(gentle music) (upbeat orchestral music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by NorthWestern Energy, the energy delivery business of NorthWestern Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that is a leading provider of energy and communication services and solutions to millions of customers across America.

Additional support for this program is provided by the Friends of Montana PBS and through annual financial contributions to your local PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(gentle orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) - [Announcer] Over the last half century, the dream of making symphonic music in the magnificent state of Montana has taken form in what have become Montana's seven regional orchestras.

Today, that history culminates in the yearly presentation of the Montana Summer Symphony.

As Monte Dolack's posters for the Summer Symphony Concert so aptly show, the grandeur of nature and the power of the arts are one in the human spirit, from concept to performance.

Here then is the music of Montana, the Montana Summer Symphony.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Montana Broadcaster's and our host for this evening's concert, Vic Miller.

(audience applauding) - Thank you very much.

Good evening and welcome to the fifth annual Montana Summer Symphony.

The Summer Symphony has become a tradition for the state, showcasing Montana's best orchestral musicians and their conductors, celebrating the music of the west.

Now, this unique event brings together nearly 100 musicians from Corvallis to Billings, from Whitefish to Whitehall, and everywhere in between.

As always, the Carroll College campus provides a beautiful setting, so we invite you to sit back and enjoy these great Montana artists, conductors, and musicians alike for a night of musical magic.

Once again, welcome to the 2002 Montana Summer Symphony.

(audience applauding) - I've played violin for almost 50 years, and playing the violin has been a big part of my life, or playing any instrument has been a stress relief.

Especially in this life with ups and downs, it's a really constructive way of expressing emotions and expressing yourself with the ups and downs in life and in the world today.

- Normally orchestral musicians are plugged in to large metropolitan areas, so I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to exist and play great orchestral literature and chamber music in such a pristine environment as Montana offers.

- [Announcer] Please welcome John Zoltek, Music Director and Conductor of the Glacier Orchestra and Chorale and the Summer Symphony Artistic Director for our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner."

(audience applauding) (patriotic orchestral music) (patriotic orchestral music continues) (patriotic orchestral music continues) (plane engines roaring) (audience applauding) A big thank you to our F-16 pilots, Major John Wynn, Colonel Michael J. McDonald of the 120th Fighter Wing of the Montana Air National Guard, based at the Great Falls International Airport, (audience applauding) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music) (fluttering orchestral music) (fluttering orchestral music continues) (fast-paced orchestral music) (fast-paced orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) (fast-paced orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) (audience applauding) John Zoltek now conducts the Montana Summer Symphony performing John Williams' "Theme to the Patriot" as we salute our armed forces and the men and women of the Montana National Guard who support them.

(dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) - My name is Colette Tihista-Longin.

I love playing for the Great Falls Symphony.

One of the things I find most exciting about playing for the Montana Summer Symphony is playing for all the different conductors around the state.

They're all wonderful, and it is truly challenging to play for them and see how they interpret the music and try to give it back to them.

- Being a musician is a way of life.

I teach music in the Great Falls Public Schools, and I played in the Great Falls Symphony, both for 11 years, and teach music privately, and I'm raising a future musician.

- [Announcer] As we gaze back on Lewis and Clark's American-Indian guide Sacajawea, the Montana Summer Symphony performs "Bird Woman," a composition by Native Montanan Daniel Bukvich.

Please welcome as conductor, the Music Director of the Great Falls Symphony, Gordon Johnson.

(audience applauding) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) (dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) - I fell in love with timpani, really, back in high school.

I had a chance to study with Mr.

Floyd Duff of the Cleveland Orchestra, who recently has passed away, but is truly one of the phenomenal timpani legends, performing and educating, in the the 20th century, and just was a tremendous influence with me on that instrument.

I enjoy playing percussion and timpani with the Bozeman Symphony and the Montana Summer Symphony.

Living in Bozeman, I am very fortunate to be able to do all of the different things I've always dreamed about being able to do, perform, teach, compose, and have all of those different creative outlets in one place.

- I have watched the Bozeman Symphony grow and become a better and better orchestra with the presence of Matthew Savery conducting.

