BEATRICE RINGENBACK
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Karyne Arys will bring a different kind of energy to the Pine Mountain Music Festival performance of “Carmen.”
In his first season as executive director of the Pine Mountain Music Festival, Doug Day realizes he’s inherited a lot of history for the organization born in Iron Mountain, Michigan, in 1991. But what most occupies him in his debut season is what can be done to stretch the festival into the future.
“What I’m trying to do is make a bridge between generations – from the generation that launched to the current generation,” Doug says. “How to keep culture alive and well is a bigger song and dance than it used to be.”
CHARLES ESHBACH
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A sampler of past Pine Mountain Music Festival performances. Tenor Christopher Temporelli sings in “Rockland the Opera,” based on a U.P. Finnish miners’ strike and commissioned by the festival.
Interesting choice of words, since Doug hopes to bridge that generation gap this year with an intriguing combination – the popular opera “Carmen” infused with a heart-pounding performer from France to bring to life a gypsy dancing scene in the classic. Karyne Arys, a flamenco dancer at the Théâtre Trianon in Bordeaux, will join this season’s main performances, as well as doing solo presentations during the festival’s 28th edition. “The Pine Mountain Music Festival was started by a classical cellist,” Doug says. “It’s motive was always classical, classical, classical.”
Laura Jean Deming, that cellist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, moved with her husband, Jack Stubbs, in 1986 to Iron Mountain, where he was pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church. “One of the happiest times of my life was living in the U.P. I loved the people, the beauty, the history and the overall appreciation of excellence in education, craftsmanship, sports, art and music. As remote and as spread out as the U.P. is, people thought nothing of traveling great distances to visit friends, go to an exhibit or performance and even leave to see the world.”
Laura, who starts her 43rd year with the Lyric Opera this year, invited colleagues to perform in Iron Mountain after their 1991 season ended. By the next year, she had more ambitious plans. “Because I didn’t know any better, I set about trying to bring the thing I loved – opera – to the area where we lived. It was ambitious, challenging and a little bit crazy.”
It was enthusiastically received, with business support, volunteers and local people opening their homes for visiting performers.
CHARLES ESHBACH
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A sampler of past Pine Mountain Music Festival performances. The opera “La Traviata” with stars, in center, Rose Cambio and Bernard Holcomb.
Pine Mountain Music Festival became, and remains, a moveable feast. “We wanted audiences across the U.P. to see our performances, so we moved production from city to city – Iron Mountain to Marquette to the Keweenaw Peninsula – with run-out performances in Escanaba and Ironwood, taking advantage of the incredible historic theaters in each of these areas,” Laura recalls.
The festival is producing its 26th opera, once again tapping performers from large metropolitan areas. This year, under artistic director Joel Neves (also orchestral activities director at Michigan Tech), Carmen will be played by Amanda Crider. She has appeared on U.S. stages such as Los Angeles, Boston and Orlando, Florida. Tenor Isaac Hurtado, playing Don José, also has performed around the country and in Italy, while soprano Heather Youngquist, as Micaëla, and baritone Christopher Holmes round out the leads in “Carmen.”
Local performers bring an endearing aspect to the festival. This year the UPSTARTS, young regional musicians chosen via a talent contest, will perform. The world-class Bergonzi String Quartet joins for the 25th year. The festival presents individual and Carmen-teaser performances June 15 to June 24 in Houghton, Marquette, Calumet and Iron Mountain. Then on June 28 and 30, the full performances of “Carmen” are at the Rosza Center. The festival has offices in Houghton.
CHARLES ESHBACH
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A sampler of past Pine Mountain Music Festival performances. Chloe Neves (daughter of the festival’s artistic director, Joel Neves) peeks from behind a patch in “OPERAtion Imagination,” one of the in-school music programs spun off as part of the festival’s goal to educate as well as entertain.
Doug Day hopes the excitement of the high-energy flamenco dancing and the broad appeal of local performers will boost support from sponsors and bring larger audiences. Doug well knows the challenge of offering high-quality artistic work to small towns, having been artistic and development director for the Sweet Chariot Music Festival, Swan’s Island, Maine. “The challenge of getting people out only one generation ago was no problem at all.”
This year the festival offers a $99 Family Pass that gets a whole family into every festival performance, “a deal,” he says, “that makes opera cheaper than the cost of a movie.”
Pine Mountain Music Festival has grown beyond her expectations, its founder Laura says. She recalls its influence on local young people, like internationally performing tenor Miles Mykkanen, originally of Ironwood, “who first experienced opera at a performance of ‘La Bohème’ at the Calumet Theater when he was about 8 years old. He says he decided that was what he wanted to do with his life.”
Community has made the festival something more, Laura says. “It was such a gift to be able to dream big and see things even greater than I could have imagined come to life, thanks to those who joined in.”
Find the Pine Mountain Music Festival schedule at www.pmmf.org.