Let's see if we can get Mary Lynn here on our speaker phone here, because it looks like our in the studio phone is having some issues. So mary Lynn, how you doing.
I'm great, How are you well?
You know, we're making good with what we've got. The storms kind of did a little number on some of our phones, but you were on the air right now, and I was just telling everybody that we've got a whole nice lineup and of course of main shows, but the showcase programs are wonderful too.
We do. We have so much the season. We're very, very excited. We kick off on June sixth through the eighth for.
Our forty first if you can believe at festival, I can't believe.
It's already forty first, but it is.
And we're going to kick off with our beloved under the Stars at will Rock Concert and that's always such a nice evening. We've pushed it back an hour this year, so gates will open at six. The first concert will go on at seven with Grady Nichols. And for those who are local to northeast Oklahoma, they're all familiar with Grady Nichols.
For those who may have just moved here, who are not. He is a wonderful jazz saxophonist.
And he is amazing, and he's bringing a three piece band with him, and so we're very excited to have Grady open.
Up at seven for.
Some nice light jazz music and you can have your picnic, grab your glass of wine and just get in the shade and sit and listen to some wonderful music. And then at eight o'clock, our Manhattan Chamber Players are returning to us from the East Coast and they will be.
Playing wonderful, wonderful classical.
Music featuring not only Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, but they.
Will also be playing Edvard Greek.
We are dedicating our festival to Edvard Greek, a very famous Norwegian composer, and we're very excited. So at each of the concerts, if you attend all of them, you'll get to here one maybe two pieces from Edward Greek, and I think it's going to be very beautiful. Tom. So we're very excited about the under the stars at Willa Rock. And of course we always have the food trucks. We always have our wine truck, which we added last year and we're bringing back.
It was very popular.
We have children's events, sort of a children's tent where families can come over and do some crafts and games while they're listening to beautiful music. And then of course the finale always is a beautiful fireworks display, and so we'll have that again for everyone to enjoy.
So are you going to come out, Tom and enjoy it? I enjoy it with us? Awesome? We can't wait.
And so now we just need everyone to pray and keep their fingers crossed for really nice weather. Last year it was almost perfect. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't windy, it was just very very nice. So we're going to keep our fingers crossed that will have beautiful weather again. So after Friday night, after we kick off, we will then have our Candle Light Concert in Tulsa at Casha Hall, and we're very excited to have our Baroque Orchestra back.
They will be opening the concert for us, and then we are going to have world renowned classical pianist Natasha Peremski who will be performing again wonderful selections classical selections, and then she will also be doing Edvard Greek for us, and so we're very excited I call Casha Hall sort of the Hogwarts of northeast Oklahoma.
It's such a cool it's such a cool venue. It's a beautiful school.
It's just a really really nice intimate It holds almost around a thousand people, but it's just it's very, very nice. And so we're always so blessed and excited to work with Kasha to be able to have our concerts there. Very easy parking, very easy accessibility, and just a lovely evening.
And so we are excited about that concert. And then we will wrap up the festival with a grand finale at the Johnstone Sair the Refinery, and we did this last year, and of course it's just such a beautiful venue with all the chandeliers and the lighting and just overlooking downtown.
It's a beautiful setting.
And for that concert, we will have Esher Court returning to it, a quartet court. We will have extra quartet returning to us. And you know, I try to tell folks that, you know, I'm old. I've listened to a lot of classical music in my day, and these guys are just absolutely pure. They are fantastic, They are amazing, They're very personable, but I think they are some of the most talented musicians that I've ever had the privilege
to listen to. And you know, they have quite an affirmations to themselves with awards and different competitions, but then just also through their own contempt phrase. They studied with is talk Peerlman and have just to me they are the is talk Peerlman of a quartet. They are just truly remarkable musicians and so we are so so glad to have them back. This is our third year in a row to have them, and I want to keep asking them to come back so long as.
We can afford them.
I'm afraid one day we will not be able to. They are just truly that talented. And so they will also be performing selections that they have chosen, and then we will also have another Edvard Greek piece, and so we're excited about that. Opening the concert for them is sort of a special treat.
We're doing something kind of unique this season.
We are having three of Lisa Steele's piano students who will be performing at six. We have Nick dou Eric lu and Banie and these young talented pianists are remarkable. One of the three I have been told will probably be Sunday, a actual classic concert pianist, and he plays as though he is an.
Adult, professional classic concert pianist.
But all three of them are just amazing, and I really hope and encourage folks to come out in here and just cheer on these kids and encourage them to continue pursuing whatever they want to do, whether it's a career or just for their own pleasure, but continue pursuing their piano playing because they really are very.
Very talented.
So that will be at six, sure goes on at seven, and then that will conclude.
Our festival, but it is a lot.
