Solstice Concert: Beyond The Sea

Solstice Concert: Beyond The Sea

A poetic homage to the sea in music. Music inspired by the sea has been a rich and recurring theme across cultures, genres, and centuries. The vastness, mystery, and emotional resonance of the ocean make it a powerful metaphor and source of sonic inspiration. We present poetic and evocative melodies about the sea along with the songs that use the sea as a metaphor for longing, adventure, solitude, or transformation. You will hear melodies from the Cote d’Azur, Rio de Janeiro, the Black Sea, and around the world. Experience the extravaganza of numerous genres in one concert: jazz standards, bossa nova, classical music, musical theater, and popular songs. 

More information about the artists and concert program may be found here https://pnwkobzar.org/solstice-beyond-the-sea

Refreshments provided at no charge (all included into the ticket price!)

Meet our artists. 

Baritone Mark Davies is a highly regarded solo performer throughout the United States. Roles include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, and Ping in Turandot with Pacific Northwest Opera; the monodrama A Water Bird Talk, Schaunard in La Bohème, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, Grégorio in Roméo et Juliette, and Dancaïro in Carmen with Tacoma Opera; Villager in Pagliacci with Seattle Opera; Marullo in Rigoletto and Kromow in Die lustige Witwe with Vashon Opera; Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden with Leavenworth Summer Theater; Ben in The Telephone with Marrowstone Music Festival; and Brétigny in Manon with Puget Sound Concert Opera.

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As a concert artist, Davies has performed numerous works as a soloist with orchestra, including Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Kindertotenlieder, Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solennes de confessore, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy,  Mendelssohn's Psalm 115, Schubert's Mass in G, Handel's Messiah, and the premiere of John Harbison's A Clear Midnight.  In addition, he recently made his New York debut at the National Opera Center, to critical acclaim.

Also a prominent pianist and vocal coach, Davies has worked with and accompanied artists who appear at opera houses across the country and internationally. Learn more https://www.vocalartistsmgmt.com/mark-davies

Cassio Vianna is the Director of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University, where he directs the University Jazz Ensemble and teaches jazz courses. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr. Vianna is a pianist, educator, and an award winning composer whose works reflect the broad range of musical and cultural influences he has received during his years of training. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, a Master of Music degree from Western Oregon University, and a Doctor of Arts degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Northern Colorado.

Dr. Vianna has been featured as a performer and clinician at festivals and conferences in Latin America, China, and across the U.S. He has presented at the Midwest Clinic, Jazz Education Network Annual Conferences, International Composers Symposium, NAfME Northwest and WMEA Conferences. Vianna is also a very active clinician with high school and college bands. In 2015, he traveled to China to perform and to teach a two-week program at the Guangxi Arts Institute (Nanning Province). 

In recent years, Vianna’s compositions for jazz ensembles have received national recognition, including awards from the National Band Association, Ithaca College Jazz Composition Contest, Jazz Education Network, and the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC). Vianna’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by artists such as Eric Marienthal, Wayne Bergeron, Chris Potter, Martha Reeves, Ernie Watts, the United States Army Field Band (Jazz Ambassadors), and the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra, among others. 

Vianna's compositional styles range from popular music and Brazilian jazz to classical chamber pieces and works for large jazz ensembles. His most recent CD, the album Vida (2025, Teal Creek Music) features his recent original compositions for jazz orchestra performed by a stellar group of musicians from the Pacific Northwest. Learn more https://cassiovianna.com

Mark Hilliard Wilson has an engaging approach to teaching and programming concerts that draws from the deep well of history and a desire to relate contemporary interests to universal themes. Born in Palo Alto, California in 1965 his childhood was spent moving every two years from Minnesota to Holland, to Washington DC to Payette, Idaho before his parents finally found their slice of heaven in Boise, Idaho. Mark continued to travel to Bellingham, Rochester and visit other countries before finding his base in Seattle in 1995. He founded the Seattle Guitar Orchestra in 2000 and became the cathedral guitarist at St. James Cathedral in Seattle 2006. He has taught at Whatcom Community College, Bellevue College, the Rosewood Guitar and is currently at the Holy Names Academy, his compositions are published by Seconda Prattica and performed widely. Recently Wilson premiered a concerto written for him by the Ukrainian composer Oleg Boyko. Wilson directed Guitar ensembles in the premier of a work he commissioned from Boyko at the 2023 Northwest Guitar Festival in Bellingham, Wa. In 2023 he also recorded the works of Taiwo Adegoke, changing the canon of the classical guitar with music from Nigeria. You can find music performed by Seattle Guitar Orchestra and Mark Hilliard Wilson on all social media platforms. Learn more https://markhilliardwilson.com/

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