Classical, Ballet on North Shore

from July 20 - August 2, 2022

Truckee Pioneer Albert Johnson

BY SEAN MCALINDIN

Check Off #95 Tahoe Summer bucket list at TheTahoeWeekly.com on our ultimate

LEFT: Ashley Bouder at Lake Tahoe Dance Festival | Erin Baiano, Lake Tahoe Dance Festival RIGHT: Tessa Lark combines Appalachian folk music and classical technique with astounding precision and personality. | Lauren Desberg, Classical Tahoe

High art is on in stereo in North Lake Tahoe with performances for Classical Tahoe and Lake Tahoe Dance Festival. On July 22, conductor Jonathan Darlington leads the Classical Tahoe Orchestra in the world premiere of “Lake Tahoe Symphonic Reflections.” The composition by Jake Heggie was written to celebrate the life and honor the memory of Joel Revzen, Classical Tahoe’s founding artistic director who died from Covid-19 in 2020. A moving tribute is followed by two classic pieces, Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 1” and Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D Major” featuring groundbreaking soloist Tessa Lark and her Giovanni Paolo Maggini violin circa 1600. Lark has been making waves in the music world through her collaborations with the leading luminaries of bluegrass. A teaser of her duo with renowned double bassist Edgar Meyer on the upcoming “The Stradgrass Sessions” is already a crossover hit. Born and raised in Kentucky, Lark picked up a mandolin at age 4. Her Lars Lubovitch. Special guests include Kristina Berger, Ashley Bouder, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Ethan Price, Stephen Hanna, Holly Curran, Lloyd Knight, Indiana Woodward and Kate Loxtercamp. The festival begins with the Gala Opening Night Celebration where audiences will enjoy a silent auction with food and wine and a presentation from the Washo Tribe performing the Ceremonial Round Dance before the evening’s lineup. The program comprises a variety of dance styles, pairing seminal works from the past with the freshest commissions being created today. “When we founded the festival, we felt strongly about programming performances in a way that would be universally accessible,” says director Christin Hanna. “Showing an evening where each work is dramatically different from the next helps to educate new audiences, as well as provide a treat to dance fans.” Portions of the event will also be available on the website from July 30 to Aug. 2. | laketahoedancecollective.org n

childhood violin teacher sprinkled selections from The Fiddle Club amidst Suzuki training exercises. Her unmistakable understanding of rhythm and phrasing offers a remarkable soulfulness to her 2019 breakout LP “Fantasy.” “In classical, it’s almost always written down, so you can do a lot of prep in advance,” she says. “Of course, there’s the nuance of how you play it. In bluegrass music, a lot of the notes are being determined in the rehearsal. Sometimes there is cowriting that happens in the room. There is a lot more improvisation from the foundation in bluegrass music, depending on what region or training you come from.” The 43-minute “Violin Concerto in D” is a standard, yet famously difficult, test piece for every aspiring violinist and Lark knows it well. “I can’t imagine being a violinist without the Tchaikovsky concerto,” she says. “It’s like the anthem for solo violinists. I’ve been in love with it for so long. It’s never going to get old to me.” To an artist such as herself, it’s all just music. “It’s pretty common knowledge that a lot of folks are over the term ‘genre’ or even ‘crossover,’” she says. “If genre has to exist, it’s more about where a musician’s center of gravity is than some predetermined genre from marketers. We listen and live in music in a similar way. Our priorities are similar. Our output and sound are similar. In that way, there shouldn’t have even been a bridge. It’s land that got flooded over time and now we need to bring a bridge.” Other highlights for this year’s performances include “A Night of Opera” with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard on July 29 and “Emporium” and “Boléro & Blue” featuring Cuban pianist Aldo López-Gavilán on Aug. 5 and 6. Several performances will be filmed and livestreamed by PBS Reno. | classicaltahoe. org

Ballet on the water

Lake Tahoe Dance Collective presents the 10th annual Lake Tahoe Dance Festival from July 27 to 29 at venues in Tahoe City and Truckee with works by George Balanchine, Erick Hawkins, Constantine Baecher and