I just feel so lucky to be part of a group that has become so good.

I think the whole orchestra overall feels that way and I really can't imagine living in Bozeman, Montana without being part of the Bozeman Symphony.

- [Announcer] Running with the wild horses of the Prior Mountains, the Montana Summer Symphony performs Thomas Newman's "Themes from the Horse Whisperer."

Please welcome as conductor, the Music Director of the Bozeman Symphony, Matthew Savery.

(audience applauding) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) Matthew Savery now conducts the Montana Summer Symphony performing Morton Gould's "Cowboy Rhapsody" as we salute the Montana tradition of high school rodeo events.

(upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) (upbeat orchestral music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by NorthWestern Energy, the energy delivery business of NorthWestern Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that is a leading provider of energy and communication services and solutions to millions of customers across America.

Additional support for this program is provided by the Friends of Montana PBS and through annual financial contributions to your local PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat orchestral music) - For the past four years, the Montana Summer Symphony has featured many of the state's finest musicians, conductors, and artists.

This is my first year playing with the Montana Summer Symphony, and I'm honored and really very excited to participate in this event alongside Philip Aaberg.

He is a native Montanan, having grown up in Chester, Montana, up on the High Line, and his music reflects his love of the Montana landscape and way of life.

Philip Aaberg is this year's Montana Summer Symphony guest artist, and he will be featured later in tonight's program.

Eric Funk is a longtime friend of Philip and visited with him this spring about his music and about how growing up in Montana continues to influence his work.

(gentle piano music) - [Philip] Certainly up here on the High Line, there's a big sense of aloneness 'cause you are alone.

I mean, there's not many people around, and even moreso when you go outside of town.

You can walk around, and I think that is why I feel so good when I come back to this country.

Almost, it feels like a trout coming back to the spawning grounds.

I mean, it's just that deep and that real for me to come back up here, it's a physical feeling.

I come over the mountains and I come down into this country and I just start breathing better and I start feeling better.

When I started writing this music, I thought, "Well, it's not gonna mean anything to anybody," 'cause we're such an isolated group of people up here, and the music that I'm writing is very stretched out in terms of its rhythm, long rhythms, long times where nothing happens.

Big, wide chords, a lot of slow tempos.

- [Eric] Many people living in the more urban areas of our world long for the open spaces and the tranquility it offers.

Composers like Phil are listeners.

They listen to their environment and sometimes reflect it in their music.

- You know, going back to the music that comes from here, when sounds happen, it's a different environment they happen in.

When you hear that train coming from a long distance away, it's not as if it just rounded the corner in the city and hit the crossing.

You know it's coming from a long ways away.

You hear it going a long ways away.

So it's a different kind of event, and you change the music as that event changes, and it takes quite a while to change.

So that's some of the stuff that I work on as a composer.

You'll set up a rhythm that... (upbeat piano music) which is really static, but yet within that rhythm, there's many different ways to count it.

You could... (upbeat piano music) And just the fifth itself is the most common interval in the world, so you can build a lot of stuff with that.

But also, for me, when I started doing that, I was thinking about a storm that I saw in Chester, just coming from a long distance away.

(upbeat piano music) So there's a progression, it's still the same, but it gets closer to you and you can change it.

So it's a different kind of music, different kind of feeling that hopefully puts you in a place.

(upbeat piano music) Well, my window, of course, on the professional world was Margaret Ott, Spokane, who was my teacher in high school, and I'd hop on the train and drive, what was it, 600 miles, something like that, to Spokane every other week and study with her.

And her experience was as a Julliard student, and later, a Julliard teacher.

She was the assistant to Olga Samaroff Stakowski, who, of course, studied with people who studied with Franz Liszt, so there's that whole train back of influences.

So she knew what she was talking about and she really opened things up for me.

- Well, I think he's one of the few people that's been able to keep up both his classical training technique and his ability to play gorgeously.

There aren't too many kids that are still able to play, if they go into jazz also.

Most of 'em, not all, but a lot of them end up that's all they can play anymore, but not Phil.

He has kept all these things moving together and developing together.

