Bear Valley Music Festival Celebrates 40 YEars
By Buzz Eggleston
Maestro Carter Nice (center) has conducted over 200 performances of the Bear Valley Symphony and Opera Productions and this group looks forward to bringing great classical music to the audience once again.
If the words “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” or “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” start your toes tapping, you need to be in the audience Saturday night, July 26, at the start of the two-week-long Bear Valley Music Festival.
It’s the 40th anniversary of this classic music celebration, a mix of popular music and classical performed in a palace-size 1,250-seat tent set amid high Sierra pines and aspen. Entertaining for the whole family, the Festival is the summer highlight of Bear Valley Village on Ebbetts Pass, Highway 4, a National Scenic Byway.
A few hours drive through the historic Gold Country, Bear Valley Village offers access to an abundance of recreation, including hiking, biking, fishing, kayaking, swimming, boating, camping, mountaineering and just plain relaxation.
Refreshments and dinner are available at the Festival tent, in Bear Valley Village, and in nearby communities, including Dorrington, Arnold, Murphys and Angels Camp.
Yesterday, a Beatles tribute band, is bringing their Vegas show to Bear Valley.The Bear Valley Music Festival was created by and continues to be run by
dedicated volunteers. The premiere performance of the festival took place on a sunny August afternoon in the Cathedral Lounge of the Bear Valley Lodge in 1968.Proceeds, then and now, benefit the Festival and help support the Bear Valley Young Musicians Camp, which immerses students aged 11 to 17 in a weeklong musical institute.
“This year’s music offered at the festival is the best we’ve seen in many years,” said Randy Hanvelt, president of the Bear Valley Music Festival. “The performances are always top-notch, but this year’s selection can’t be beat.”
“Bear Valley Rocks” is the theme for the first week, which opens with “Oh, What a Night!” a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Succeeding evenings include “The Best of Broadway Pops,” “County Line Trio,” “Yesterday – Beatles Tribute Band,” and, at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, a free children’s concert coupled with the immensely popular “Teddy Bear Picnic.”
That evening, Aug. 2, the Bear Valley Festival Orchestra will perform “America’s Favorite Music,” featuring violinist Sandra Cameron and music by Copland, Barber, and Gershwin. Following the performance is the very lively and surprisingly fun auction and picnic style dinner.
Carter Nice will celebrate 25 years as the Festival’s Conductor and Music Director.
The music continues Aug. 3 with the Bear Valley Festival Orchestra offering “Music with a Latin Flair,” featuring Croatian guitarist Zoran Dukic. Chamber music and wine tasting is on Aug. 5.
A change of venue occurs on Wednesday, Aug. 6, when the Festival presents “Local Band Night” in the grand, but cozy Bear Valley Lodge, at the heart of Bear Valley Village. Successive nights that week, back in the tent, feature the jazz group “Hot Club of San Francisco,” returning for it’s second season; the Bear Valley Festival Orchestra with pianist Santiago Rodriquez performing top Russian hits, including Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and two of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, “Romeo and Juliet” and the ever-popular “1812 Overture.”
On Saturday, Aug. 9, the Bear Valley Festival Orchestra “Goes Hollywood” with performances of “Victory at Sea” and the theme song Bolero from the movie “10,” and the theme from “Star Wars” highlighted with a dramatic Laser Light Show.
Violinist Sandy Cameron has been delighting audiences worldwide with her impressive palette of virtuosity and utter commitment to once again make classical music fun!
The Festival concludes at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, with an “audience choice,” a selection of classics from the Festival’s 40 years of performances.
This year ticket prices have been reduced to let all enjoy this wonderful event. For those planning on attending multiple events, the best way to go is to purchase season tickets. These have been re-priced so that they’re discounted 10 percent off from the face value of individual tickets and they’re as much as $45 less than last year’s season tickets. These tickets will guarantee you the same great seat for each performance (except general admission events). Also, if you donate your unused tickets back to the Festival for resale, you will get a charitable tax deduction for the ticket, so that your ticket purchase isn’t wasted and you help the Festival at the same time. The event is also offering 200 rear orchestra and bleacher seats at rock-bottom prices: $99 for the entire festival (except opening night and the community beach barbecue).
Of course there are also discounts for children and groups. Children 5 and under (sitting on your lap), are free, while kids 6-12 with an adult are just $10 at all concerts. Teens 13-18 and students 19-22 (with student ID) get half-price tickets for mid-orchestra, rear orchestra and bleacher seats. Depending on the event, ticket prices usually will range from $20 to $70.
Also, don’t forget to take advantage of the shuttle bus service, which picks up between San Andreas and Bear Valley for only $10 round trip. It’s a great deal…go green and save on gas!
For additional details, visit www.bearvalleymusic.org or call 753-2574.
This exhilarating trip back to the early days of rock and roll features the favorites; “Walk Like A Man”, “Let’s Hang On” and “Sherrie”.
