BLAIRSVILLE — New York’s Sassafras Ensemble will perform three concerts for the Blairsville Music Festival at 7 pm July 28, 29 and 30 at three different venues.
The ensemble’s first concert, the Murphy Lot Benefit Concert, will feature Alexander Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 and selections from the Danish Quartet Woodworks on July 28 at the Blairsville Amphitheater.
The second concert will feature Reinhold Glière’s violin and cello duos, Béla Bartók’s “Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm” and Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 4 “Dumky” on July 29 at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church.
The third concert will feature Antonín Dvořák’s “American Quartet” and Johannes Brahms’ “Piano Quartet in C minor” on July 30 at United Presbyterian Church.
Each concert is free to attend, but attendees can make donations in any amount during the Murphy Lot Benefit Concert to support transforming the Murphy lot, a vacant lot at East Market and South Stewart streets where the former GC Murphy building once stood, into a public park.
The three evenings of performances were coordinated by ensemble member Avitol Mazor, originally from Israel, and his wife Sarah Marshall, originally from Blairsville. Although these performances will mark the ensemble’s first official Blairsville Music Festival, Mazor said he held an impromptu concert last year at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church to raise money for the Murphy lot public park project.
“It’s a project I care about personally,” Mazor said. “When we just started coming to Blairsville, I remember watching the Murphy building being torn down, and I was very sad to see such a wonderful building be demolished. When I heard the town was putting a park in its place, I wanted to help that become a reality.”
Mazor raised about $500 for the public park project during his concert last year and hopes to get a greater turnout and more donations this year.
“We had 30 people last year with less than 24 hours notice,” Mazor said. “So, judging on that, I think it’s reasonable to expect 100 people for the performance(s).”
Mazor said he expects a smaller crowd at the Episcopal church because of the venue’s size.
Mazor is planning another Blairsville concert with the Sassafras Ensemble in October and hopes to perform music festivals in the borough seasonally. The Blairsville Music Festival will be the New York ensemble’s first music festival, and Mazor said he hopes to perform future music festivals with the ensemble throughout Western Pennsylvania.
One reason Mazor wanted to start the Sassafras Ensemble and Blairsville Music Festival was because he and his musician friends, all from New York, grew attached to Blairsville whenever they visited.
Mazor believes that Blairsville is an inspiring community for artists like himself, and he likes to visit the borough with friends and fellow musicians so they can share in the experience. In turn, he and his fellow musicians want to share classical music with the Blairsville community, an experience that is deeply engrained in Blairsville’s culture, according to Mazor.
“Looking back at the history of Blairsville, (the borough) used to have its own opera house,” Mazor said. “It seems like this kind of music is not foreign to the area. I think it was a tradition that wasn’t maintained well. Classical music is not only music; it’s a certain aesthetic, a certain way of looking at life.”
Linda Gwinn, a board member with the Blairsville Development Community Authority (BCDA), which presently owns the Murphy lot and fundraises for the public park project, saw Mazor perform last year and is letting the ensemble musicians stay in her home for the music festival this year.
“Last year’s concert was amazing, and I hope this year’s concert is equally amazing,” Gwinn said. “(The ensemble musicians) are world travelled. It’s a true ‘out-of-zipcode’ experience. This doesn’t happen every day in Blairsville, to have classically trained musicians from New York City come and play.”
The Sassafras Ensemble is entirely composed of New York City-based musicians and includes pianist and composer Owen Dodds, of Winston-Salem, NC; violinist Mazor; violinist and music educator Yukiko Kuhara, of Japan; conductor, producer and violinist Daniel Zinn, of Israel; and cellist Gustavo Antoniacomi.
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