Photo courtesy of Chamber Music Sedona The Winslow High School Orchestra hosts the Chamber Music Sedona Winter MusicFest Concert this week, performing classical selections alongside this year’s quartet of featured concert artists (left to right) clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, pianist Michael Brown, violinist Elena Urioste and cellist Nicholas Canellakis. By Nolan Madden For its third season, Chamber Music Sedona’s Winter MusicFest classical concert series runs through Jan. 10, with performances planned in Fountain Hills, Sedona and Winslow. In Winslow, the free program is open to the public and starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 8, at the Winslow High School Performing Arts Center. For the WHS Orchestra, Chamber Music has arranged an educational workshop experience to share with the students and community. The workshop, Musical Explorations and Discoveries, was made possible with the support of La Posada Hotel & Gardens, the Winslow Chamber of Commerce, The Arizona Commission on the Arts, Arizona Public Service Co., Western States Arts Federation, Joanne Olson-Briar Patch Inn, Jim and Ginny Case, Arizona Tax Credit Funds, the Indian Education Committee, and the Winslow Unified School District (Winslow High School and Winslow Junior High School). The cultural opportunity first began with the coaxing of La Posada Hotel owner Allan Affeldt, according to Chamber Music Sedona Executive Director Bert Harclerode. “This will be the second year in a row that we’ve worked with the Winslow High School, and it was encouraged by Allen. During the course that I have been privileged to work with him, he has always come up with some really neat ideas, and this one was very curious, because he and I went to high school three miles away from each other in California,” Harclerode recalled. “All these things have really come together in service to music and to the Winslow youth.” As a case in point, Harclerode related that during his tenure as principal tubist with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra in 1996, he mentored in a similar youth program with summer music camp musicians. One of the students who participated, Curtis Peacock, went on to graduate and become the current tuba/euphonium instructor at the Northern Arizona University School of Music. “We’re looking to bring more structure to the program this year so more kids can benefit from the wisdom and experience of four young musicians who truly represent the next generation of great artists,” Harclerode noted. Featured pianist Michael Brown, cellist Nicholas Canellakis and violinist Elena Urioste are established as three of the most sought-after young virtuosos on the music scene today. Winners, individually, of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, BBC New Generation Artist Scheme, Sphinx and Concert Artists Guild competitions, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center auditions, they have performed in prestigious venues across the U.S. and Europe, including Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, and London’s Wigmore and Royal Festival halls. Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein met Harclerode when he performed with the Flagstaff Symphony in 2008. Considered one of today’s most exceptional clarinet players, he has performed in recital, and with prestigious orchestras and chamber music ensembles throughout the world, and received the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant Award. Canellakis, who has collaborated with Chamber Music Sedona for more than five years, said of the experience, “Teaching has been a big part of my career on many different levels, from master classes at conservatories to working with high school and younger students. We’ve really reached quite a range of kids in the area by going into the schools.” Friday evening’s concert at the Winslow High School Performing Arts Center will be a ‘Side-by-Side’ program where the four festival artists will sit alongside junior and senior class orchestra musicians, and is the second half of a two-day workshop for the students, with the quartet guest-conducting the youth in grades seven through 12 under the supervision of WHS music teacher Tyler Allen for group and individual lessons. Of the impact on his students, WHS Principal Chris Gilmore remarked, “Winslow Unified has a strong arts interest. The festival musicians have been able to strengthen our program and create a burst of interest into the students and our community that we have never seen before. “Students were able to have personal workshops with the professional musicians, played their instruments for the students, played alongside the students and talked about their professions…I have never seen such a buzz about orchestra than during those two weeks,” he said.