FLAGSTAFF SUMMER FESTIVAL

Flagstaff Summer Festival TEN YEARS OF CULTURAL EXCITEMENT IN ARIZONA'S COOL NORTHLAND

A decade has spanned the calendar since a small music festival was organized in the cool July climate of Flagstaff. The years have brought expansion, refinement, and such a stimulating cultural crusade that the Flagstaff Summer Festival is now recognized as one of the finest in the Southwest.

In 1965, the fledgling enterprise was little more than an idea shared among a group of interested citizens, but the idea had taken root. The Festival has since matured to eight weeks of artistic achievement in theater, art, dance and film as well as music.

Flagstaff's Festival was launched full scale in 1966 when the city welcomed Izler Solomon as Festival music director and conductor. The renowned conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony had presided over a host of orchestras in his distinguished career and was many times honored as a guest conductor. This time he would direct the new 65-piece Festival orchestra which was made up of the top symphony musicians from Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Southern California and Utah.

Maestro Solomon conducted three major concerts that important first season. Two of these featured as soloists the internationally-acclaimed pianist Grant Johannesen and soprano Gwen Curatilo of the San Francisco Opera. The final concert was an all-instrumental reading of works of Mozart, Berlioz, Milhaud and Brahms.

Other highlights were two outstanding art exhibits and a joint recital by Flagstaff baritone Roger Ardrey and pianist Michael Shott, both familiar to Southwestern audiences. The appearance of these guest artists and the significant role played by Solomon gave the event momentum and a solid foothold toward the future.

Another who shared Solomon's spirit and indeed was the original trailblazer for the event was Lewis J. Ruskin, chairman of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities. It was Ruskin who first suggested the festival at Flagstaff. He envisioned a major cultural happening on a state-wide, regional, national and even international scale.

Ruskin served as honorary chairman for the 1966 event and worked closely with the local committee and other dedicated volunteers. One man who was instrumental in the development of the Festival in those early years was Dr. Pat Curry, chairman of the Northern Arizona University music department and director of the University's Summer Music Camp. From 1968 to 1971, he served as Festival executive director, wrestling with the enormous problems of scheduling to financing. His efforts did much to stabilize the Festival's music foundation.

In 1967, the Festival was extended to four weeks from the one-week venture of the previous season. New artists-in-residence were 'cellist Zara Nelsova and violinist Sidney Harth. Solomon directed the orchestra in presentations from Dvorak to Tchaikovsky, including the rare Beethoven masterpiece, "Triple Concerto for Piano, 'Cello, Violin and Orchestra." This was the first time the work had been performed in Arizona.

Film classics were introduced at Festival-67 and through the years have become a favored attraction. The films are shown in the casual theater classrooms on the NAU campus and long lines at each showing testify to their popularity.

Opera took the Festival center stage in 1968, with Mozart's satirical "Cosi fan tutte." This major musical starred sopranos Gwen Curatilo and Carol Kirkpatrick, tenor Rico Serbo and baritone Ardrey, a frequent soloist with the Roger Wagner Chorale.

By 1969, the Festival was well on its way to becoming a leading cultural celebration. Continuing a tradition for excellence, the Festival offered six concerts, three art shows and for the first time, ballet. New headliners were pianist Abbey Simon, tenor Ray Arbizu, the Indianapolis Symphony Woodwind Quartet, and Salt Lake City's Ballet West.

Famed composer Ferde Grofe was also in attendance for that fourth annual Festival and his familiar "Grand Canyon Suite" was played as a salute to the 50th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park. Excellent art shows were unveiled at the Flagstaff Art Barn (now the Flagstaff Cultural Center), the NAU Gallery and the Northland Press Gallery.

The Ballet West firmly established a place for dance on the growing festival program. Their two performances left audiences wanting more, so the following year San Francisco's Pacific Ballet graced the stage with their free-flowing classical style. The Beaux Arts Trio of New York was the latest chamber music offering. Pianist Menahem Pressler of the Trio has returned many times as a soloist.

Chamber music is an old Festival tradition. Concerts are staged as a single event or in conjunction with a large art show opening. The chamber music ensembles delight audiences in such out-of-the-ordinary settings as Lowell Observatory and the world-renowned Museum of Northern Arizona.

The Museum also participates in the Festival through its famous Navajo Craftsman Show. The traditional crafts of the nation's largest Indian tribe present a bold contrast to the modern or classic art styles shown at other exhibits.

