Music Live at One finishes season with show about love

Whether in May, the middle of summer or February, there’s always time for love and some music to inspire love.

For its final Music Live at One of the season, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave., brings back Heidi Fivash on May 14 after snow cancelled her February program.

Organizers say Fivash’s show is a “Romantic era tour de force featuring Brahms, Liszt and Tchaikovsky.”

Fivash, a classical pianist and soprano, performs at 1 p.m. Tuesday for the 30-minute show.

She grew up writing rock songs and playing guitar and singing with Seattle bands and has continued to expand her musical palette in recent years, she says.

Fivash currently works as the piano accompanist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, teaches piano and voice at Port Angeles Music Academy and is studying with the Music for Healing and Transitions Program to become a Certified Music Practitioner in Therapeutic Music.

The program

Her program features Franz Liszt’s “Liebersträum,” S. 541, No. 3, or “Dreams of Love” set to the poem “Notturno” by Ferdinand Freiligrath; Amy Beach’s “Ah, Love, but a day!” based on Robert Browning poetry; Reynaldo Hahn’s “À Chloris” from 20 Mélodies, Book II; Josef Suk’s “Song of Love;” Tchaikovsky’s Pas de Deux from “The Nutcracker,” Op. 71 on piano; and Brahms’ Intermezzo No. 2 in A Major, Op. 118.

Fivash said Brahms composed six pieces for Clara Schumann, who was married to composer Robert Schumann, one of his friends.

She said, “Historians disagree about whether Brahms and Clara ever acted on this love, especially since they continued to be close friends for the next 30 years after Robert died … Still, it is clear how Brahms felt about Clara.”

“His love for her can also be heard in this very romantic Intermezzo,” Fivash said.

While it’s not Christmas time anymore, Fivash said Tchaikovsky’s piece from “The Nutcracker” “stands well on its own and is too good to be limited to only a certain time of year.”

The musician

Fivash holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music composition from Western Washington University, where she earned several awards and scholarships including the Presser Scholarship, awarded to just one outstanding music major each year.

Following college, she worked for several years as a piano tuner and technician.

In 2016, Fivash released an indie rock album “Out With The Old” as Heidi Five Ash.

She also has had several art pieces performed in the Seattle area, including two works for string quartet that were finalists in the Seattle Composers Alliance Call For Scores concerts. A new piano solo piece is set to premiere in April with the Ladies Musical Club, too.

Along with these projects, she’s performed with the Sammamish Symphony Orchestra as a violist, the Peninsula Singers as a soprano and the Peninsula College Jazz Ensemble as a pianist. She also performs voice and piano at local retirement communities.

The beginning

Music Live at One started more than 30 years ago as a musical outreach program to the community funding local, regional and global concerns at St. Luke’s. The half-hour concert in the church sanctuary is followed by dessert, tea and coffee, and camaraderie in the parish hall.

Tickets cost $10 at the door or in advance from the church office 9 a.m.-noon Monday-Thursday. With questions, call 360-683-4862.