By James Day
Classical music fans in Silverton will be getting a double treat of First Friday concerts next year.
The series at the Silverton United Methodist Church is moving from once every two months to monthly starting in January.
“Our intentions have been to enrich the cultural life of Silverton through offering a venue for mostly classical performances, making high-level live music available to an audience allowed to pay as much or as little as they can or wish,” said Silverton composer and musician Christopher Wicks, who chairs the committee organizing the series.
In addition to moving the concerts to monthly, Wicks said, another “exciting development is that we have cleared the legal hurdles to begin programming copyrighted music as well as public domain works, which will allow more variety in the repertory.”
Wicks also will be a featured composer and performer during the series, with his opera Love is Strong as Death set for April, works for string quartet in July and his oratorio I Know that God Is Good: St. Theresa of Lisieux in October.
Other featured performers include violinist Marjory Lange in January, medieval multi-instrumentalist Aage Nielsen in March and Salem Philharmonia concertmaster Stephanie Barth in July and September.
Here is a look at the full schedule:
Jan. 4: Marjory Lange, violin. Music by Händel, Wicks, and Dvorak
Feb. 1: Salem String Quartet. Caius and Sigrun Opera, Brandon Correa, and Katherine Parks.
March 1: Ensemble Aalto. Aage Nielsen, historical and modern double reed instruments; Christopher Wicks, keyboards. Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, J.P. Sweelinck, and anonymous medieval composers.
April 5: Love is Strong as Death. Unstaged performance of opera composed by Christopher Wicks. Singers Alison Seeber, Aimée Amend, Bennett Bailey; Wicks at the piano.
May 3: Sara Truelove, clarinet. Music by Saint-Saëns, Donizetti, and Wicks.
June 7: John Collison, pianist and director of music at Silverton United Methodist Church, with colleagues, drawn in part from the church’s ensembles.
July 5: The Indomitable String Quartet, led by violinist Stephanie Barth, plays music by Christopher Wicks.
Aug. 2: Trio Demika. Michael Lemmers, violin; Kathy Scopacasa, cello; and Debra Huddleston, piano.
Sept. 6: Stephanie Barth, violin: concertmaster of the Salem Philharmonia. Music by Mozart and Dvorak.
Oct. 4: I Know that God Is Good: St. Theresa of Lisieux. A chamber oratorio, composed by Christopher. Wicks, with Alison Seeber, soprano, and Ellen Yager, narrator.
Nov.1: Mitch Iimori, oboist and versatile multi-instrumentalist from Portland, to premiere a new sonata and more
Dec. 6: No formal concert, but a family-friendly event to welcome the Christmas season, with a musical component.
