Please join us at Gesa Power House Theatre on Saturday, June 1 from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. for an all-ages dance party, with music by DJ Mylonite, upstairs in the Electric Lounge to celebrate the beginning of Pride Month in Walla Walla.

The Walla Walla Fire District 8 will host a community presentation on "Wildfire Awareness" at Gesa Power House Theatre on Wednesday, June 5 at 7:00 p.m. The event is sponsored by Sportsman's Warehouse, 9th St Auto, L&G Ranch Supply, and Columbia REA. The presentation will include information on the November 2018 California wildfires, with firsthand pictures and accounts from local agencies, part of Washington State Task Force 2 that responded last year. The presentation will also cover Walla Walla County emergeny management programs, including: Alerts, Evacuations, Notifications, Ready Bags, Safety Zones, and Shelter in Place. Finally, the presentation will discuss what assistance property owners can provide with during a fire incident.

The opening Festival Series performance of the 2019 June season takes a close look at two distinct but related styles of composition. We have on the one hand the Sonata in D minor, Op. 75, by Camille Saint-Saëns, and the Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81, by Antonin Dvořák. One lays the groundwork for the style known as Impressionism, while the other barters overtly in the compositional movement known as Nationalism, though no less image-rich than its French counterpart. These pieces were composed about two years and 550 miles apart, the former in 1885 (Paris), the latter in 1887 (Prague).

Immerse yourself in social and educational wine festivities with Walla Walla Valley wineries, guest winemakers from the world's leading wine regions and esteemed speakers for the 7th annual Celebrate Walla Walla Valley Wine. Participate in rare vintage tastings, reserve a seat at intimate winemaker dinners and compare and share the differences of the Walla Walla Valley with other leading wine regions around the world during wine panel presentations.

Night Music. Brings to mind Bob Seger and his evident work regarding “night moves.” However, we at WWCMF are taking a different tack. Night means all sorts of things. For example, there are animals that only come out at night. Turns out, these animals make different sounds than those that inhabit daylight. Béla Bartók was a composer who was famously fascinated by night sounds. His Third String Quartet stands as a great example of music conceived with a nocturnal soundscape in mind.

WWCMF presents a program of stunning variety for our third Festival Series performance of the June 2019 season. The cast includes piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, horn, trumpet and trombone. These amazing artists perform with such outstanding ensembles as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (NY), Cleveland Orchestra (OH), Boston Modern Orchestra Project (MA) and the Seattle Symphony during the year. In June, we have them all to ourselves in Walla Walla.

Tonight, we blow out the candles on the 2019 Festival Series, literally. The program will end with a kaleidoscopic version of Happy Birthday To You. Did you know the iconic tune was composed by two American women, Patty and Mildred J. Hill? Yup. It happened in 1893, round about the time Sibelius composed the string trio that opened the very first Festival Series performance of 2019 back in January. Talk about coming full-circle. In this case, however, the famous tune has been given the “Winston Choi” treatment… That means lots of musical Easter Eggs for you to identify. It’s a mashup worthy of the 300+ birthdays we will celebrate in honor of those who attend.