GOING BAROQUE

Despite the high heat and continued COVID jitters, more than 300 people decided to go for "baroque" at Quinn's Hot Springs Resort last week to hear musicians of international caliber.

It was the 17th Annual Montana Baroque Music Festival. Most of the music had been composed some 400 years ago, but it's still going strong today, according to Adam LaMotte, a violinist in the festival and its artistic director. "Baroque music is very lovely and still lively," said the Portland, Oregon, resident. This year's festival was titled "The Four Seasons" to reflect the seasonal pieces of Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. 

However, LaMotte did things a bit different this year and added some first time measures, including featuring numbers that were composed well after the baroque music period and having a harmonica player added to the ensemble. Joe Powers of Portland performed two of the three evenings and quickly became an audience sensation.

"Including the harmonica gives us the opportunity to present great music outside of the baroque era," said LaMotte, who has participated in every Montana Baroque Festival since it began in 2003. It was canceled last year due to COVID. Powers was a big hit, getting standing ovations for each of his numbers, including an Argentine tango piece "Oblivion," written by Astor Piazzolla.

LaMotte started looking for alternatives when he found out Matthias Maute and his wife, Sophia Lariviere, couldn't make it because of travel restrictions from Canada. LaMotte never had a harmonica player and wanted to try it. "I'm always amazed how versatile that instrument really is," said LaMotte.

"I think he was just so amazing," said Sabrina Ludka, who grew up in Paradise, but presently lives in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. This was Ludka's first time to hear baroque period music and she's now hooked. "I just fell in love with baroque music," said Ludka, who plans to make reservations for the 2022 festival and bring her husband with her. 

"It was more whimsical this year, especially the harmonica player," said Missoula resident Lynn Poitras, who has been to the baroque festival nearly every year. "He was such a good addition," she added. People lined up each night to buy his CDs after the shows. Powers, 43, also bragged that he was the only musician that could put his instrument in his pocket.

Powers got his first harmonica at age 2, but didn't start lessons until he was 14. He decided to try baroque music on the instrument around 1998, even though the harmonica came out some 70 years after the baroque period ended. "The harmonica is a very underestimated instrument. Most people don't realize what it can do," said Powers, who would like to return for next year's festival Aug. 2, 3, and 4. LaMotte said Powers' participation added "a little spice to the whole thing."

One of the biggest differences this year was moving the event indoors to Paradise Hall to shield the audience and musicians from the heat, smoke and noise, according to Denise Moreth, the resort's general manager. The musicians and several people commented how much they liked having the concert indoors, which lasted about two hours each evening. Moreth said they might continue to hold it indoors from now on.

The group consisted of nine musicians from Portland, Seattle, and Indiana, most who have performed with the festival in the past. It included vocalist Aaron Blendulf, who gave a surprise appearance by singing a spiritual baroque piece called "An Evening Hymn." His wife, Joanna, has played the cello at the festival for the last 12 years. Aaron also volunteered to recite the four sonnets of Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" prior to the playing of the concertos on Tuesday and Thursday.

Violinist Greg Ewer of Portland returned for his 15th year. LaMotte and Ewer had gone to junior high and high school together in Houston, and also play together in the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Also returning this year was violinist Carrie Krause, a Bozeman resident and the only Montanan in the group. This is the 16th year for Victoria Gunn on the viola, but the Yamhill, Oregon, resident surprised the audience one day during intermission by performing on her nyckelharpa, a Swedish instrument she started playing two years ago. This was the first year at the festival for Andrew Harmon, who played the bass.

John Lenti of Seattle, who has performed at Quinn's for five years, gave an educational spiel on his theorbo during intermission. The string instrument, at 6-foot, 1-inch, was built in 2011 in Washington, but is a replica of one made in France in 1686. Georgeanne Pinson of Elgin, Texas, asked if he had trouble getting it in his car. He responded that while he's usually careful, he once cracked his windshield with it.

Monica Huggett, originally of Great Britain and the only other musician to perform every year at the festival, demonstrated her musical prowess on the violin once again, though the 68-year-old had to resort to larger type sheet music, due to macular degeneration. Huggett played two of three nights, performing with the entire group, as a trio and solo. Huggett gave the audience a bit of history of baroque music, its composers, and periodically poked fun at her fellow Brits. She was also one of the most animated on stage with dramatic expressions and near dance-like moves as she played. "I like getting lively up there; I feel lively. I'm a musician, but I'm also an entertainer," said Huggett.

Unlike Joanna Blendulf, who was born in Sweden and moved to the U.S. at a young age, Huggett grew up in Great Britain, moving to the States as an adult. She continues to share residency between England and Portland. As many of the other festival musicians, she started playing the violin as a youngster. She has routinely played with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, but said she's now mostly retired, though she agreed to be a part of next year's Montana Baroque Music Festival.

 The festival included work from eight baroque period composers from Italy, Germany and Austria. The baroque period went from 1600 to 1750 with Germany's Johann Sebastian Bach as arguably the most prominent composer of the period. This year, they also featured three composers from the 20th century - Ennio Morricone of Italy, Astor Piazzolla of Argentina and Carlos Gardel of France and Argentina. The compositions ranged from a Bach piece called "Little," which ran just under four minutes, to Jean Marie Leclair's "Le Tombeau, which went 15 minutes, said LaMotte, who has been a violin player for 42 years, starting at age 5.

One hundred and eight people attended the performance on Tuesday, which was called "Monica and the Four Seasons, Part 1" in honor of Huggett. Tuesday's performance had a dozen pieces, including the first two parts of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  Part 2 was performed Thursday evening and included a bit of comedic snippets when Huggett appeared from the back of the room, kicked Powers off the stage and took his place. She also feigned to fall asleep and was awakened when LaMotte tapped her on her shoulder with his violin bow.

Almost 100 people attended Wednesday's performance. LaMotte said they had more solos and duets than in the past. "I wanted to showcase the stars," said LaMotte, who did a duet with Ewer. Thursday had the biggest crowd with about 120 people. Quinn's also gave complimentary passes to 13 children from Thompson Falls' Wood Creek Academy, a private school for troubled teens.

This was the first year for the group to play a piece by Germany's Philipp Böddecker, "Sonata in D Minor," composed in 1651, and performed Tuesday by Lenti and Krause. Krause has played baroque style music for 20 years. She also had the oldest instrument with a violin made in 1740. Krause and Lenti will be giving a concert at Quinn's in November. 

This is the second year that the festival was fully funded by the resort, which used to share financial and logistical responsibilities with the Clark Fork Enrichment Corporation, a local nonprofit organization founded by former Plains resident Jean Morrison, past president of the organization, who traveled back from her home in Mexico for this year's concert. "It was fantastic," said Morrison, who started the baroque festival after a happenstance meeting with Huggett. "It was very eclectic and it was so lively," said Morrison, who especially enjoyed the harmonica inclusion. "It shows what an infinite variety of music combination," she said.

But the biggest audience acknowledgement came at the end with a special rendition of "The Orange Blossom Special" a fiddle tune written in 1938, and highlighted by Powers and Ewer. As the more than 100 members of the audience were about to exit after the group's final number, Ewer and Powers emerged from the back of the room, playing as they moved to the stage. Several of the other musicians joined in with the folk country piece while Powers enticed the audience to clap and stomp their feet, a much different reaction to the baroque brand.

LaMotte said he loves returning to Montana each year and plans to continue to do so as long as the resort wants them there. He noted that he sees some of the same faces again and again, a testimonial that baroque music continues in popularity. "It is the only place that we all gather to perform each year, and we love it," said LaMotte. "Quinn's is so hospitable and makes our time here unforgettable."