Rocky Mountain Strings from Salt Lake joining with Suzuki Strings and Red Rock Singers on April 25 at SUU Music Building

Virtuoso Violinists to Perform Concert Thursday

By Marin Colby and Lindsay Szczesny

Rocky Mountain Strings, a group of 37 outstanding young violinists from northern Utah, along with the Suzuki Strings of Cedar City, will be performing in Cedar City, Thursday, April 25 at 7 p.m. in SUU's Thorley Recital Hall.

Ramona Stirling, Chandelle Fairbanks, and Ruth Godfrey direct the Rocky Mountain Strings with Shelley Astle as accompanist and Michael Thomas McLean as their in-house composer/arranger. They have toured Poland, Italy, Argentina, Belgium, Russia, and Austria since their founding in 1997. The group also performed at the Suzuki Association of the Americas International Teacher Convention in 1998 and 2006.

Rocky Mountain Strings will be performing classical favorites like Salut D’Amour and crowd pleasers like Millionaire’s Hoedown and a medley from The Greatest Showman. Cedar City's Red Rock Singers, directed by Steve Meredith, will also be featured with the visiting violinists in the song Come Thou Font of Every Blessing.

Local musicians along with current and former members of Suzuki Strings will provide an orchestra under the direction of Lindsay Szczesny for the joint performance of Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor by J.S. Bach. This rousing number will feature over 50 violinists in a fast-paced Baroque delight. Suzuki Strings students will also collaborate on the first movement of the Vivaldi A minor concerto, Long Long Ago, and May Song.

“We are so excited to be there and collaborate with the Suzuki Strings in Cedar City,” said co-director Ramona Stirling.

Stirling, founder of Rocky Mountain Strings, also directs the annual Intermountain Suzuki String Institute (ISSI) in Salt Lake City, Utah. This two-week string music camp involves over 800 students and teachers of the Suzuki method. Many of our local Suzuki students and teachers have attended ISSI and received valuable instruction and teacher training. Violin teacher and concertmistress of the Orchestra of Southern Utah, Heather Wilhelm, has stated, "I attended Intermountain Suzuki Strings Institute this past June and received Suzuki violin teacher training.  Since then, I've noticed that I've become a more effective teacher, and that my students are happier and more successful in their studies." Thanks to great organizers like Ramona Stirling, wonderful things can happen to enrich the lives of our young people. The concert at the Thorley Recital Hall on Thursday, April 25 at 7 pm will surely be evidence of that. The concert is free and the public is invited.

For more information email suzukistringscc@gmail.com

More info on Rocky Mt. Strings: https://www.rockymountainstrings.org/home
The Rocky Mountain Strings will also perform on Friday, April 26, at 7 p.m. in the St. George Tabernacle.

Photo of Rocky Mountain Strings. Poster to share designed by Heather Wilhelm.