Bellingham’s concert of the century! On Sunday, June 21, 2015 at 3pm, the Bellingham Music Club (BMC) kicked-off its 100th season with a Gala Centennial Concert at Bellingham High School. A galaxy of renowned musicians from around the world, mostly BMC student award winners, performed in tribute to the club’s remarkable history. Receiving special honor was Joanne Donnellan, renowned string teacher and 1961 BMC Award winner.
The concert featured chamber works by Boccherini, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Poulenc, Ravel, Schubert and others. Among the performers gathering from across the state, the US, Canada and Europe were pianists Cole Anderson, Siyuan Li, Angelo Rondello and Madeline Slettedahl; string players, Grant Donnellan, Joanne Donnellan, Douglas Johnson, Jeffrey Carl Johnson, David Quiggle, Nick Strobel, Jonathan Thomson, Lisa D. Toner and Roman Yearian; Guitarist Albert Diaz; and vocalists Stuart Lutzenhiser, Lindsey Nakatani and Tracy R. Satterfield. They were joined by local musicians Deborah Arthur and Nirvana Guernsey.
Proceeds from the concert benefitted the BMC Student Awards program, which has been nurturing promising young musicians at Western Washington University and in Whatcom County over its 100-year history. Concert tickets were $25, available online, and at Village Books in Fairhaven and Piper Music at 2512 Meridian.
To learn more about this exceptional concert, be sure to read the CENTENNIAL Gala CONCERT VIGNETTES!
The Centennial festivities will continue throughout the 2015-16 season. We expect to engage notable BMC award alumni for all six concerts in our Night Beat series, flying them in as needed from far-flung engagements. Artists will perform a fifty-minute program Wednesday morning, and a longer version on Thursday evening for Night Beat.
There is even discussion about re-creating the very first meeting of the Bellingham Ladies’ Music Club, a members-only, tea-and-music affair given in Mrs. Larrabee’s ballroom at Lairmont Manor on Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1916. No doubt Mme. Davenport-Enberg played the violin on that occasion.