Theater became a Festival first in 1970 with productions of Neil Simon's entertaining "Barefoot in the Park," and William Inge's "Picnic." Opera returned on a monumental note when the Festival presented the American premiere of Richard Strauss' "Die Liebe Der Danae" (The Donkey's Shadow) translated by Walter Ducloux. Ducloux arranged the premiere to allow his former University of Southern California students Thomas Kirshbaum and Dennis Wakeling the honor of producing the work. Kirshbaum, who earned his doctorate under Ducloux, is an associate professor at NAU and director of the popular Flagstaff Symphony. Although hailed as an Arizona triumph in 1971, the Festival was at a crossroads. Visitors that year experienced a rich cultural agenda highlighted by soprano Karen Armstrong, Tucson's Kadimah Dancers and Arizona Civic Theater, but the budget had reached $60,000 and the financial forecast was gloomy. The increasing administrative workload demanded a full-time manager. It was time to put the Flagstaff Summer Festival on independent footing.

In 1972 the Festival Board of Directors created the post of managing director and brought in Christopher W. Craig for the leadership role. Craig, who had been raised in Tucson,arrived from the University of Delaware where he was coordi-nator of cultural programs. His scholastic credentials include bachelor's and master's degrees in theater and fine arts. On tap for the '72 season along with a full music slate featuring 'cellists Guy Fallot, Ruggiero Ricci and violinist Eudice Shapiro was "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" with guest director Rudy Solari, and Paul Zindel's "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds." Chris Craig greeted his job with optimism and faith in the Festival's future. His primary goal: to balance the Festival by elevating theater and dance to the level of music without cut-ting the already magnificent music program. "Many people felt a predominately music festival couldn't survive," he recalls. "To reach a larger audience, we had to include more programs and appeal to more tastes." Festival-73 artists-in-residence included Academy Award winner Joan Fontaine, who was joined by actor Richard Hud-son for an evening of dramatic readings. Others were classical guitarist Michael Long, pianist Byron Janis and soprano Chris-tine Weidinger, who sparked a renewed interest in vocal arts. Festival-74 opened with one of Britain's most distinguished actors, Sir Michael Redgrave, with the Royal Shakespeare Co., of London in "The Hollow Crown," a dramatic history of the British monarchy from William the Conqueror to Queen Vic-toria. The musical offerings ranged from the great classics to the rollicking sounds of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Other new performers were the 5 by 2 Dance Company, pantomimist Geoffrey Holder, and Wayne and Francis Ward in the Broad-way comedy, "The Four Poster." For Festival-75 the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities has granted $17,500the largest single award in Festival history. A $5,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Dance Touring Program, will help finance the Atlanta Ballet Company appearance this year. As just one example of skyrocketing expenses, this prestigous ballet will cost the Festival $15,000.

Flagstaff Summer Festival Cuest Artists

Both Craig and Festival Board of Directors President, Dr. Gilbert Sechrist, are pleased with the organization's stable financial position. Dr. Sechrist, a prominent Flagstaff pedia-trician, has headed the Board for five seasons. He credits two factors for the popularity of the still-growing Festival: expan-sion of its original music format and the employment of a full-time director. At present, NAU provides first-rate facilities; the Festival runs the events and pays for technical crews and lighting. It's a cooperative effort with mutual benefits. In 1974, more than 40,000 people attended the five-week Festival a sizable assembly of new friends for Flagstaff and the University. Audiences at Festival-75 will be among the first to attend performances in the University's spectacular new Creative Arts Concert Hall. This stately building complex, a combina-tion music auditorium and educational center, is a masterpiece of architectural design and acoustical engineering. Most Festival activities will now be under this one beautiful roof, snuggled on NAU's western boundary, just off Highway 89-A. As a stepping-stone toward the Festival's goal of securing facilities, Dr. Sechrist's mother, Mrs. Ethel Sechrist has bequeathed her fashionable, two-story home to the Flagstaff Summer Festival. Mrs. Sechrist is the wife of the late Dr. Charles W. Sechrist, distinguished Flagstaff physician and Ari-zona legislator. A grateful Chris Craig says the stylish home-place could become a gallery, office or residence for visiting artists. Like so many others who generously support the Festival, the Sechrist family believes Flagstaff will emerge as the cul-tural center of the Southwest. The Festival is greatly enhanced by Flagstaff's ideal summer climate and picturesque mountain locale. Nearby are the Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater, Petrified Forest, Oak Creek Canyon and Meteor Crater; the ancient ruins at Tuzigoot, Wupatki, Walnut Canyon and Montezuma Castle; and the vast Navajo and Hopi Reservations.

