{"id":1698,"date":"2017-08-26T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-26T04:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2022-01-28T01:34:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T06:34:32","slug":"mmf-salt-lake-trib-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/mmf-salt-lake-trib-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Moab Music Festival marks 25 years of music among the rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moab Music Festival marks 25 years of music among the rocks<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another season of \u201cmusic in concert with the landscape\u201d is opening next week.<\/em><\/p>\n

August 26, 2017<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of: Lynn Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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By Catherine Reese Newton<\/p>\n

Moab was \u201ckind of a little ghost town,\u201d on the brink of coming into its own as a recreation destination, when Michael Barrett happened through on his way to Santa Fe, N.M., in 1991. The pianist and conductor was drawn to the place instantly; he returned with his wife, violist Leslie Tomkins, the next year.\u201cI became completely smitten in a way that was hard to ignore,\u201d Tomkins said. \u201cSomething about the rocks and landscape spoke to me in a way I hadn\u2019t experienced.\u201d The couple had toyed with the idea of starting a music festival, and Moab felt like the perfect spot for it.<\/p>\n

The Moab Music Festival <\/a>presented five concerts in 1993, its first season. The 25th season, which starts in the coming week, offers more than 20 events, most of them outdoors. Some of the most popular concerts take place in spots that are accessible only via a jet boat or a rigorous hike.<\/p>\n

Barrett said he and Tomkins always have sought to grow the festival slowly and organically. \u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to create another Aspen in Moab,\u201d he said. \u201cWe wanted it appropriately sized to the town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some things have been constant \u2014 a focus on education, a connection with the environment, a prominent presence for living composers. Barrett is particularly pleased to have mentored Juantio Becenti, a self-taught Navajo composer from Montezuma Creek who has been associated with the festival more than half his life.<\/p>\n

The New York-based couple also were determined not to just parachute in for a couple of weeks a year, but to foster a feeling of ownership among Moab\u2019s residents. \u201cIt\u2019s their music festival, their community,\u201d Barrett said. He and Tomkins spend three months of the year at their Moab home, and the festival has a year-round office in town, with three full-time staffers. Most of the board members are local as well. Barrett and Tomkins perform on about half the concerts, and Barrett acts as host of each one.<\/p>\n

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Richard Bowditch | Courtesy The Moab Music Festival returns for its 25th season this coming week.<\/h5>\n

This year\u2019s opening-night concert marks the festival\u2019s milestone year with music written by 25-year-old composers, from Mozart to Bernstein to festival artist Tessa Lark. \u201cTwenty-five is really young,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cRemembering what you were like when you were 25 \u2026 is an energetic way to celebrate, instead of \u2018How did we get so old?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Barrett also will use the occasion to kick off a centennial celebration of his mentor, Leonard Bernstein, who was born Aug. 25, 1918. This year\u2019s festival ends with a salute to the legendary composer-conductor-pianist. Barrett was Bernstein\u2019s conducting assistant and rehearsal pianist for the last six years of the elder musician\u2019s life. Jamie Bernstein will narrate the concert dedicated to her father\u2019s work. She\u2019s been an enthusiastic supporter of the Moab Music Festival since Day 1, proudly reporting that she\u2019s missed only three seasons (no easy feat for a mom living in New York, she said). She loves bringing festival newcomers on the car journey from Grand Junction, Colo., to Moab and watching their reactions. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of an earful and eyeful like you\u2019ve never had in your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full article.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moab Music Festival marks 25 years of music among the rocks Another season of \u201cmusic in concert with the landscape\u201d is opening next week. August 26, 2017                 By Catherine Reese Newton Moab was \u201ckind of a little ghost town,\u201d on the brink of coming into its own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"related-artist":[17],"class_list":{"0":"post-1698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-press","8":"related-artist-moab-music-festival","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1698"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3283,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions\/3283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1698"},{"taxonomy":"related-artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dworkincompany.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-artist?post=1698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}