Tag: Seldovia Arts Council
Herrick – Telly Award winning Band is coming to Seldovia!
by Jenny Chissus
I had a great opportunity to meet with Donna Herrick on the phone the other day regarding their upcoming concert here in Seldovia on the 20th. We enjoyed a conversation regarding her excitement about coming to Alaska, and all the things that she is looking forward to while she’s here. Donna is most excited about meeting her fans in the great state of Alaska! Herrick was in Alaska three years ago and they are excited to be coming back! She said “Jenny, I can’t wait to breathe in the fresh air and be in the open environment of Alaska! I love the camping/roughing it experience – so coming to Seldovia, a remote place in Alaska is super appealing!” The band will also get a chance to go halibut fishing and is looking forward to the opportunity to be on the water and see the wildlife in our area, they are hoping that their drummer, Jeff “Bradshaw” doesn’t get seasick on this trip!
When I asked Donna how she got started singing, she said that it all started in Southern Gospel music. One of the greatest things was the crowd in Gospel was so gracious, it was a very safe environment to learn and grow and develop her skills. Donna mentioned that when she was young you could never have seen her on stage at all, but with the gospel music crowd who was so accepting, it was a great way to ” cut her teeth”, before she went to Nashville and started writing music.
The band is made up of four individuals: Donna and her husband Kerry, Jeff “Bradshaw” the drummer and Jefferson Rogers on guitar. Donna expressed with enthusiasm that this is her best team ever ! She and her husband have been together 12 years and had various support band members. “Often a band may work really great together, musically, but for every hour on stage they have 23 Continue Reading
Madison String Quartet
by Suzie Stranik
Looking back at a wonderful evening with the Madison String Quartet; if you missed this, you missed something really special. This event of the Seldovia Arts Council was actually a fund raiser for the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra (KPO). This was the sixth year the quartet has traveled from New Jersey to perform with and do workshops for the KPO. It was a sold out concert from Homer
to the SVT conference center, beginning with sparkling cider and appetizers. The Homer guests arrived via the Seldovia Bay Ferry’s evening run. The Seldovia Bay Ferry was chartered to take everyone back to Homer after the concert. Forty Seldovians also attended the concert and partook of the refreshments. The music was spellbinding, the view incredible, and the food fantastic.
We hope this will become an annual event. Many thanks to the chairs Tania Spurkland and Suzie Stranik for organizing the event and Laurel Hilts for jumping in last minute with the final details. 
A big thank you to our sous chefs and servers, Felicia Rowland, Darlene Crawford, Mary Anne Driscoll, and Margie McCord as well as our oyster shuckers Mike Webber and Tobben Spurkland.
Madison String Quartet Performs Sunday in Seldovia
by Tania Spurkland
The Madison String Quartet will play in Seldovia on Sunday, August 4th as part of the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra Summer Music Festival. There will be a pre-concert reception beginning at 7:30 pm on the Seldovia Village Tribe deck. Champagne and hors d’oeurves will be served. The concert will begin at 8:30 pm at the SVT Conference Center. The Madison String Quartet concert is made possible with funding by Rasmuson Foundation through the Harper Arts Touring Fund, and is administered, under contract, by the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
The Madison String Quartet, praised for its energetic performances and inventive programming, is bringing a new side of classical music to the New York metropolitan area and Seldovia, AK. Drawing on the international experience of its members, the Quarter “has carved a niche out for themselves by exploring Hispanic literature from both sides of the Atlantic” (Paul Somers, Classical New Jersey). The Quartet is involved in blurring the line between performer and audience, creating a comfortable performance atmosphere for masterworks from past and present. The Madison String Quartet is essential listening.
The Quartet’s 2004 recording, Life is a Dream, was received with rave reviews, and displays the eclectic programming that has become its hallmark. It included the world premiere of pieces by award-winning composers Miguel del Aguila and Dave Rimelis, as well as quartets by Silvestre Revurltas and Peter Schickele. In addition to championing Latin works, the Quartet has also collaborated with many composers in its home state of New Jersey, including Dale Trumbore, Paul Moravec, and Charles Griffin. New York-based poet Kate Light has worked with the MSQ to present her collection “Einstein’s Mozart”, a performance including poems from her book intertwining the two mens’ lives and work.
Since 2008, the MSQ has been quartet-in-residence at the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra Summer Music Festival in Alaska. In 2012, the Quartet was presented at the Museum of the City of New York by Musica de Cámara, highlighting the quartet by 19th-century Venezuelan composer Teresa Carreño. Highlights of recent seasons include a performance at Carnegie Hall of Imitación Serial para Cuerdas by composer Modesta Bor, as well as engagements with several chamber series, including the Friends of Westchester, Mozart and Friends in Princeton, and the Rhinebeck Chamber Series. In Rhinebeck, the Quartet gave “a mesmerizing performance of Schubert’s ‘Death of the Maiden’ a quartet the house listened to like a story heretofore untold” (Kitty Montgomery, Kingston Daily Freeman).
Seldovia Time
