For the inaugural season of the Pass Early Music Festival, artistic director Catalina Guevara Klein has programmed an eclectic array of works by known composers such as Mozart, Handel, and the Bach family, as well as lesser known masters, including Maria Antonia of Bavaria, and an entire concert of Latin American music from the colonial period.
According to Guevara, “as musicians we look for an environment of peace which inspires us to focus on the beauty we seek in music. The Pass Early Music Festival is now our home to great music and it will become an unforgettable event, a place where the muses can finally get together to inspire others.”
Between August 11 and 17, Calgary’s Mount Parnassus Foundation is presenting the first edition of The Pass Early Music Festival at the Southminster United Church in Lethbridge, bringing to the public the music of great music masters in different styles and nationalities, all performed on period instruments. Composers from the Baroque, Renaissance, Classical, and Colonial times will be heard during the Festival’s 7 days of music.
The 2024 edition of the event is welcoming world class musicians, including French harpsichordist Béatrice Martin, Canadian violinist Marc Destrubé, as well as traverso specialist Marten Root and cellist Viola de Hoog from the Netherlands. The festival will also feature violinists Majka Demcak, Regina Yugovich, Sarah Douglass, and Julia Connor; violists Benjamin Rota and Natalia Duarte; cellists Angela Lobato and Jessica Korotkin; violonist Shanti Nachtergaele; oboist Ruth Denton; flautist Dov Houle; bassoonists Catalina Guevara Klein and Pablo Montes; guitarist Jonathan Stuchbery; and harpsichordist Christina Hutten.
Workshops are offered in Baroque Orchestra, Baroque Violin, Baroque Viola, Baroque Cello, Double Bass/Violone, Harpsichord, Traverso, Baroque Oboe, Baroque Bassoon, Baroque Guitar/Theorbo and Jazz, Fiddle & Baroque.
Special events include a concert by the the Berwick Fiddle Consort at Lost Things Distillery in Pincher Creek, and a concert by the Thaleia Quartet devoted to women composers at the Crowsnest Pass Golf Club, which will include dinner and cocktails.
