Join us online for a virtual Cook Inlet Historical Society lecture.
Free.
Advance registration is required to receive the link. Please register directly on the Anchorage Museum website by following this link: Register Here
Speaker: Laura Koenig
In the spring of 1921, ordinary people did something extraordinary: united by a desire to create art and entertain, early Anchorage residents produced Anchorage’s first full-length classical concert, A Longfellow Evening, at the Empress Theatre. On the exact centenary, Anchorage Festival of Music Artistic Director Laura Koenig presents the story behind the concert and the remarkable biographies of the original performers told through newly discovered historical images, archival documents and family recollections. This presentation is a companion piece to Anchorage Festival of Music’s full-length re-enactment of the 1921 program, released online the same day.
This talk is virtual, free and open to the public via Crowdcast; the same link can be used to review the recorded event after the program conclusion.
Musician and historian Laura Koenig received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa as the first performer awarded the prestigious Iowa Fellowship. As Artistic Director for the Anchorage Festival of Music, Dr. Koenig specializes in melding archival research with the performing arts. For fifteen years, she taught all upper division music history at UAA. Dr. Koenig serves as principal flute with Anchorage Opera and section flute with Anchorage Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Koenig also directs Fair Weather Flutes (flute choir), coaches for Alaska Youth Orchestras, and teaches flute at UAA and her private studio.
Founded in 1956, the Anchorage Festival of Music is a non-profit community organization dedicated to providing local musicians and audiences great music. Now in its 65th season, Anchorage Festival of Music is known for its concerts frequently held in non-traditional venues with educational components woven into every performance.
Photo credits (left to right):
1. The Empress Theatre interior: Anchorage Museum, Library and Archives, AMRC-aec-g532, Alaska Engineering Commission Collection
2. Jane Mears, UAA-Archives and Special Collections, hmc-1063-b1-f4-42, Frederick Mears Family Papers, 1878-1941
3. Prof. William Parish at the organ, courtesy of Chris Ashenbrenner
4. Frontispiece, Thomas Anderson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Wreck of the Hesperus: A Cantata" (9999), Maine Sheet Music Collection. Score 745, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-me/745
5. Linnea Williams, courtesy of Joan Jackson
6. Charles Kemp, 1894 Glee Club, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College, "Musical Clubs," Dartmouth College Photographic Files, 1894, Dartmouth Digital Library Program, collections.dartmouth.edu/archive/object/PhotoFiles/PhotoFiles-Icon1647-1312-0000003
7. Martha Beeson, courtesy of the Beeson family
8. “Choral Society Triumphs,” Anchorage Daily Times, April 12, 1921, 5
9. Ulu Thompson, Lewis H. Moomaw (Director) (1923), The Cheechakos (Alaska Moving Pictures Corporation, 8:40)