Sitka Music Festival - Alaska Airlines’ Winter Classics

Join the Sitka Music Festival for Alaska Airlines’ Winter Classics 2024. Three nights of music at University of Alaska Anchorage Recital Hall with three different artists. A series not to be missed.

Friday, February 9^th  at 7 p.m. – Zuill Bailey, cello with Timothy Smith, piano
Saturday, February 10^th at 7 p.m.– Danielle Talamantes, soprano
Sunday, February 11^th at 4 p.m. – Hermitage Piano Trio

Artist Bios Below

Hermitage Piano Trio -

Now entering their second decade, the United States-based Hermitage Piano Trio has solidified its place as one of the world’s leading piano trios, garnering multiple GRAMMY® Award nominations and receiving both audience and press accolades for their performances that The Washington Post singled out for “such power and sweeping passion that it left you nearly out of breath.”

The Trio is a champion of immense repertoire ranging from the works of the great European tradition to more contemporary American pieces.  Hallmarks of the Hermitage Piano Trio are their impeccable musicianship, sumptuous sound and interpretative range, which have led to demand for many repeat performances.  They have appeared on major chamber music series and festivals in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Washington, D.C., Tucson, Portland (OR), Tulsa, San Diego, Corpus Christi, Newport (RI), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Winnipeg (Canada), New Orleans, and many others.  In addition to their extensive touring engagements, the Trio is involved in educational and outreach projects.

Hermitage Piano Trio began its multiple-album recording deal with Reference Recordings, debuting its CD titled “Rachmaninoff,” which featured Sergei Rachmaninoff’s two trios and his unforgettable Vocalise.  Echoing many enthusiastic reviews of the “Rachmaninoff” recording, The Stradlauded the Trio’s “outstanding playing in intense, heartfelt performances,” and American Record Guide praised that “the Hermitage wants to burst forth with passion, to let the whole world know!  I am really glad that someone can still play that way in our utterly unromantic age.”  Their second album “Spanish Impressions,” released in September 2023, has the Trio exploring the rich and diverse musical heritage of early 20^th century Spanish composers, including works by Arbós, Turina, Cassadó and Perelló.

”More striking even than the individual virtuosity was the profound level of integration among the players, who showed a rare degree of ensemble from beginning to end. 

- The Washington Post

A rarity in the chamber music world, this elite Trio brings together three accomplished soloists in their own right. An established soloist, violinist Misha Keylin has performed in forty-five countries spanning five continents. He has captured special attention with his world-premiere CD series, released by Naxos, of Henri Vieuxtemps seven violin concertos and showpieces. These recordings have already sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide and have garnered numerous press accolades and awards, including “Critic’s Choice” by The New York Times, Gramophone, and The Strad.  Hailed as “a brilliant cellist” by the legendary Mstislav Rostropovich, Sergey Antonov went on to prove his mentor’s proclamation when he became one of the youngest cellists ever awarded the gold medal at the world’s premier musical contest, the quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Competition. Antonov’s entry into this elite stratum of sought-after classical artists has already placed him on stages at world-renowned venues from Russia’s Great Hall at the Moscow Conservatory to Suntory Hall in Tokyo. And pianist Ilya Kazantsev, praised by The Washington Post as “virtually flawless,” has performed as a recitalist and a soloist with orchestras in Russia, Canada, Europe, and the United States. Mr. Kazantsev’s many awards and honors include first prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Competition (France) as well as top prizes at the International Chopin Competition (Russia) and the World Piano Competition (USA).

Danielle Talamantes –

“It’s not often that an operagoer is fortunate enough to witness the birth of a star!,” noted of Soprano Danielle Talamantes’ recent turn as Violetta in La Traviata with Hawaii Opera Theatre. Last season she made her Washington National Opera début as Maria Hernández in Kamal Sankaram’s Rise as part of their production Written in Stone, returned to her signature role as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème with Jacksonville Symphony and three world premiers: Mosaic for Earth by composer Dwight Bigler at her Alma Mater, Virginia Tech, the rhapsody written for Talamantes and orchestra based on T.S. Eliot’s iconic poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock with the National Philharmonic, and the stunning choral cantata Kohelet with the Washington Master Chorale and Santa Clara Master Chorale; the latter two works by acclaimed composer Henry Dehlinger. The conclusion of the season was with the Fairfax Symphony in the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and a debut as guest soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic. 

This season’s engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Ginastera’s Milena with the National Philharmonic, Verdi’s Requiem with the Pensacola Symphony and the NC Master Chorale, Britten’s War Requiem with Opera Roanoke, Handel’s Messiah with The US Naval Academy, as well as concerts with Lyric Fest, Choralis, and the Artist Series of Sarasota. 

Recent seasons performances include Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen and Anna in Verdi’s Nabucco with The Metropolitan Opera, Beatrice in Catán’s Il postino with VA Opera, Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Princeton Festival; Violetta in La traviata with Hawaii Opera Theater, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and Finger Lakes Opera, Mimì in La bohème with St Petersburg (FL) Opera and Jacksonville Symphony; the title role of Susannah with Opera Roanoke; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Cedar Rapids Opera Theater; and a Spoleto Festival USA début as Sergente in Cavalli’s Veremonda. 

Professional recordings include At That Hour: Art Songs by Henry Dehlinger on the Avie Record Label; Canciones españolas and Heaven and Earth: A Duke Ellington Songbook on the MSR Classics label.

Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher.  His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought after and active cellists today.

Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide.  He won the Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017, for his recording of  Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” with the Nashville Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero.  His extensive discography includes his newest release – the world premier recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021 he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.

He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” and has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s  “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,” and his latest disc of Bach Suites was the disc of the week on Sirius’ Symphony Hall.

Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni, and received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School.  He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.

He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington),  Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center (Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Friday, February 9
7 p.m. – Zuill Bailey, cello & Timothy Smith, piano

Kol Nidrei, Op. 47
Max Bruch (1838 – 1920)

Cello Concerto
Édouard Lalo (1823 – 1892)

Cello Concerto No. 1
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906 – 1975)

Saturday, February 10
7 p.m. – Danielle Talamantes, soprano

Selections of French chanson
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
Aprés un Rêve
Chanson d’Amour
En Sourdine

Tres arias
Joaquín Turina (1882 - 1949)
Romance
El pescador
Rima

 Selections from Ten Poems of James Joyce
Henry Dehlinger (1966 - )
Strings in the Earth and Air
Alone
At That Hour

Selections from Moments in Sonder
Elizabeth Brittany Boykin (1989 - ), poetry by Maya Angelou
Tears
Passing Time
How Can I Lie to You
The Lesson

 Selections from the American Songbook
Duke Ellington (1899 - 1974)
Solitude
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
Sentimental Mood

Sunday, February 11
4 p.m. – Hermitage Piano Trio

Trio in G minor “Elégiaque”
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943)

 Élégie, Op 23
Josef Suk (1874 – 1935)

 Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Ludvig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Perelló – Tres Impresiones
Mariano Parelló (1886 – 1960)

 Trio in C
Gaspar Cassado (1897 – 1966)