And then of course during the daytime we have all of the showcase events. So on Friday we have the Bartlesville Ringers, which are a wonderful ensemble of bell ringers that will be at First Presbyterian Church at ten. We then have Trinity Recorder Consort at eleven a m which is an ensemble of players who will play the recorder as just as it's and then at one o'clock we will have our very own Wade Daniels who will be performing a piano recital which will.
Be very lovely.
He has all kinds of classical pieces. But then I think he also has Bershlin in his ensemble, and so I know Wade is an amazing pianist himself and he will do a fantastic job, so people love to hear him play. So again, those are all at First Presbyterian Church. On Saturday, we have a portion. We have four players from the Manhattan Chamber Players that will be performing for us at our own Ambler Hall at eleven am on Saturday, June seventh, and so that was very well attended last
year and we're very excited to have them back. A very special treat for some of them to stick around and play for us. And then on Sunday at two pm, we have the OKM Youth Keyboard Orchestra and that's our very own youth keyboard Orchestra again to give it a shout out. Lisa Steele is in charge of that and she is doing an amazing job with these students. We have about twenty kids plus that are enrolled into this keyboard orchestra and they play on keyboards but play the
sounds of a full orchestra. And I've been helping her get the music for that, and I think it's going to be quite spectacular again we have some Edvard Grieg, we have a Harry Potter, and we have some other classical pieces that I think folks will really enjoy. And I have to give a shout out Tom to our
keyboard orchestra. It is a really unique ensemble and as far as we know, we are the only full time youth keyboard orchestra in America, and so that is really something to be proud of and it just continues to grow. So we really hope everyone will come out and listen to that. We had a Christmas concert, over three hundred people attended.
It was just amazing. The kids did a wonderful, wonderful job.
Clock concert will actually be our older performers performing. The younger keyboard orchestra students will have performed the week before at our Kids Festival, So please come out listen to them. First Presbyterian Church two pm on Sunday, and then we conclude our showcase with a very famous performer, Elvis, who is performed by Brent Ginnons, our very own board member, singer, songwriter, country singer. Brent does Elvis impersonations and has won all kinds of awards.
And everyone just loves listening to him.
Sing as Elvis, he dresses up, he does the whole thing, and he will be doing some of Elvis's.
Popular pieces, but also.
Doing gospel since it is on Sunday, and that will be at the Refinery again on Sunday, June.
Eighth at four pm.
So, as you can see, we have quite a bit and you never know what Mike else get added in. Sometimes we have some surprises for our patrons.
But tickets are on sale right now.
If folks want to go to okmmusic dot org and our phone number is nine one eight three three six nine nine zero zero, or they can come see Rose Andite at four fifteen South Dewey. And actually, Tom I forgot to say. We have a new employee, Katie Swan just joined us this week and she can also sell tickets to our patrons, so please come by, introduce yourself, come meet Katie.
She just started on Monday.
Nice, very good.
Yeah, you guys are growing up having an amazing festival. We have an amazing staff.
So please come buy and see us and get your tickets.
Well very good, and of course the tickets can be found right there at your website okmmusic dot org and you can find out a little bit more in depth about the artists as you get ready to make your selections for tickets. Now I want to lightly touch on especially for kids. I know that that has just been like blowing the phone off the hook.
It has been.
I mean, we have a full schedule again that kicks off on May thirtieth through June eighth, and the day that we launched it was an insane We have never had that rush of people.
I mean, it always sells out if you will. The events are free.
Reserves out might be a better word, but oh my goodness, we are almost I think two thirds sold out for the tea and then we have over I think it's like at fourteen hundred reservations at this point. So please you go onto our website check it out again. It's okay at music dot org. Check out all the programming we have. It kicks off on Friday, May thirtieth with
our Younger Keyboard Orchestra. They're putting on a concert, and then on Saturday we have tea time in Arundelle, we have the SunFest Dancing Eagles.
We'll be out at SunFest with the kids doing hoop dancing.
On Sunday, we have a really special art emmerger and boogie bingo that night for families. Monday, on Tuesday we have story times and then on Wednesday we have wonderful puppet shows. On Thursday we have another art immersion, and then we do our really fun Jamming with Trolls event at at Unity Square and then again on Sunday during the main part of the festival the older keyboard kids.
So we have over twenty events, most of them all of them are free except for the tea and then that is ten dollars and on our tickets to Tom for the festival to share. We tried because we know the economy has been hard, It's been difficult and times
have been uncertain, but hopefully times are getting better. But this year we tried to actually cut our ticket pricing just to help everyone, because part of our mission is making music accessible to all and we felt like maybe that was a gift that we could give back, and so we really hope that that will help everyone. We have student ticket price, we have senior ticket prices, we have VIP tickets, and then we have general admission. So please go on the website and check all of that out.
Make sure if you want to come to, especially for kids, that you do go ahead and reserve your spot because the venues are smaller, and even though we have multiple showcase events for the kids, you still need to go on reserve your spot because it will be by reservation.
All right, Marylynn, hang on the I'm going to talk to you off here here in a second. But folks, you have been listening to our community connection residential and