The managing director has not overlooked the majestic Grand Canyon in his plans to better the Festival. Last summer three chamber music ensembles presented outstanding concerts on the south rim of this most inspiring of all natural wonders.

"It was magnificent," Craig relates. "The beauty of the Grand Canyon at sunset combined with the relaxing music created a most enjoyable mood."

The concerts proved so successful the National Park Service has invited the groups back for six performances this summer. For mid-1976, the Park Service has granted the Festival $10,000 to produce a special bicentennial program at the Grand Canyon tracing the historical, religious and cultural directions of Arizona from the 18th century.

The program, "Arizona: Kaleidoscope of Cultures," will unfold through music, dramatic narration, dance and a unique multi-media art presentation. It promises to be a high point in the Nation's 200th birthday celebration.

For Craig, the rim concerts climaxed two years work with the Park Service to arrange the performances. "We're hoping for a full symphony concert on the rim; eventually we may be able to run dual seasons with events at the Canyon and in Flagstaff."

Essential in the director's planning for future Festivals is "the name artist" to add excitement and glamor. "My philosophy is to shape the Festival into a true festival of the arts," he explains. "We must engage the best artistic talent we can find and build each season from there. In this way, we can entertain with top professionals and educate with a wide spectrum of art forms."

Craig keeps in close contact with the widespread cultural scene. He meets with managers of other summer festivals throughout the country to see their organizations first hand, and particularly is impressed with the event at Saratoga Springs in eastern New York.

Situated 180 miles from metropolitan New York City, this small community of less than 20,000 is a major recreational Area well known for its medicinal springs and race track. Saratoga Springs is the summer home for the New York City Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City Center Acting Company.

Craig forsees the Flagstaff Festival evolving in a similar direction. "I hope someday we'll be the home of a top ballet company and can form our own theater company much the way our fine orchestra was developed."

He strongly believes the Flagstaff Summer Festival will become the best . . . a celebrated, highly respected cultural attraction. Given the quality of the past nine seasons and the positive outlook for the future, that prophecy seems very likely to come true.

FESTIVAL-75 An Artistic Milestone For Arizona

For its tenth season, the Flagstaff Summer Festival of the Arts brings to Arizona the richest, most varied cultural overture in its history.

Notable new attractions are the famed Atlanta Ballet Company, talented actress Patricia Barry, the Romeros classical guitar ensemble, pianists John Browning and Rico Saccanti, opera sensation Roberta Peters, versatile actor Alexander Scourby, and the ever popular country music star Marty Robbins.

The two months of Festival activities commence June 15 and draw to a close August 3. The opening will feature chamber music and a special photography show showing arranged through the Western Association of Art Museums. The photo show first ever offered by the Festival will present "Suburbia" by Bill Owens, "Brooklyn" by Renee Gelpi, and "Barrio Environments (of Tucson)" by Louis Bernal. The display will run through July 12 in the NAU Art Gallery.

Festival Art Director John Armstrong, art curator of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities, is bringing several distinctive exhibitions this year. Among these is "Intro-74" June 18-July 9, a watercolor, oil and sculpture dis-play by Young Artists of San Francisco; and "Best of the Southwesterns" July 9-August 3. The "Southwesterns" will offer the top selections (paintings, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture) from the past nine Southwest Invitational shows of major work by Arizona artists. Both shows will be in the lobby of the new NAU Creative Arts Concert Hall.

A special one-man showing by noted San Francisco artist Noel Betts and sponsored by the University Art Gallery will be unveiled July 18. The exhibit, "Cities of the World," will run through August 8 in the Gallery.

Completing the Festival art offering are two photography displays by Flagstaff's Dick Arentz: "Austrian Portfolio, 1973" June 16-August 3 in the Arizona Bank Gallery (University Branch) and "The American Southwest" June 29-July 12 at the Flagstaff Community Cultural Center.

