From the depths of the vibrantly colored Arboretum, the odd and sometimes random sounds of brass echoed across the densely forested hills.
While a bee buzzes across the neatly trimmed lawn and well-manicured vegetation, an assortment of musicians adds their own tunes to the summer sounds of the forest located on the southern side of the University of Idaho campus. Just in front of one of the Arb’s many ponds, dozens of musicians begin unpacking their instruments, from massive cellos to trumpets glimmering in the late afternoon sun.
As the 18th Annual Arboretum Concert gets underway, Dan Bukvich watches with approval from the shade of a nearby Juniper tree.
Bukvich, a professor of percussion and music theory at UI’s Lionel Hampton School of Music, has organized the event every year for nearly two decades.
“They came to me 18 years ago and said, ‘Would you be interested in organizing a concert in the Arboretum?’ That’s how it started,” Bukvich said.
Dan Bukvich
Bukvich looked on as Kris Roby, president of the UI Arboretum Associates, introduced the event to the hundreds of Moscow residents anxiously waiting for the concert to begin. Roby began her introduction by thanking the more than 50 performers from across the Palouse and beyond that decided to offer their talents to the concert.
“As you know, this is a labor of love for Daniel Bukvich, professor of music, and all of the musicians that are here,” Roby said. “We have musicians tonight from the University of Idaho, Washington State University, Central Washington University, the Spokane Symphony, from Spain and faculty and community members from Moscow and Pullman.”
Palouse Brass, one of the first bands to perform during the concert, put forth a lengthy set of orchestral music, which reverberated off the surrounding trees and flowers, drawing a raucous applause from the audience.
Danh Pham, conductor of the WSU Symphony, said music began to call him ever since taking classes in the seventh grade. Now, he said he enjoys spending time off in the summer performing with his fellow colleagues from both WSU, UI, and Central Washington.
“They are mostly professors from both institutions, professors or they’re affiliated with the institutions for both WSU and Idaho,” Pham said. “Some are either students, former students graduate students. A lot of players have played for both institutions quite a bit.”
Bukvich, meanwhile, said he appreciated the growing interest of the concert. While the event started as a little-known summertime event, he said the number of both performers and audience members quickly took off in recent years, leading to more involvement in the event on his part and the Arboretum Associates.
“When we first started doing it, there might have been 15 or 20 performers,” he said. “For the last couple years, we’ve had over 50, and I think this year we have 80 or some. There’s a lot of performers.”
Nevertheless, Bukvich maintained that the spirit of the concert had not been lost. At its core, it had remained the same for its 18 years.
“It’s developed a weird little reputation where people drive from Spokane and Central Washington University to be in it,” Bukvich said. “People travel a fair ways to see it. There aren’t many concerts where there are a mish-mash of a lot of different, crazy styles.”
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @brandonmtnhill