By Reader Staff
The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint has hosted international and guest conductors since 2012 as part of its annual Music Matters! Summer Academy Youth Orchestra and Music Without Borders initiative. This year may be just a taste of things to come, as guest conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg will pass the baton, following her week in Sandpoint, to her new role as assistant conductor of the Spokane Symphony later this month.
A graduate of Julliard and a believer in music’s power to connect and heal, Samuels-Shragg co-founded the Plano Symphony Youth Orchestra Camp and helped design and play piano in the concert “Dialogue in Three Movements: An Artistic Journey of Israel/Palestine in celebration of International Day of Peace.”
Photo by Sophia Szokolay.
During her regional conducting season with the Spokane Symphony this fall, Samuels-Shragg will continue to maintain her current post with the Plano Symphony Orchestra.
“We are delighted to welcome Shira and introduce this up-and-coming conductor to our region,” said MCS Director Karin Wedemeyer.
As part of her introduction, and to help raise funds for the conservatory’s Music Matters! outreach, a sip-and-shop event will be hosted at the Pend d’Oreille Winery, on the corner of Third Avenue and Cedar Street, on Thursday, Aug. 10, from 4 to 8 p.m. Fans of the symphony and those wishing to support the next generation of budding musicians are invited to attend.
Samuels-Shragg will be on hand for a portion of the evening to mingle with guests and experience downtown Sandpoint in the summertime.
Giving — as well as taking in good food and wine — is encouraged, as the winery will donate a portion of sales to MCS, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, serving Sandpoint’s youth with quality and accessible performing arts education.
For more information on Music Matters! or the sip-and-shop event, contact the MCS office at 208-265-4444. Contributions can be mailed to: MCS, 110 Main St., Sandpoint, ID 83864, or shared online at sandpointconservatory.org/giving.
While we have you ...
... if you appreciate that access to the news, opinion, humor, entertainment and cultural reporting in the Sandpoint Reader is freely available in our print newspaper as well as here on our website, we have a favor to ask. The Reader is locally owned and free of the large corporate, big-money influence that affects so much of the media today. We're supported entirely by our valued advertisers and readers. We're committed to continued free access to our paper and our website here with NO PAYWALL - period. But of course, it does cost money to produce the Reader. If you're a reader who appreciates the value of an independent, local news source, we hope you'll consider a voluntary contribution. You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.
You can contribute at either Paypal or Patreon.
Contribute at Patreon Contribute at Paypal
Coming up this week! Don’t miss out on “Get Plowed”, a Food Summit, Folk Art, and more! See the full list of events in the 
