Local teen to make debut with symphony

By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter

The return of Glacier Symphony and Chorale to Libby also will be a 16-year-old Libby violinist's debut with northwest Montana's award winning orchestra.

Kira Lee, who began playing after receiving a violin for her 7th birthday, joined the Glacier Symphony and Chorale on a trial basis one month ago.

"It's a big-time commitment," said Lee, a junior at Libby High School. "We're playing amazing music, which is challenging. It's been great fun."

"I was excited for her," added Kim Lee, who is Kira's mother. "She's just a student and not as accomplished, but it's a great start and a great chance. The fun of playing music is playing with others. She gets kind of lonely just practicing in her room."

Kim Lee and her husband, Cyrus, won't miss Saturday' Nov. 18 performance at the Memorial Center. Hosted by Lincoln County Community Foundation, the concert begins at 7 p.m.

Patron tickets are $50 and include dessert, a champagne reception and reserved seating. Other tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for students.

Tickets can be purchased at Cabinet Books and Music or Kootenai Drug in Troy, or by calling 293-4838.

As for Kira Lee, her mother had wanted her to begin playing an instrument at a young age. A friend with a doctorate in music suggested the violin.

Kira Lee had her own interest in the violin after seeing a performance in Libby by a fiddle group known as the Tanner Sisters.

"I thought that was really cool," said Kira Lee, who was 6 years old at the time.

After getting her first violin, Kira Lee began taking lessons with Renee Rose and later with Linda Kuntz, both in Libby.

Learning wasn't easy.

"It was different because both hands are doing something different," Kira Lee said. "I had to take things slow and didn't get to play real songs at first."

Within a few months, she was playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Mary Had A Little Lamb."

Kira Lee continued with lessons in Libby up to seventh grade. Then she began taking them with Glacier concertmaster Sam Taylor at North Valley Music in Whitefish. That's how Kira Lee got involved with the symphony and chorale.

"It's something I wanted to do for awhile," she said.

"She's kind of an island onto herself here because she's a high school student that plays the violin with no orchestra here," added Brenda Nagode, a music teacher at Libby High School. "It's great that she has a group to play with. They play a lot of topnotch things. It's like the big leagues."

In addition to weekly two-hour drives to Whitefish for lessons, Kim and Kira Lee also travel to Kalispell for weekly 2 1/2-hour evening practices with the symphony.

Kira Lee looks forward to this Saturday's concert in Libby.

"I think it's a good thing for people to get to see what I do," she said. "I don't think a lot of people know."

Kira Lee in October performed with the All-State Orchestra. Last summer she participated in chamber orchestra program at Montana State University in Bozeman.