(upbeat piano music) - [Eric] In addition to his notoriety as a composer and pianist performing his own music, Phil has also made quite a name for himself in the rock music scene, playing with some well-known greats.

- This is Elvin Bishop, that was the first big band I toured with, and did maybe did six or seven record, albums.

Those days, they were albums, LPs.

And that was one of my childhood dreams, and I actually co-wrote one of the hits that was played on the radio.

That was a thrill to hear, but the biggest one that we had was we recorded in Miami, and just to go in and you play this tune, and all of a sudden, you just know... (gentle piano music) And that was just the piano part, but just to get to start it out like that, and you're in the studio and you hear this stuff and everybody's put their parts down and you hear it and you say, "Well, I don't know if anybody else is gonna like it, but that sounds really good."

It was "Fooled Around and Fell in Love."

It was Elvin Bishop, was number two or number three hit in the country, and of course, that was all over the radio.

I got called by the pointer sisters, Alice Cooper, Steve Miller, and Peter Gabriel.

And I just thought, "Hmm, well, that's a really nice choice to have," and I heard Peter's music and so I toured with him, and that was another turning point for me, I think, basically because Peter was a man who had a really unique vision of his music.

It didn't really fit into any categories.

I mean, he's had big hits, but it didn't really fit anywhere.

The thing that inspired me, I guess, was that idea of taking a unique vision, taking your beliefs in your own music and going with it in spite of what the currents were.

And it inspired me so much, I quit playing with him.

He asked me to go on tour and I said no, 'cause I realized that it was probably a really good gig to be playing with Peter Gabriel, but if I did it, I would just be putting it off, putting my own development as a composer and as a unique musician off.

- [Eric] Phil's gift of teaching and his love of interaction with students led to a recent lecture concert, where he revealed his personal thoughts on music's role in the world.

(gentle piano music) - They had an essential question every year, and their essential question for that year was, "How do we attain world peace?"

So I got up there, "Playing the piano," and the kids said, "How?

You're gonna talk about world peace and you're a musician and playing the piano."

So we went into that very thing.

I played them a tape that was about 10 minutes long, and I had them listen, and I took stuff from all over the world, and then I asked them how it made them feel.

Some of it made them feel angry, some of them made it feel good, some of it they didn't like.

And I said, "Well, this is pretty much the way the world is," so I think that is one way.

If you can see past the stupid commercial boundaries in music, you maybe can see past the stupid political boundaries in the world.

(gentle piano music) - I think that it's wonderful for Phil and I think it's wonderful for Montana to have each other, and I think that there aren't too many of young men and young artists who have this devotion to their state and to where they grew up and all that kind of stuff, because there's a special quality that you love about a person who loves to go back home and play for his friends.

(gentle piano music) (upbeat orchestral music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by NorthWestern Energy, the energy delivery business of NorthWestern Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that is a leading provider of energy and communication services and solutions to millions of customers across America.

Additional support for this program is provided by the Friends of Montana PBS and through annual financial contributions to your local PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat orchestral music) - [Announcer] The Montana Summer Symphony now continues with more music reflecting our love of this great state, her unique people, and our magnificent landscape.

- Last year was my first experience playing with the Montana Summer Symphony.

On one side of me was my former middle school band director, and behind him was the guy who handed me my first trumpet when I was in fourth grade, and on the other side of me was my first trumpet teacher, so I think that that's what I really enjoy about it, is seeing everybody who has had an effect on your life musically.

Maybe someday I'll be sitting next to one of my students.

- Well, some people say that the cello is the closest sounding instrument to the human voice, and I ended up playing the cello because it was my grandma's favorite instrument and I tried it, and the rest is history.

- [Announcer] A playful romp with the otters of Yellowstone National Park accents the Montana Summer Symphony's performance of Victor Herbert's "Al Fresco."

Please welcome as conductor, the Music Director of the Missoula Symphony, Joseph Henry.

(audience applauding) (fast-paced orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) (dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) - Hi, my name is Gayla Bradberry and I'm from Billings.

I play violin in the Billings Symphony, and that's my fun job.

My real job is I work for Billings Public Schools at Billings Senior High.

I'm the Technology Integration Specialist.

