The Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra will perform in Cooper Landing, Homer, Anchor Point and Kenai next weekend for their 10th Annual Kenai Peninsula Tour.
On Thursday, May 30, the orchestra will play starting at 7:30 p.m. in Gwin’s Lodge’s Lower Pavilion in Cooper Landing. Friday, May 31, at 6:30 p.m., they’ll play the Botanical Garden at Bear Creek Winery in Homer. On Saturday, at 2 p.m., they’ll play at the Norman Lowell Art Gallery in Anchor Point. Finally, they will play at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Kenai Senior Center.
All performances are free. Offering free classical performances in accessible spaces is something members Zach Akins and Kyle Lindsey said is part of a driving focus of the orchestra.
Akins said that classical music performed in large concert halls can be difficult to access for people monetarily, logistically or otherwise. Those same obstacles can extend to the performers. He said its “gratifying” to create spaces for performers and audiences to enjoy classical music without those barriers.
Lindsey said that, in some ways, performing with the orchestra is a selfish opportunity to create music with friends. There are worse places to do that, he said, than on a road trip down the Kenai Peninsula.
Making orchestral music a bigger part of people’s lives, on either side of the stage, is fulfilling, he said. A guiding mantra of the orchestra is “disrupting the tradition and evolving the medium.”
“We’re trying to create a new setting for this style of music,” he said.
The performances next weekend will be “kind of a variety show,” Lindsey said. There are larger group pieces and smaller chamber works. The show features multiple conductors, music from a video game and a Vivaldi cello concerto that closes the evening.
Lindsey said the offering shows that classical music isn’t dead and isn’t stuffy — he likened the cello concerto to rock.
“This is what people used to bang their wigs to,” he said.
Having now visited the Kenai Peninsula for these shows for 10 years, Akins said the tour is a chance to see old friends, to explore the ways they’ve grown over the years, and, of course, a chance to play more music.
This year’s orchestra, at roughly 25 members, might be the largest to travel for the tour.
This year is also the first that they’ve played in Cooper Landing, Akins said, though because of venue scheduling they aren’t able to play in Seward.
For more information, find “Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra” on Facebook or visit anchoragechamberorchestra.org.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
The Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra performs. (Photo courtesy Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra)
Photo courtesy Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra The Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra performs.
The Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra plays at the Norman Lowell Gallery in Anchor Point. (Photo courtesy Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra)
The Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra poses for a photo. (Photo courtesy Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra)
