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    Dubois audience begs for more classical music after Sunday concert

    (Dubois, WY) – Judging from a survey taken at intermission, the audience at Sunday’s chamber music performance in Dubois enjoys classical music performances and wants more of them.

    “It made my heart soar!” wrote one.

    “Great change from Western folk. Super musicians,” said another.

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    Someone else enjoyed “the great variety of music” (ranging from Mozart and Tchaikovsky to Shelley Washington, a living composer born in Kansas City) “and the extraordinary talent of all musicians.”

    Held in the intimate space of historic Dennison Lodge, the concert featured a string quartet of top-rank national musicians brought to Wyoming by Jackson Hole Chamber Music. For the second year in a row, a local committee of music lovers has won grant funding to allow Fremont County residents to hear highly professional musicians and watch them in performance, close up — without traveling all the way to Jackson to attend the concerts in their September season.

    “The musicians were amazing and so approachable!” said one audience member, perhaps responding to the remarks that performers made before each of the pieces.

    “I’ve been coming to this valley for 42 years, to perform, to recreate, and to enjoy the pie,” laughed violinist Jennifer Ross, with an insider’s reference to the Cowboy Café. “I know that it is a unique place, with a tremendous amount of diversity, and I am pleased that we can contribute to that diversity.”

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    Before launching into a duet for violin and viola by Mozart, both performers spoke briefly about the history of their instruments. Violinist Robert Uchida said that his instrument was made in 1770 and violist Katherine Murdock added that her viola was made before Mozart was born – making it quite possible that the very duet they were about to perform had been played during the composer’s lifetime.

    Among the 29 audience members who did not attend the first concert in the Dubois series last year, 90% said they enjoyed the performance more than they expected. Audience members were unanimous that they would like to return for a similar performance next year.

    “Please more advertising!” wrote one. “Let’s fill the hall next year!”

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    The 2022 season of performances by Jackson Hole Chamber Music continues until next Sunday in Jackson. Dubois Chamber Music, which organizes the Fremont County event, intends to continue doing so.

    You can hear a sample of the Dubois performance below.

    This year’s concert was supported by grants from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, the NeverSweat Recreation Board, and the Opportunity Shop Foundation.

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