The Juneau Piano Series concert is coming up on April 24th

Flyer for the Juneau Piano Series. (Juneau Arts and Humanities Council / provided by Jon Hays)

Jon Hays

Founder and Artistic Director of the Juneau Piano Series

I am incredibly pleased to invite the community to the Juneau Piano Series concert on April 24th at 7 p.m. at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC). Fairbanks pianist Jamila Hla Shwe and Juneau’s own Icefield Quartet will present a concert of chamber works by Soviet composer Dimitri Shostakovich.

General admission is $25, senior admission is $20, and student/youth admission is $10. All prices are an extra $5 at the door. Tickets may be purchased via the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council (JAHC), either online at their box office, over the phone (907-586-2787), or in person at the JACC (350 Whittier Street).

When possible, I love to feature Alaskan musicians, and Hla Shwe and the Icefield Quartet represent some of the best music making to be found in our state. Hla Shwe grew up in Czechoslovakia, where she graduated from the Prague Conservatory of Music with a degree in Piano Performance. After graduating, she worked at the National Theatre Opera and the State Opera in Prague as a rehearsal pianist and vocal coach. In 1994 she moved to Fairbanks, where she received a Pearl Boyd Fellowship to study at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and get her Master’s degree.

After graduating she continued at UAF as an adjunct faculty member, while also maintaining a private studio.

The Icefield quartet debuted in 2024 at the Crystal Saloon to an enthusiastic and standing-room-only crowd. Founding members—clarinetist William Todd Hunt, flutist Sally Schlichting, violinist Elena Levi, and cellist Ben Holtz—sought to form a quartet that was a little different but slightly derivative of what is known as a Pierrot ensemble, which normally adds piano to this instrumentation.

They enjoy performing new compositions, lesser-known works, and unique arrangements of better-known pieces. Each musician is accomplished in their own right, whether through conducting, teaching, performing, composing, or artistic direction.

Hla Shwe (piano), Levi (violin) and Holtz (cello) will open the program with Shostakovich’s “Trio no. 1 in C minor.” Then, the full quartet and Hla Shwe will play the “Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57,” and finally, Hla Shwe, Schlichting (flute) and Hunt (clarinet) will end the concert with “5 Pieces for Two Violins and Piano,” with the violin parts transcribed for flute and clarinet by Hunt.

Despite the program featuring only music of Shostakovich (1906-1975), there is a large variety of musical moods throughout. Shostakovich lived through politically anxious times, and his music often works through it with sardonicism, grief, joy, and terror, in search of a catharsis. The process by which Shostakovich alchemized anxiety into art remains resonant today.

Currently in its 7th concert season, I am proud of how far the series has come since its founding in 2018. The early history of the Juneau Piano Series began in 2016. At that time, the Juneau Arts and Culture Center housed a grand piano that felt less than grand to play upon. It was stiff, uneven, and required great effort from pianists to produce a good sound. Some pianists would avoid performing in that space because of the instrument.

Across 2016 and 2017, Mary Watson, one of Juneau’s best pianists and teachers, organized a series of concerts to raise funds for the JAHC to purchase a new piano. Over $20,000 was raised, and with it the JAHC was able to purchase the fine Schimmel piano that now resides in the arts center.

During the fundraising process early in 2017, I began to think about starting a concert series that would utilize the new piano. At that time, Juneau had no organization dedicated to solo classical piano concerts, and I felt that this new instrument deserved to be used to its full potential. I developed a hypothetical concert season and budget and brought all my planning to the arts council.

I am so thankful that they agreed to help by being the financial umbrella for the series, and the help they provide by doing the production in-house is immense.

Beyond the Schimmel, I also felt encouraged by the dedicated community of piano teachers, performers and enthusiasts that persists in Juneau to today. They are the bedrock upon which much of Juneau’s piano happenings depend. Thank you!

I know Hla Shwe and the Icefield Quartet will give an amazing performance on April 24, and I hope many people in Juneau will be able to enjoy it.