Well, the Western style of music is maybe a little lighter than the heavy classical works that we might do in our own cities for our season, but it celebrates the mountains and the plains and the pioneers and all the things that we love in the West, and so that's what's really fun about the Summer Symphony is going there and kind of looking back at some of the movies that concentrate on those sorts of things, and just being a Westerner, really.

- The repertoire of the Symphony Orchestra gives any exclamations or declamations to the brass section, and so when there's something to be said and to be said very prominently, usually a brass player's going to say it in the music.

- [Announcer] In this performance of Leroy Anderson's "The Phantom Regiment," the Montana Summer Symphony pays tribute to the Black Bicycle Corps of America's 25th Infantry and it's grueling 1897 Trek all the way from Missoula, Montana to St.

Louis, Missouri.

Please welcome as conductor, the Music Director of the Billings Symphony, Uri Barnea.

(audience applauding) (dramatic orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) Uri Barnea now conducts the Montana Summer Symphony performing "Roundup" by another Montana composer, Scott Billadeau of Missoula.

(upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) Uri Barnea now conducts Elmer Bernstein's "Suite" from the film "True Grit."

This performance is dedicated to the memory of John Wayne, possibly the most beloved film actor of all time and the living personification of true grit.

(dramatic orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (triumphant orchestral music) (audience applauding) - The thing I particularly value about being in the Helena Symphony, the thing that really sticks out is the way the children respond.

I even know one little boy who really has trouble sitting still, and he sat there for two solid hours, just entranced with the music.

It obviously impacted his brain, his whole soul.

- Drums are usually a real vibrant, exciting thing, and they can be delicate, but it's fun to really lay it out for the people.

I've invited people to come to the symphony that have never come before, and they've come and they've just said, "I never knew that anything like that could be so exhilarating."

- [Announcer] Please welcome Eric Funk as he conducts the Montana Summer Symphony and the finale to Rossini's "William Tell Overture."

(audience applauding) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding) Ladies and gentlemen, the 2002 Montana Summer Symphony is proud to present our guest artist, a Grammy-nominated pianist, composer, and world-class keyboardist.

Please welcome Montana's own Philip Aaberg.

(audience applauding) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle piano music) (audience applauding) (fast-paced piano music) (fast-paced piano music continues) (fast-paced piano music continues) (fast-paced piano music continues) (fast-paced piano music continues) (fast-paced piano music continues) (fast-paced piano music continues) (audience applauding and cheering) (dramatic piano music) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding and cheering) Presenting the 2002 Montana Summer Symphony.

Let's show them our appreciation.

(audience applauding and cheering) John, how about an encore?

(audience applauding and cheering) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding and cheering) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (upbeat orchestral music continues) (audience applauding and cheering) Many thanks to all our Montana conductors.

(audience applauding and cheering) Now, please join me in recognizing our seven symphonies as we ask them to stand individually: members of the Billings Symphony; (audience applauding and cheering) members of the Bozeman Symphony; (audience applauding and cheering) members of the Butte Symphony; (audience applauding and cheering) members of the Glacier Orchestra; (audience applauding and cheering) members of the Great Falls Symphony; (audience applauding and cheering) members of the Missoula Symphony; (audience applauding and cheering) and finally, our members of the Helena Symphony.

(audience applauding and cheering) Once again, let's show them our appreciation.

(audience applauding and cheering) Now, finally, we celebrate with fireworks all the men and women who've made possible the 2002 Montana Summer Symphony.

(audience applauding and cheering) (dramatic orchestral music) (fireworks popping) (fireworks popping) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (fireworks continue popping) (upbeat orchestral music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided by NorthWestern Energy, the energy delivery business of NorthWestern Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that is a leading provider of energy and communication services and solutions to millions of customers across America.

Support for this program is also provided by Carroll College, proud to host the fifth Montana Summer Symphony on its historical campus in Helena, Montana.

With a nationally recognized academic program and faculty, Carroll's Private College offers enormous opportunities to students in the Pacific Northwest.

Carroll College, you can expect more, a lot more.

Additional support for this program is provided by the Friends of Montana PBS and through annual financial contributions to your local PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.

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