Two famed events at the Museum of Northern Arizona the Hopi and Navajo Craftsman Shows will give the Festival a unique Arizona flavor. The Hopi artisan shows a distinct styling in original creations from pottery to Kachina dolls. Visitors will have the opportunity to observe these craftsmen at work when the 42nd annual show opens July 3 for three days. It becomes an official part of the Festival for the first time.

The colorful crafts of the Navajo take the spotlight July 27 through August 3. The Navajo genius for bold color and design is most evident in their well-known rugs, blankets and sandcast silver jewelry.

Early in the Festival schedule are return performances by the popular Scottsdale Theater for Children; then June 21, the powerful, dramatic actor Alexander Scourby will present an exciting characterization in "Walt Whitman's America." Scourby, veteran of scores of Broadway productions, movies and television shows, has also won acclaim as a sensitive narrator of TV documentaries such as the National Geographic Specials. Scourby's theatrical presentation will be the first major Festival event in the Creative Arts Concert Hall, home to all but one Festival-75 concert and dance productions.

The following week, country-western music makes a Festival debut with one of the nation's top country singers, Marty Robbins. A versatile performer, Robbins is an accomplished musician, actor and composer who has penned more than 400 songs and collected several Gold Record and Gold Guitar awards. Marty Robbins and Company will present two evening concerts June 28.

Dance takes the stage a few days later when the renowned Atlanta Ballet, oldest regional ballet company in the nation, presents the first of five performances. The Company's repertoire extends from elegant, classical works to expressions utilizing the modern dance technique and ingenious blends of both styles. The Atlanta Ballet performs July 2 through 6.

The curtain goes up on the season's second theater highlight on the eve of America's 199th Independence Day. Actress Patricia Barry will star in the Neil Simon hit "The Gingerbread Lady," opening July 3, and be featured in Tennessee Williams' intense "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," opening July 10. The plays, produced in cooperation with NAU Summer Theater, alternate July 13 through 19. Miss Barry's illustrious career has bridged radio, TV, Broadway and motion pictures. Her dramatic television roles have earned her three Emmy nominations.

NAU Professor Clifford White will direct Miss Barry in "The Gingerbread Lady," and Professor Gordon Greene will take the director's chair for the second production, both to be presented in the NAU Creative Arts Theater. The core of actors and technical assistants will be students from the University's graduate theater workshop.

The Festival's emphasis swings back to music July 12 when the Romeros demonstrate their amazing guitar artistry. Calendonio Romero and his three sons Celin, Pepe and Angel have been celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic as the world's finest classical guitar ensemble. The family left Spain in 1958 to settle in the U.S. and through the years have performed as a quartet, in duo combinations and as soloists. The results are always spectacular.

Last season, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans captivated the audience - largest in Festival history - with their zesty, swinging style of original New Orleans jazz music. These giants of jazz will be back this season, playing the music they've played for 40 years.

The fifth week of Festival-75 kicks off July 14 with chamber music featuring the talents of select artists-in-residence. Chamber music ensembles for this season are a string quartet, woodwind and brass quintets, and the winning group from the Festival's first state-wide chamber music competition.

Flagstaff violinist Mary Lou Galen is the guest soloist when the full chamber orchestra, under the dramatic direction of Izler Solomon, takes the stage for an evening of classical music July 19. Miss Galen is concertmaster of the Flagstaff Symphony and has performed as Festival soloist many times.

Noted as one of the foremost American conductors, Solomon has directed the Illinois Symphony, the Women's Symphony of Chicago, the Columbus Philharmonic, the New Orleans Summer Symphony, the Buffalo Symphony and others during his 44-year career. Since 1956 he has been conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony. Solomon does not use a baton to conduct (although he did so for 16 years) and says, "Conducting is the most personal kind of leadership; a baton seems to limit my powers of expression."

The Festival's music marathon continues July 20 when the chamber orchestra presents a variety of classics. On tap as soloist is the principal 'cellist of the Phoenix Symphony, Takayori Atsumi. Atsumi has become a favorite with Festival audiences for his past solo appearances.

Arizona pianist Rico Saccanti joins the impressive 80-member Festival orchestra as guest soloist July 23. The young Tucson native has already won considerable recognition as a recitalist and as soloist with numerous orchestras. He is the winner of top regional and national competitions and has honed his musical sensitivities with studies in Europe.

