The Rocky Mountain Strings are headed to Belgium and France in August.
So to give these young violinists, who live in Summit, Wasatch and Salt Lake Counties, a chance to hone their performance skills, the group has been traveling and performing for schools in Northeastern Utah.
Tonight, April 30, the group, comprised of 40 children ages eight to 14, will present a free concert for the public at the Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church.
All the musicians study the Suzuki method, a program based on nurturing children to play music before they learn to read notes.
Their performance is comprised of works from Europe and the United States, which will be played on the tour overseas, said Stacy Smith, violin teacher and Rocky Mountain Strings volunteer.
“The tour to Belgium and France is an exchange with other Suzuki students in Europe,” Smith told The Park Record. “So, keeping that in mind, we put together a program to not only showcase Scandinavian music from that culture and that region, but also to show off American music as well.”
The works include Edvard Grieg’ “Peer Gynt Suite,” a Brahms “Hungarian Dance” and another “Danse Hungroise,” which is based around Hungarian music,” Smith said.
The western works, will feature ‘Paragon Rag’ by Scott Joplin and the “West Side Story Suite, she said. The group will even throw in a couple of fiddle pieces like “The Millionaire Hoedown.”
“We put together this program because it also it gives the kids who are not going to be able to go on the European tour a chance to have the touring experience,” Smith said. “Out of the 40, we’re taking 28 to Europe.”
Some of the pieces chosen are different from what the students study in the Suzuki repertoire, said Smith, who has resided and taught violin in Heber for 12 years.
“It gives the students a chance to do something they don’t usually do. It’s a chance to learn extra music and put it together.”
Another difference is that the Rocky Mountain Strings are playing works that have been arranged by a commissioned composer.
“We had violinist Michael Mclean not to be confused with the ‘Forgotten Carols’ composer do some of these arrangements specifically for the group,” Smith said. “These works are being performed in public for the first time.”
Debbie Moench and Ramona Stirling formed the Rocky Mountain Strings in the 1990s, Smith said.
“They did it for their advanced performing students to get together and perfect their performance music every year,” she said. “All the students take private weekly lessons and rehearse once or twice a month for a couple of hours at the Canyons Church (formerly the Southeast Baptist Church) in Cottonwood Heights.”
The musicians’ roster changes every year, Smith said.
“When the older ones reach 15, they leave the group,” she explained. “Most of them have been playing since they were three.”
The group has played at the International Suzuki Association of the Americas Conferences in Chicago, Ill., and Minneapolis, Minn., and has toured Italy and Argentina.
In 2000, the Rocky Mountain Strings performed in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The Rocky Mountain Strings’ season runs from September to May, Smith said.
“They work on their music all year and they are looking forward to the Park City performance,” she said. “The group will go to Belgium August 5.”
The Rocky Mountain Strings will perform at the Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, 4051 North S.R. 224, on April 30, at 7 p.m. Admission is free. For more information about the Rocky Mountain Strings, visit www.rockymountainstrings.org.