Bountiful Harvest
Photography: Courtesy of Deer Valley Resort
While thousands of music fans sip cold beverages and listen to the likes of George Benson or Pancho Sanchez on the grassy hillside at Deer Valley Resort this August, it may seem unlikely that the Park City Jazz Festival evolved not in the offices of some big-name record promoter, but from an idea cultivated by Park City retirees Lew and Arlene Fine.
Before launching what is now one of the West’s most renowned celebrations of jazz, the Fines had no connections to the music industry, great wealth or event planning experience. Their only qualifications were a love of jazz and the community in which they live. “Park City has been so good to us over the years,” says Arlene, “we simply wanted to give something back.”
“Grassroots” is the best way to describe how the Fines developed their idea for a jazz festival in Park City. In the beginning, the couple spent hours meeting with local business owners and other sponsors trying to secure funding. It wasn’t until Fidelity Investments stepped in that the Fines knew their dream could become a reality. The first festival, held in August 1998, headlined with jazz legend Ray Brown and was attended by just over 2,000 people. This year’s festival (August 26-28, 2005) is expected to draw at least 12,000. Scheduled performers include: George Benson, “Trio” with Bela Fleck, Stanley Clarke and Jon-Luc Ponty, Taj Mahal, Poncho Sanchez, Katia Moraes and Sambaguru, The Kenny Garrett Quartet, Sam Cardon, The Park City Jazz Foundation All-Star Band, Eric Darius and The Shelly Berg Trio.
In addition to this now nationally renowned Fidelity Investments Park City Jazz Festival, other festivals have not only been born, but are thriving
in this small Wasatch Mountains community.
“We became part of a trend we didn’t even know existed,” muses Leslie Harlow, founder of the Park City & Salt Lake City Music Festival. Harlow, a West Texas native, moved to Utah from New York City to play with the Utah Symphony in 1983. She quickly realized what a spectacular venue Park City would make for a chamber music festival. “In the tradition of other great music festivals like Aspen or Tanglewood, I wanted to provide a venue where the best individual classical players could come to perform together,” says Harlow.
With help from former Kimball Art Center Director Carol Cordray, Harlow presented Park City’s first chamber music festival in 1984. It showcased some of the country’s best chamber music talent, including current concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, William Preucil; New York Philharmonic concertmaster, Glenn Dicterow; and violist Paul Neubauer of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Now in its 21st season, the Park City & Salt Lake City Music Festival is just one of many projects that Harlow, along with her husband Russell, operates under the auspices of the Park City Chamber Music Society. Other projects include the Film Music Festival held during the Sundance Film Festival each January, and performances on several major movie soundtracks.
Familiar faces and sounds make up Park City’s newest musical event, the Utah Symphony & Opera’s Deer Valley Music Festival, a consolidated and repackaged version of the symphony’s popular summer concert series held at Deer Valley Resort for more than 20 years. Performances range from classical and chamber to pops and comic opera with special guest artists such as the Gatlin Brothers and the Muir String Quartet.
“The Utah Symphony is a great event collaborator for Deer Valley and really just another extension of the arts in Park City,” says Ginger Ries, Deer Valley Resort events and marketing manager. Though the 63-year-old Utah Symphony has a deep and loyal fan base in Salt Lake City, Ries says the uniqueness of the venue helps the symphony tap into an audience to which they may not otherwise have access. “The venue and mountain atmosphere lend a performance element not found at an indoor venue,” she says.
While there’s no doubt that large-scale events like those discussed have helped put Park City on the summer concert map, warm weather live music options in Park City and its environs are hardly limited to these larger events.
The Park City Performing Arts Foundation (PCPAF) presents both the Wells Fargo/PCPAF Summer Concert Series on Wednesday nights and the Big Stars, Bright Nights concert series—which last year featured Kenny Loggins, Mavis Staples and Chris Isaac. This summer’s line-up includes The Pointer Sisters on July 7, B.B. King’s 80th Blues Bash, featuring B.B. King, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa on August 17, and up to three additional acts yet to be announced as of press time.
PCPAF moved the free Wednesday night concerts to Deer Valley last summer after these well-attended performances outgrew their original venue, City Park. “Over the years, the Wednesday night concert series evolved into much more than just a concert, but a summer social event,” says Teri Orr, PCPAF executive director. Audiences typically exceeded 1,000, Orr says, making it neither smart nor safe to keep holding the concerts in City Park. Fans eagerly followed the series to Deer Valley, where attendance has comfortably doubled.
The Canyons, in keeping with its mission to be a year-round entertainment and recreation venue, has widened resort-based summer music offerings with a free Saturday night concert series, held at the base area Forum, July 9-August 13. “We’ve bumped the talent up a notch for this summer’s series. People will recognize most of the acts we’ve booked,” says The Canyons’ Public Relations Director Katie Eldridge.
Finally, Mountain Town Stages, Park City’s quintessential purveyor of local musical talent, offers an entire summer of free musical performances at several Summit County venues including Park City’s Main Street, Park City Mountain Resort, The Canyons and the nearby town of Peoa. This classically-grassroots organization was founded in 2000 by local music aficionado Randy Barton, who remains at the organization’s helm today. In addition to its outdoor summertime performances, Mountain Town Stages also hosts three indoor concerts at Park City’s Egyptian Theatre every year.
As the song says, “The hills are alive with the sound of music” during a Park City summer!
Outdoor concert lover and freelance writer Melissa Fields can be found most Wednesday evenings during the summer chasing her preschooler around the grassy slopes at Deer Valley Resort.
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