what seems artificial. Then I can go visit Youtube presentations and sample the music from home.

Chicago-Based Disaster Now A Newly Staged Musical

Renegade Theater Company has just opened the new musical based on the 1915 Chicago tragedy of the Eastland,  a ship that turned on its side while loading for a celebrated company party, killing hundreds of men, women, and children. The play runs August 13 - 15, and 20 - 22, with all shows starting at 8pm.

A Fresh Collection Of Lake Superior Poetry

Holy Cow! Press is releasing a new collection of poetry connected closely to Lake Superior this August. The Zeitgeist Arts Cafe will host the celebration on Sunday, August 23, from 3 - 5pm. Sara Thomsen will sing, several poets will share from the collection, Amethyst and Agate, and the event is free and open to the public.

Last Classical Orchestral Concert Of The Summer
 
On Friday evening, August 7, I chose to attend the summer classical concert by the Northshore Philharmonic Orchestra at Fregeau Auditorium on the Marshall School campus. Music Director Tracey Gibbens brought together a wide variety of musicians, young and mature, stretching from the Twin Ports to the Iron Range. They had performed at the MN Discovery Center in Chisholm on Thursday, so they were energized and came on strong Friday night.
I was attracted by a couple of works on the program. A Viola Concerto from 1774 by the Mannheim-born composer Carl Stamitz is not something I get to hear live very often. Hannah Swanson, a Duluth born and musically trained violist, offered the rich, melodic solo part. Though Swanson works as an occupational therapist now, she continues to spend considerable time with her music-making. This three-movement work was a crowd pleaser, and reminded me that many of the Mannheim School of musicians continue to sparkle after two hundred forty years.
The center-piece on the concert was the four movement Symphony # 3 by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931). This  Sinfonia espansiva from 1910 secured the international reputation of Nielsen, though his music is not heard very frequently in the Twin Ports. The driving energy of the opening movement was calmed by the lyrical andante, featuring soprano Amanda Hauta and baritone Eric Meyer singing wordless melodies over the top of the orchestra.
The scherzo allowed the wind players to share rustic Danish melodies, while the final movement was an expansive hymn to work and healthy living. Thanks to Gibbens and the orchestra for sharing this magnificent symphony with Duluth for the first time since January 20, 1979.  On that date, DSSO conductor Taavo Virkhaus gave its only other local performance.
Meanwhile, look for the Overture to Nielsen’s opera Maskarade, which appears on the November 14, 2015 concert by the DSSO, led by current Music Director Dirk Meyer. And don’t forget to keep voting online for DSSO Bridge Sessions bands to join with the orchestra in creating new kinds of music for our listening enrichment. Voting continues through August 31, 2015.