the arts A summer of music across the UP

Pine Mountain Music Festival shines spotlight on classical genres

By Brad Gischia

The Pine Mountain Music Festival will begin its summer concert series this month. This classical music festival has been a staple in Upper Michigan, and as its 32ndyear approaches, organizers hope this year is a sign of things to come.

“It’s a home-grown festival, which, as someone who is community-minded, I love about it,” said Libby Meyer, co-executive director. The PMMF has been bringing classical music to the Upper Peninsula since 1991.

“There were a bunch of musicians who played with the Lyric Opera in Chicago, and they would come up and do sort of a chamber music house party,” Meyer said. “It started really organically.”

Named after a hotel in Iron Mountain, the festival began to grow in size and scope. “They added opera early on,” Meyer said, “and it grew from there. I would say that its biggest years were in the early 2000s. They were doing two operas a season.”

Under pressure from the economic climate and the pandemic, the festival had to pare back significantly. Now, however, Meyer believes they’re beginning to get their feet under them again.

“We’re building it back up slowly,” she said.

This festival is unique in that it doesn’t have a main stage in a set location but instead offers performances across the western and central Upper Peninsula, this year in Houghton, Ke- weenaw, Ontonagon and Marquette counties. “It’s always been a part of the festival to have it spread out. That was established early,” Meyer said. “Everything tours.”

This year organizers are looking forward to new acts, old favorites and twists on the classics. The acts are booked over a year in advance. The Bergonzi Trio — the “anchor to our festival,” in Meyer’s words — is returning.

“They’ve been involved for so long they’re basically our chamber music group in residence,” said Danielle Simandl, a Marquette-based violinist who has played with the Marquette Symphony, the Keweenaw Symphony and the Superior String Alliance. She also shares the co-executive director role. “They’re a highlight every year.”

This year the trio’s pianist, Lindsay Garritson, is also featured as a soloist.

“We feel she always looks like she’s accompanying them,” Meyer said, “but she’s a fantastic musician in her own right, and we wanted to showcase that.”

Garritson is an internationally recognized talent who has performed on some of the biggest stages in the world, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

“I’m excited to return, not only with the Bergonzi Trio but with the opportunity to present a solo program as well,” she said.

Garritson will present a classical piano program that blends traditional and contemporary classical composers.

“I’ve performed in big venues, up to 4,000 people, and I’ve performed in people’s homes,” Garritson said. “For me as a performer, it’s all about the connection with the audience. I love playing Pine Mountain because people are so warm and you can really feel that onstage. The audience is really receptive to the music and excited to be there and hear it, and I love talking to the people afterward.”

Paul and Christine Seitz also return in 2023. They are a vocal and classical guitar duo who has been performing at the festival for many years.

The opera portion of the PMMF makes a return this year as well, with a slight caveat. They will present a concert version of an opera called The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Elena Ruehr, a composer, musician and educator who grew up in Houghton.

Set in an alternate timeline, the opera takes a steampunk look at the invention of the computer algorithm. It will be performed without sets or costumes, ergo the “concert” style.

“It’s under an hour,” Simandl said,

“so if you’ve wanted to check out opera but weren’t sure about the time investment, this is a great way to do it.”

In conjunction with the opera, the PMMF is putting on a “steampunk ball” at the Quincy Mine Shaft. This is a free event and will feature music and desserts.

“Operas are notoriously expensive to put on,” Meyer said. “People have been asking to get opera back, and this is an affordable way to do it. We’re always trying to keep the festival in the black financially.”

That’s the rub with small festivals. Performers shouldn’t do it for free, and to get people to come organizers need to keep upping the ante with the kinds of performances they offer.

“All arts organizations are struggling,” Meyer said. “We want to be fiscally responsible.”

PMMF leaders pride themselves on hiring Upper Peninsula musicians where and when they can. All members of the string quartet featured this year are from the U.P. “We want to highlight our musicians,” Meyer said.

One way they promote musicians is through their “UPstarts” selections. These are up-and-coming musicians from the Upper Peninsula who are invited to perform. Oskar Gaenssle is an accomplished musician from the Marquette area who is performing selections on both bassoon and contrabassoon.

Gaenssle graduated in 2022 from Northern Michigan University with a bachelor of arts degree with a concentration in music performance. He’s chosen a solo piece and a duet with another of the UPstarts, cellist Adam Hall. His experience thus far with the PMMF has been mainly from backstage.

“I played bass a couple of times in the past with larger groups,” he said. But being chosen this year is a different experience.

“Playing for the PMMF means I can share my passion for music with an audience,” he said. “It’s never been about showing off my skills or anything, rather it’s about sharing something meaningful.”

There will be ample opportunities to see performances throughout the festival, which runs June 3 through 21. Scheduled events include a concert at Isle Royale National Park in celebration of its 80th anniversary, featuring original compositions by Meyer.

Also in the lineup is a series of “On the Town” concerts.

“They’re sort of like a flash mob with only four musicians,” Meyer said. Small chamber groups will present performances throughout the Keweenaw, starting in Copper Harbor and working their way down to Canal Park in Houghton for the final concert.

“You don’t have to worry about parking or seating,” Meyer said. “We want to get out to where the people are.” The groups will be playing in unusual venues like cafes and libraries. There will be a list on the PMMF website so music enthusiasts can plan accordingly.

Through fundraising, donations and grants, the PMMF has continued to move forward. “The generosity of the community is incredible,” Meyer said.

“I was floored last year when people would just walk up to me and hand me checks, and I mean big checks. There’s a lot of passion for this festival, a lot of community support.”

The festival secured grant funding last year from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and the Midwest Touring Fund along with in-kind donations.

“The number of people who donate time and space really makes this thing work,” Meyer said.

All of that support has made it possible for the PMMF to offer a “pay as you’re able” option this year. Everything is individually ticketed through the Rozsa Center. “It’s really important to the festival,” Simandl said, “that anyone who wants to go to a concert can go to a concert despite their financial situation.”

Why are small festivals like this important? Why bother going out when you could sit at home and watch anything and everything on your tablet screen?

“Summer music festivals fill a particular need,” Simandl said. “Orchestra season generally coincides with the academic year, September to April or May, while the festival season is generally in the summer months. Festivals offer a particular opportunity for chamber and orchestral and opera singers to come together for a couple of weeks and put together a specific thing that would have happened nowhere else. It’s exciting. It’s a one-ofa-kind event, with these performers in this setting. It’s the only time it’s going to happen, and that’s great.”

She added, “We’re focusing on