Passing the Torch Carrying On the Mission

Performing Arts Society of Redding…

Cherie Gans, a longtime violinist with both the North State and Shasta symphonies, has enjoyed her fair share of classical music performed in large music halls. But it’s an intimate performance of an Antonin Dvorak trio by the late pianist Deborah Clasquin that stands out in her memory.

“I just cried throughout, it was so beautiful,” Gans recalls. “They did it so exquisitely. It was just over the top. You never know what heights you’re going to be hearing and what emotions will get you.”
That particular concert was performed at Pilgrim Congregational Church, one of the monthly offerings by the Performing Arts Society of Redding, a nonprofit group marking its 40th year.

Ellen Southard, an organist and pianist who taught music at Shasta College for 34 years, has been involved with the Performing Arts Society since 1987 and currently serves as board president and program director. Her motivation for signing on? “I’m a professional musician myself and I believe in presenting the best of many genres of music and art. People are really interested in keeping PAS alive. It’s a very unique organization. We’re not trying to produce big shows at the Cascade. These are nice and intimate. It really is the only place you can see and hear performances of this nature.”

Jon Walker, a pianist who moved to Redding from Hayward in the early 1980s, brought with him the idea of a performing arts society and “we all jumped on board,” recalls Gans. “It was so much fun to have that avenue where we could play. A lot of us played yearly and we’d have a year to work on our next concert. And we got wonderful pros from Arcata and other towns, but mostly it was local people.”

The SonaTrio, composed of Gans (violin), Southard (piano) and Bruce Belton (clarinet), has been a popular representative of local artists, says Morgan Fator, who served on the society’s board from 2017 until she relocated to Southern California in 2002 to advance her career as a media composer, orchestrator and score producer.

“Any time SonaTrio performed it was always delightful,” Morgan says. Other personal favorites include a concert of works by former Simpson University music professor Daniel Pinkston – “it felt like a concert you’d encounter in New York or even London. It didn’t feel like Redding” – and “all of Bruce Belton’s wonderful solo concerts featuring works for the clarinet. It stuck with me because Bruce is such an incredible player and the music was so cutting-edge,” Morgan adds.

The Performing Arts Society itself “is an incredibly important and vital organization. It has a rich history dating back to the 1980s and I think it’s important that it is one of the only groups in Shasta County that programs free shows for the community. It encourages young people to appreciate chamber and classical music without having to pay exorbitant ticket prices,” Morgan says.

Admission to Performing Arts Society concerts is free with donations for the musicians gratefully accepted. Southard says the society is supported by memberships, with annual membership costs ranging from $20 for students and seniors to $40 for a family.

“We’re trying to encourage more young people to attend and trying to encourage young people to be board members,” Southard says. “We have to pass the torch on to young people to carry on the mission.”
That torch is in good hands in the Gans family, where Gans’s daughter, Janessa Gans Wilder, a violinist, has joined her mother in performing with the Shasta Symphony Orchestra while shepherding her three children (ages 7, 9 and 11) on the violin and viola.

“Grandma is very grateful for the Performing Arts Society,” Gans says.” •

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