To these ears, predisposed by years of living in New Orleans, the evening's highlight was a short piece by another composer seasoned under the tutelage and leadership of Gillespie. It was Lalo Schifrin's La Nouvelle Orleans, a seven-minute sketch that combines Schifrin's classical and jazz sensibilities to encapsulate the sadness and liberating joy of a traditional New Orleans funeral procession. The Imanis, virtuosos all, captured both aspects as if they had often experienced the emotions of that march to and from the cemetery. Torin Spellman-Diaz, the oboist in the group photo above, was unable to be in Yakima. Her substitute, able and fully engaged, was James Roe, a stalwart of the New York chamber music milieu. To see bios and more photos of the regular members of the group, go here.
More about the festival is on the way, maybe later today.