Classical Tuesdays in Old Town begins with visit to India

SRIVANI JADE

The Old Town Business and Professional Association is bringing free monthly concerts back to North Tacoma again this year. The fourth annual Classical Tuesdays in Old Town runs October-February on the second Tuesday of each month at Slavonian Hall, offering a wide variety of classic chamber music that will appeal to people of all ages.

“The point is to draw audiences to the Old Town district on quiet nights and also to develop a sense of community,” said Pamela Ryker, artistic director for the association and a flutist with a special love for chamber music and new music as well. “We try to represent a variety of classical chamber music. I encourage [the performers] to select pieces they like, and I also make recommendations on the theme or shape I’d like their concerts to take.”

Made possible by local businesses in Old Town, Connelly Law Offices, Tacoma Power, Tacoma Arts Commission, and Slavonian American Benevolent Society, Classical Tuesdays in Old Town are as much a relaxed social event as they are a chance to hear some of our area’s most accomplished musicians. “We keep an informal atmosphere, and performers talk to the audience,” Ryker said. After the concerts, a coffee hour (courtesy of Starbucks) is held where the musicians can mingle with the guests.

A hallmark of this event is that all the performers are local players from Tacoma and the South Sound region. “The performers are very happy to play in this series and proud of it,” Ryker noted

The series begins Oct. 14 with 19th century North Indian classical music. Srivani Jade will be the featured performer, accompanied by tabla, harmonium and tanpura. She will present music from different parts of North India through songs and styles that are traditional and retain distinct regional flavors. For example, some of the pieces she will play are those inspired by camel drivers’ songs from the desert regions of Northwest India and the Punjab to the hilly Pahadi regions of the northeast.

Jade is a North Indian classical singer and composer. She lives and teaches in Kirkland. She has performed on stage, radio and television in India from the age of five, and at venues in the United States for the last five years. Her first solo album of 16th century devotional music was released last year. For more information, visit her website at http://www.srivanijade.org.

Nov. 11 celebrates a resonance of strings with violinists Maria Sampen and Timothy Christie, both violin instructors at University of Puget Sound (UPS), with guest cellist Sally Singer from Icicle Creek Festival in Leavenworth. Part of the evening’s repertoire will include a piece called “Dragonfly Music” written by Forrest Pierce, a young, local composer, along with other 20th century pieces and some that are more traditional.

“Performers like Maria and Timothy return year after year, as they feel a rapport with the audiences” that attend the concert series, Ryker commented.

Dec. 9 will be a special concert to benefit the Classical Music in Old Town series, Italian opera sung by Charles Robert Stephens and Gino Lucchetti with UPS School of Music professor Tanya Stambuk on piano. This concert will not be at Slavonian Hall but will take place at John Connelly Law Offices, 2301 N. 30th St. Admission is $28.

It’s back to free concerts Jan. 13 for “Saxes Galore,” a performance from the all-female Just Sax quartet featuring Julie A. Bill, Stacia Rink, Sheryl Clark and Catherine Kostelecky-Roe. Just Sax has performed with Tacoma Concert Band and Tacoma Symphony, among others, and they never fail to delight audiences.

The series closes Feb. 10 on a festive note with fanfares and voluntaries from the award-winning Stadium Brass of Stadium High School. Sure to attract lots of students and their parents, young people especially are invited to this concert that will include a performance with Stadium High teachers.

Slavonian Hall, which is handicapped accessible, is located at 2306 N. 30th St. All concerts begin at 7 p.m. For more information, call (253) 752-2135 or visit http://classicaltuesdays.blogspot.com.

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