Crested Butte, Colorado – May 15, 2017 – Looking for an inspiring musical event to sprout flowers in your mud season? Join us Friday, May 26, at 7 pm at the Center of the Arts for a concert featuring David Winn, one of the Gunnison Valley’s preeminent pianists, who will perform pieces by Copeland, Gershwin, Barber, Gottschalk and a Christopher O’Riley transcription of Radiohead. The second half of the program will feature the Palisade Chamber Strings, an award-winning ensemble from Palisade High School, near Grand Junction, which is led by bassist and long-time Crested Butte performer Troy Raper, one of the state’s preeminent music educators, performing “Spring” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and a movement of Grieg’s String Quartet no. 1.
This concert is the second in the New Western Slope Chamber Music Series, whose mission is to connect accomplished regional classical and jazz musicians with audiences in the Gunnison Valley, both through concerts and educational programs, in order to create a year-round, vibrant musical culture for all.
David Winn spent most of his career in the international corporate world, living for most of the past 25 years in Paris. He has now returned to live in the Gunnison Valley, after building a home here eight years ago. In Paris, he twice competed in The International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs (Concours des Grands Amateurs de Piano). Then, when the sponsors of the Van Cliburn piano competition in Fort Worth, Texas created an American version of this contest for amateur pianists, he competed twice there as well. He has four children and lives in Ohio Creek with his wife, Julie.
The Palisade Chamber Strings is the premiere performing group in the string program at Palisade High School, near Grand Junction. The group has been named the Outstanding 4A Chamber Orchestra at the Colorado West performance festival every year for the past 11 years.
Troy Raper, Director of the Palisade Chamber Strings, is a Colorado native and has been teaching in the state since 1988. He received his bachelor's degree in Music Education with Honors from the University of Northern Colorado, and a Master’s in Education from Lesley University. He teaches orchestra at Palisade High School and at Mt. Garfield Middle School in Palisade. He spent 10 years as Chair/Board Member on the Colorado All State Orchestra Governing Board, helping to create a new charter and direction for the organization. An accomplished bassist with broad performing experience, he has performed with the Greeley, Ft. Collins, Cheyenne, Durango, and Crested Butte Music Festival orchestras and currently sits as Principal Bassist for the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra. He performs regularly in various jazz bands, with recording studios, and as a concert soloist.
Come out and enjoy the gifts of your neighbors and other gifted artists of the western slope. Tickets are just $15 for adults and $5 for students. For tickets and more information, call the Center at 349-7487, ext. 1, or visit cretedbuttearts.org.