Dear Five seasons Chamber Music family, we are so sorry that our festival WILL NOT BE TAKING PLACE THIS WEEK, JUNE 22-29th. We have initiated a plan to create a socially responsible pandemic game plan to reach out to our friends, students, patrons, and faculty. The first step we have taken towards our virtual and socially distanced festival is the creation of our Youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf7ilpXG5Lz0OpgC3WtgR9Q/playlists
Please enjoy some great festival performances from the past by clicking the player to the right. Hit the subscribe button while you visit the Five Seasons Chamber Music youtube channel to keep up with all the latest music and information as we produce and reveal this exciting new phase of our mission to educate and engage our musical community.
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IIn March, Five Seasons was still planning to hold Festival 2020 this June. Today, we believe that, given the current state of COVID-19, we want to consider everyone's safety, especially when it comes to asking our instructors to travel, asking the schools to support our physical space at Kennedy High School, etc. We are instead going to break the festival into smaller components later in the year with residencies in Jazz, contemporary chamber ensembles, brass and small string chamber ensembles. These residencies would include live performances, live streaming, open rehearsals and master classes/coaching sessions, all with appropriate social distancing.
Your favorite faculty from Festival 2019 will join us, and dates will be announced later this summer.
In the mean time, keep practicing and know that Five Seasons is eagerly awaiting the day when we can make music together , again!!
Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival
Advance. Elevate. Inspire!
Welcome to Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival. Our team has worked hard on organizing an exciting schedule full of engaging activities and fun events. Explore our website for all the information that you need, and register today!
All festival participants will play in the festival orchestra, as well as in chamber groups for strings, piano, flute, harp, woodwinds, and brass.
Our faculty is a powerful mix of working musicians, teachers at every level from Suzuki Twinkle to university faculty, graduates of the finest music schools in the country--Juilliard, Peabody, Curtis, Eastman, Yale, Oberlin, and more.
Jonathan Welch
String Coordinator/Conductor
Jonathan Welch is in his 14th year of teaching and in his second year as Director of Orchestras at Iowa City West High School. A native of Cincinnati, Jon received a Bachelor of Music from Bowling Green State University and his undergraduate viola teachers included Csaba Erdelyi, Nancy Buck, and Howard Bebe. In December of 2013, Mr. Welch received his Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Cincinnati.
Richard Wagor
Assistant Artistic Director/Grant Writer/Technology Coordinator/Double Bass
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Double bassist and electric bassist Richard Wagor currently resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Richard, in earning his BA in music from the University of Iowa and a MM from Manhattan School of Music, has worked with various teachers including Eldon Obrecht, Diana Gannett, Homer Mensch, and Robert Kassinger. Richard has also performed in a wide variety of professional settings. Richard has played orchestrally as a member of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Principal Bass in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, and both Principal Bass and assistant principal bass in the Dubuque Symphony. Additionally, Richard has performed as a substitute bassist with the Des Moines Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, the Quad Cities Symphony, the Illinois Symphony, the Arkansas Symphony, the Brazos Valley Symphony, the Delta Symphony, the Kenosha Symphony, the Austin Symphony, and others. Richard has also played other genres of music with Bobby McFerrin, Foreigner, Sutton Foster, Sachal Vasandani, Leni Stern, Adam Schroeder, Love is Here to Stay: A Gershwin Experience, the Five Seasons Jazz Trio, Five by Design, the Roots of Rhythm Trio, Pat Smith, Jennifer Lee, Tim Daugherty, the Yale Repertory Theater, NOWIS, the Bill Shepherd Big Band, the Rod Pierson Not-So-Big Band, Ben Schmidt, Peter Hart, the Bernemann Brothers Band, and the Poor, Poor, Rich to mention a few. As a teacher, Richard has formerly held positions with the University of Northern Iowa, the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Richard currently works at Griggs Music in Cedar Rapids. Richard is a founding member and board member of the Five Seasons Chamber music and Jazz festival.
Stephanie Wagor
Festival Director
Stephanie is the founder of the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival. She began the festival over 15 years ago, and it has grown in popularity over the years to become one of the most popular music festivals in Iowa.
Get in Touch
We hope you're able to attend. If you have questions about the registration process, our schedule or general information, don’t hesitate to reach out.
3750 Cottage Grove Avenue SE
Cedar Rapids, Linn County 52403
USA
319-365-1510