Events
Portrait of an Artist: John Popham, cello
6/25/26, 6 PM — Reininger Winery
WWCMF will add your name and the number of tickets you purchase to the concert guest list. We will NOT send physical tickets.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
Cellist John Popham made his WWCMF debut during the January 2026 Winter Festival. It was Tasting Music night, Beethoven’s Op. 59 No. 2. As the overly talkative Artistic Director mused about the character of the key of E minor, invoking the Brahms Cello Sonata of the same key, John gamely riffed, providing the opening melody of that piece without hesitation. In so doing, he more or less committed to being the subject of a future — now present! — PoA recital.
Long a New Yorker by way of Louisville, KY, John is a fairly recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest. In Fall 2025, he began his tenure as Professor of Cello and String Chamber Music at the University of Washington. Prior to his westward migration, he taught in the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program and served for three years as Juilliard’s Artistic Administrator for Community Engagement, where he mentored Juilliard teaching fellows; produced interactive, multidisciplinary educational programs; and curated the school’s Young People’s Concert series.
And tonight, we get to find out what makes him tick. Maybe we’ll even hear a little of that Brahms that got us started back in January…
Artists: John Popham, cello; Ronaldo Rolim, piano
All works will be announced from the stage.
WWCMF will publish a setlist on our social media channels following the performance.
Tasting Music: David Schiff, Vineyard Rhythms
6/26/26, 6 PM — Reininger Winery
WWCMF will add your name and the number of tickets you purchase to the concert guest list. We will NOT send physical tickets.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
David Schiff (b. 1945)
Chamber Concerto No. 2 for Violin and String Nonet: Vineyard Rhythms
I. Hawk (winter to spring)
II. Gaia (spring to summer)
III. Harvest (fall to winter)
It began in a winery, not unlike this very Festival. Susan Sokol Blosser of the eponymous Willamette Valley winery in the Dundee Hills approached the composer David Schiff to compose a piece to honor her mother, a violinist, and the vineyard she so loved. David accepted, and tonight we give the Washington premiere of his work, Vineyard Rhythms. The piece portrays the annual cycle from hibernation to harvest, known to viticulturists the world over.
“In the vineyard, time is circular. The vines stay put and the seasons flow effortlessly, one into the next, weaving a multicolored, multilayered tapestry. Like the vineyard, we are the same person year after year, but we each have our own season of hope, of growth, of maturing, of inactivity or withdrawal, and then of renewal. The vineyard is my metaphor for life.”
— Susan Sokol Blosser
It’s always important to taste outside of one’s own AVA, and we’re delighted to welcome some musical Pinot Noir to the Walla Walla Valley for this performance.
Artists: Natasha Bazhanov, violin; Timothy Christie, viola; Artur Girsky, viola; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Christina McGann, violin; Stephen Miahky, violin; Vanessa Moss, violin; John Popham, cello; Maria Sampen, violin; Joshua Skinner, double bass
Festival Series: Strength In Numbers
6/27/26, 7:30 PM — 510 East Boeing Avenue, Walla Walla
WWCMF will add your name and the number of tickets you purchase to the concert guest list. We will NOT send physical tickets.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
David Schiff (b. 1945)
Chamber Concerto No. 2 for Violin and String Nonet: Vineyard Rhythms
I. Hawk (winter to spring)
II. Gaia (spring to summer)
III. Harvest (fall to winter)
— Intermission —
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Octet for Strings in E Flat, Op. 20 (1825)
I. Allegro moderato con fuoco
II. Andante
III. Scherzo. Allegro leggierissimo
IV. Presto
Artists: Natasha Bazhanov, violin; Timothy Christie, viola; Artur Girsky viola; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Christina McGann, violin; Stephen Miahky, violin; John Popham, cello; Maria Sampen, violin; Joshua Skinner, double bass
Special Event: Fluid Dynamics — Rachel Lee Priday, violin
6/23/26, 7 PM — Foundry Vineyards
WWCMF will add your name and the number of tickets you purchase to the concert guest list. We will NOT send physical tickets.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
Doors open one hour before the performance.
We are overjoyed to welcome international concert violinist Rachel Lee Priday, making her WWCMF debut in a profound solo program of her own design called Fluid Dynamics. Tonight, oceanography and music meet in the land of Many Waters.
Though we are about 300 miles from the Pacific Ocean, there is precedent for this kind of briny experience. One need only belly up to the bar at Brasserie Four in downtown Walla Walla for a plate of perfectly chilled raw Pacific oysters to get in the mood… the mood for an immersive musical and aquatic experience.
Rachel was moved by the work of her colleague at the University of Washington Dr. Georgy Manucharyan, Associate Professor of Oceanography. In response to imagery from his work such as rainbow-refracting surface tension patterns on underwater bubbles, she curated a one-hour program of extraordinary works for violin by living composers and paired them with visual effects generated from Dr. Manucharyan’s research. The result is Fluid Dynamics. Echolocate your way to Foundry Vineyards and prepare for a deep dive. Come on in, the water’s just fine!
Fluid Dynamics
Leilehua Lanzilotti (b. 1983)
ko'u inoa (2017)
Timo Andres (b. 1985)
Three Suns (2018)
Gabriella Smith (b. 1991)
Entangled on a Rotating Planet (2022)
Cristina Spinei (b. 1984)
Convection Loops for Violin and Loop Pedal (2022)
Leilehua Lanzilotti (b. 1983)
to speak in a forgotten language (2022)
I.
II.
III.
Paul Wiancko (b. 1983)
Waterworks (2023)
Christopher Cerrone (b. 1984)
Sonata for Violin and Piano (2015)
I. Fast and focused
II. Still and spacious
III. Dramatic, violent, rhythmic, very precise
Artists: Rachel Lee Priday, violin; Xiaohui Yang, piano