Each student is invited (throughout their study year) to participate in The Pleasant Mountains Memorization Program, through which awards may be earned. Each year the festival concentrates on a particular composer. A statue of this composer serves as the first award level. Other award levels are bronze medal, silver medal, and gold medal; all based upon the number of measures a student memorizes.

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“What’s Going on in Harlan”
 

Award-winning teacher and performer Irina Voro in recent years has performed in Holland, China, Canada, Costa Rica, the US and her native Russia. Dr. Voro, as she is known to her students, has a precious gift for uncovering the drama of the piece and telling the world something new, touching and wonderful – something the world is subconsciously looking for.

From a very young age Irina Voro has been creating stories about the pieces she plays. It is not surprising then that embarking on a mission to attract new audiences to classical music she debuted at Carnegie Hall with a performance that was called “L’Excital for piano, narrative and imagination” (premiered in 2000.) In this dramatic version of the piano recital Irina preceded great music with her personal poetic narratives, as if inviting listeners to find her stories in the music. Such an unusual combination of words, music and various sound and visual effects was received so well that invitations poured in and by now Dr. Voro has given over a hundred of her “L’Excitals” in 15 states of the United States and four different countries.

In addition to numerous solo and chamber concerts, Irina Voro has performed as a soloist with Tianjin Philharmonic Orchestra (China), L’Orchestre Philharmonique du Grand Montréal and Montreal Chamber Orchestra (Canada), Kislovodsk Symphony Orchestra (Russia) and Lawton Symphony Orchestra (Oklahoma, USA), among others. She records for “Classical Records” label of Moscow, Russia.

When not on stage, Dr. Voro is the Artist/Teacher of piano at the UK School of Music, guiding a bunch of talented students from around Kentucky and around the globe. Among her Doctorate students are graduates of celebrated Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories (Russia), as well as such prominent American schools like Oberlin College and Indiana University. Students of Dr. Voro have won numerous state and national competitions and she is frequently invited to adjudicate in the state, regional and international contests. She is the first UK faculty recipient of the prestigious “Teacher of the Year” Award given by the Kentucky Music Teachers Association.

Kimberly Houser (Professional-in-Residence, Harp, Louisiana State University) has been performing on the harp since she was eight years old. She started her study with Marion Fouse in Portland, Oregon, performing her first full recitals and freelancing actively while in high school. Houser received a scholarship for music study from the University of Arizona where she studied with Dr. Carrol McLaughlin. She has since received her Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees from the University of Arizona while on full scholarship. In her doctoral studies she seriously pursued studies in Music Composition which she studied with Dr. Pamela Decker. Houser has also studied in Europe with the principal harpist of the Paris Opera, Catherine Michel. She has performed at The World Harp Congress, The American Harp Society Convention and the Soka City international Festival in Japan. She has toured Mexico, Japan, Prague and Puerto Rico and has performed in venues such as Casals Hall, Tokyo and Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle. Houser spent three years as Principal Harpist with the Billings Symphony in Billings, MT. As the only professional harpist in Montana she traveled extensively throughout the state serving as the harpist to all of the regional orchestras. She also taught harp both privately and through Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. She has served as principal harp for the Columbia Symphony in Portland, Oregon and was on the faculty at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, where she taught music theory, history and appreciation. Houser’s first solo CD, Pure Harp, was reviewed in the Oct/Nov 2006 issue of Fanfare Magazine.

The 2007 Pleasant Mountains Music Festival will be held in Harlan on Friday and Saturday, May 11 & 12, 2007. The Friday evening Dinner Concert will feature musicians from the University of North Carolina, Pembroke and from Kings College in Bristol, Tn. Performing artists will be

Lawrence Osborne Quinnet, piano; Eugene Jones, clarinet; Derek Day, classical guitar; Gail Morfesis, soprano, and violinist: Karen Entzi. The featured composers for this year’s festival are George and Ira Gershwin. The lively Jazz rhythms and melodies of this famous pair of song writers will make a wonderful springtime concert event. Saturday, May 12 is the Student Festival Day, to be held at Godbey Appalachian Center on the SKCTCS Cumberland Campus. Music students grades Kindergarten through College are invited to participate in memorized performance and workshops presented by our visiting musicians. Reservations for both festival days can be made by calling The Studio of Piano Fine Arts, Inc. at 573-4994. Friday Dinner-Concert reservations are $40.00; Saturday Student Festival Day Registration is $30.00.

Click images to read articles from the Harlan Daily Enterprise about the Pleasant Mountain Music Festival.

For information about festival dates and participation, please call the studio at 606-573-4994 or email Clara.