Celebrating the Next Generation of Classical Performers

Volunteers, underwriters, and members of Spokane Public Radio got to know some of our most promising area musicians at the KPBX The Next Generation concert, which took place at the Met June 9. This concert will air as the Concert of the Week Monday, June 13 at 7 p.m.

The performers on this special evening have all grown up with an interactive sense of KPBX by being featured on the radio, by listening and learning from what they hear, and calling to request pieces. All are emerging artists, with great potential to be professional musicians.

Video: Archie Chen's encore

Young pianist Archie Chen was one of our most frequent guests. As a Mead High School student, he was already a seasoned performer, having started playing when he was six years old.

“He had an amazing repertoire,” remembers Verne. In 1993, Chen won the Young Artist award at Musicfest. After graduating in 1995, he went on to earn bachelors and graduate degrees from Indiana University. He has been a featured soloist locally with the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane Symphonies and at the Sandpoint Music Festival. Chen has performed across Europe including in concert for Pope John Paul II in Vatican Auditorium. He currently attends the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.

“Nearly every time he’s come home for a vacation, he’s reported in musically by playing what he’s working on,” Verne says. “On the Piano Bench, he once played three Beethoven piano sonatas in one session.”

Chen also had a lasting effect on Spokane Public Radio, by encouraging the station to choose a quality concert piano for the on-air studio. “He made us realize we needed a really good piano, above average,” Verne says. “A real reason we purchased this great piano in 1996 was not only that he cared that much, but he was so willing to play for us.”

Video: SYO 2004 String Quartet

A group that played together all throughout high school returned for this concert, now that they've completed their first year of college.

The string quartet of the Spokane Youth Orchestra was Kim Houglum and Stephanie Tintinger on violin, Christine Beamer on viola. For this concert, Mark Cox played cello.

When the quartet apprenticed to the Spokane String Quartet, they were featured in a 2004 SSQ season concert. When that aired on Concert of the Week, the young artists had the opportunity to share their work with the entire KPBX audience.

“Being featured in the Spokane String Quartet concert was a huge push forward for our group. It motivated us to practice harder and rehearse with more purpose and direction than before, because it was a lot of pressure to be asked to perform with the pros. That concert was one of the most satisfying musical experiences in my life,” Tintinger remembers. “I was so amazed that I was really listening to our quartet on the radio, yet I couldn’t help but nit-pick the things that didn’t sound as good as they could have.”

“I did listen to myself play on the radio, and it was a wonderful mix of awe and criticism,” Houglum adds.

Beamer also has a love-hate reaction to being on the air. “I do find it very helpful and instrumental just because it shows me the very obvious problem places in both chamber music and solo playing.  I think playing on the radio is simultaneously both very exciting and frightening because of the huge audience you are playing for and deceptively unstressful because you’re just in a small room by yourselves. But I love the opportunity to give the audience a chance to know you better than if you just go onto a stage and play a piece of music,” she says.

The three women credit radio and the Spokane community for inspiring them to reach further.

“Not many cities support the youth arts as much as Spokane does.  Hearing myself on the radio is very inspirational,” Houglum says.

“We have that commitment to bring all the great local performances we can to the airwaves,” Verne says about the quartet’s on-air performance. The foursome was also important for a KPBX Kids’ Concert of students from Musicfest Northwest. “We needed a core group and on short notice, they performed admirably as both radio personalities and performers,” he says.

All three share an early love of music. As a Kindergartener, Houglum begged her parents to let her play violin. Tintinger has also played violin as long as she can remember, and played in Spokane Youth Symphony groups for seven years.

Beamer says she picked up the viola in the 5th grade only because no one else had signed up for it, and she liked the sound of the name. “I stuck with it because I loved the individuality of viola players and the community that violists develop to combat all of the viola jokes!” she says.

Both Houglum and Beamer are pursuing music degrees at the University of Michigan, Houglum with a second degree in mathematics, Beamer debating between English or psychiatry. Tintinger wants to keep violin as an important hobby, and studies biochemistry at Washington State University. She does also study music and performs in the WSU Symphony.

Houglum and Tintinger say they listen to KPBX when they’re visiting at home. Tintinger likes listening to Verne Windham’s Classical Music in the mornings, to be “exposed to new pieces I wouldn’t have picked out if I was buying a CD,” she says. Beamer also likes Verne’s commentary on music, “He always shares interesting tidbits about the music that I never knew.” She also enjoys From the Top, the Saturday show of young musicians nationwide. “It reminds me of my excitement when I first became serious about playing music,” she says.

Musicfest Northwest students Katie Holmes and Joy Adams

Two additional students performed, from the 2005 Musicfest Northwest competition. Sixteen year old Joy was the outstanding cellist winning the Strings Young Artist division. Seven year old Katie performed not only in the piano division, but also as a beginning guitarist. They represented the bright future of classical artists in our region.

This event was SPR’s annual Volunteer and Underwriter Thank-You concert. Those who have underwritten programs on KPBX or KSFC in the past 12 months, or who have volunteered in any capacity in the past year, were able to receive a pair of free tickets to the event.

The event included a reception with Craven’s Coffee and dessert by Rockwood Bakery.

Event donors for the evening include Windermere Real Estate, Amica Insurance, and Vino! A Wine Shop.