PianoFête
Vashon Center for the Arts will present PianoFête from July 6-8, showcasing four award-winning pianists performing four concerts over four Vashon summer nights. The first performance of the festival took place on July 5.
PianoFête was created in 2022 to offer Vashon Island a world-class festival of piano music in the spirit of the Gilmore, in Michigan, and Piano Fest, in the Hamptons. Now in its second season, PianoFête has caught the attention of increasing numbers of world-class pianists and piano music lovers in the Pacific Northwest.
The artists of PianoFête are virtuoso pianists.
Vyacheslav Gryaznov is a Russian pianist, arranger, composer, and curator of PianoFête. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and Yale School of Music, he’s authored more than 40 concert arrangements, is published with Schott Music, and can be heard on the Master Performers label and Steinway & Sons label.
Rexa Han, a Chinese-born American pianist living in Florida, has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Steinway Hall in New York, as well as Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Poly Theater in Beijing, to name a few.
Konstantin Soukhovetski has won over 17 awards, including top prizes at Cleveland, Naumburg, and UNISA competitions. He is adjunct faculty at his alma mater, The Juilliard School.
Born in Moscow, Katya Kramer-Lapin studied at Oberlin College Conservatory in Ohio, received her master’s from Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, and has been teaching artists at the International Summer Festival “Ameropa” in Prague, Czech Republic.
PianoFête curator and headlining pianist Vyacheslav Gryaznov has crafted four remarkable concert programs, each featuring a different combination of musicians, playing the pieces they’ve mastered as solos, duos, and piano four-hands. All concerts start at 7:30 p.m.
The finale to PianoFête, on July 8, will feature all four performers in concert with Vashon Maury Chamber Orchestra.
For complete information about each festival and tickets, visit vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Kathryn Claire and Margot Merah
The musical duo of Kathryn Claire and Margot Merah will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 20 at Snapdragon’s Black Cat Cabaret.
Claire and Merah, who share a love of songwriting, traditional music, folk and harmony singing, first met in 2013 in a small Irish pub in Amsterdam.
After two and a half years apart, the two reunited last summer in the Pacific Northwest for a tour featuring original and traditional songs and instrumentals, along with their favorite covers. They began writing together on the road and when they toured again in Europe this past spring, they decided the time had come to create an album together.
In their live shows and on their upcoming album, “Come Close, Come In,” the two multi-instrumentalists play guitar, fiddle, ukulele, bodhran, and harmonica, and weave together intricate vocal harmonies.
Check out their music here.
Art Talk
Take a break from the summer sun and delve into the landscapes of Henrik Avercamp (1585-1634), who specialized in busy winter scenes packed with activity. Avercamp, who was deaf and mute, was an acute observer of his fellow Netherlanders. The art talk will be presented by art historian Rebecca Albiani. Find out more and get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