The weekend of July 26 and 27, the lovely Metropolitan Opera star Roberta Peters makes her Festival debut with one concert each evening. Miss Peters has dazzled European audiences in the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; and the Bolshoi, where she became the first American-born artist to receive the coveted Bolshoi medal. In the U.S., she has starred in 37 different roles at the Met; performed in every major American city; and made more television appearances than any other opera star in history.

Denis de Coteau, conductor of the San Francisco Ballet Company and the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, returns July 30 as guest conductor of the Festival "Pops" concert series. Dr. de Coteau is professor of music and conductor of the orchestra at California State University, Hayward.

The final three days of Festival-75 begin August 1 with a musical program featuring the symphony and the NAU Summer Music Camp Honor Chorus. The following evening, pianist John Browning takes the solo spotlight in a guest role. Browning is a familiar figure on concert stages, performing regularly with leading orchestras here and abroad. In an era of fine pianists, he shows a rare combination of musical insight and immaculate technique. The August 3 finale of the Festival is a repeat of the "Pops" concert staged four days earlier.

Sprinkled throughout the eight week schedule are the popular film classics, beginning with the 1925 Rudolph Valentino silent, "The Eagle" and concluding with the 1941 production of "Citizen Kane" with Orson Welles. Other titles include the "Broadway Melody" hits, "Wuthering Heights," "Bringing Up Baby," "The Goldwyn Follies," and "The Ziegfield Girls." Festival Managing Director Chris Craig refers to the 14 cinema offerings as the "Tuesday-Thursday series," since dramatic films are shown Tuesdays and lighthearted musicals on Thursdays.

Tickets for Flagstaff Summer Festival 1975 cost from $1 to $6; children under 12 are admitted for half-price. All art exhibits are open at no charge. Further information and tickets may be secured by writing the Festival, P.O. Box 1607, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, or calling (602) 774-1291.

Rustic architecture lends a southwestern atmosphere to Festival art exhibits. - MANUEL ROMERO

The Indians of Paul Pletka

The end of the last century brought about the final reign of the North American Indian. Beaten and broken physically but triumphantly hanging on to pride and spirit, he reluctantly gave way to the Euro-American way of life. Those last few years between 1860 and 1900 reflect a people defeated by disease, starvation and vast numbers of a foreign invasion. Refusing to give up a lost way of life, the American Indian clung to a great pride and desire to live. Then, as now, artists captured the way the American Indian looked and dressed, but few painted their trials and tribulations, their moods and emotions.

Paul Pletka, artist, 28 years old, native of Colorado, paints his knowledge, understanding and feeling of the American Indian. Artists traditionally paint pictures-Pletka paints feelings. Seeing Pletka on canvas is seeing a proud people in a life style and culture now gone. Pletka paints with a knowledge of his subject unlike few artists today. Pletka's knowledge of the subject matter allows him to paint the American Indian as he feels about their culture. His research is vast, and as a result, he does not have to paint the Hollywood picture of Indians burning wagon trains or sitting in front of a teepee after a hard day of chasing Custer. Pletka researches subjects of which only a few EuroAmericans in the 18th and 19th centuries witnessed. Lewis and Clark, Schoolcraft, Catlin, and Alfred Jacob Miller each painted or wrote about the everyday life of the Native American Indian. Pletka understands what they have written: Combined with his ability as an artist he is able to put his feelings on paper. Pletka describes and brings forward a people of another time and place, cultures lost, and feelings which no camera can record. Writer Marlan Miller, in critiquing Pletka's one man show at Ashton Gallery in Scottsdale writes: "Pletka brings an intensity and power which is new to his interpretation of the Indian he has studied so thoroughly. He combines magnificent draftsmanship, rich deep-keyed colors and a fine sense of pictorial organization, and eloquent drama in his acrylics and watercolors. There is an artistic maturity far beyond Pletka's 28 years."

And I came upon your voice through the colors of changing rainbows.

Looked around and found what I wanted in your paintings, they make me happy.

You do justice to my people. Nora Naranjo, Taos Pueblo LEFT: "Stone Talker" is a portrait of Charles Loloma as the artist sees Loloma inseparable from his work. BELOW: Full-frame painting from the front cover, "All the Kings Men" couldn't put the Indians sacred existence back together again and neither could the corrupt Gov ernment-appointed "chiefs." These Blackfeet chiefs wear the traditional "stand-up" headdress reserved for occa sions of political or ceremonial importance. Each man wearing these headdresses has been credited with some important deed to be allowed to wear the headdress.