Fanfare for the Sleeping Bear at Dune Climb kicks off Manitou Music Festival

from staff reports
The Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival has a new director this year, but the quality and diversity of the concerts that will resonate from the Glen Arbor area this summer haven’t changed. Debra Fayroian, a cellist in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, takes over for Crispin Campbell, a cellist at the Interlochen Arts Academy who founded the summer music series 13 years ago and turned it into an extravaganza that many of us mark on our calendars even before the birds return.

“We’re very excited to have an artist with her qualifications,” says David Early of the GAAA. “She is an accomplished cellist who has run music programs in the Detroit area.”
As usual, the annual Dune Climb concert will ring in the festival, to be held this year on Sunday, July 18 at 7 p.m. at the dune’s well-known location on M-109 near Glen Haven. The Bill Lucas Jazz Quartet will play the world premier of Fanfare for the Sleeping Bear, a tribute to the great dune through the voice of brass chorale, to go with classics from the Avatar Bass Quintet. In addition, renowned local poet Anne-Marie Oomen will read poetry inspired by the legend of the Sleeping Bear Dune.
“We’re grateful to have the opportunity to work with the Park in this cooperative endeavor and happy to provide family entertainment and excellent music in a natural setting,” Early continues.
The Dune Climb concert is the result of a successful “creative partnership” between the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the non-profit Glen Arbor Art Association. The family-friendly event is free of charge, yet the National Park Service charges to park in the Dune Climb lot. Overflowing parking will be available along M-109 for no charge. People are encouraged to bring folding chairs, blankets and picnics.
The Manitou Music Festival’s Chamber Music Series opens in Leland on Monday, July 19, but comes to Glen Arbor the following night, July 20, at The Leelanau School one mile north of town. Both concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m., featuring music by the Nuance Quartet — all members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Tickets for this even are $15.
Then on Sunday, July 25 at 7:30 p.m. at The Leelanau School, the jazzy-folk group Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem opens the first of three “get-down, roots” gigs, which the Manitou Music Festival has always interspersed well with classical music. Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem are “ambassadors of a new kind of American acoustic music rich in four-part harmonies, recycled percussion and instrumental wizardry.”
Keep your schedule open for August 8, when one of the most sought-after acts in Michigan, Steppin’ In It concludes the 2004 Manitou Music Festival with an outdoor benefit concert at Thoreson Farm. You won’t want to miss this one.
For more information please call the Glen Arbor Art Association at 334-6112 or visit the web at glenarborart.org. The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore branch of the National Park Service can be reached at the Empire Visitor’s Center at 326-5314.