Search for wild mushrooms and learn general classifications and identifying characteristics. Dale Johnson, who has been exploring the woods for wild mushrooms for over 30 years, will be leading this spring mushroom foraging expedition. Bring your bear spray and a basket to collect mushrooms. Guidebooks will be provided for hands on identification.

Accessibility: Hunting for mushrooms requires off-trail travel, but the education components will all take place in the parking area.

This program is free and family friendly! We know committing to plans can be difficult--your RSVP is appreciated but not required. When you RSVP, be sure to do so for each member of your party and cancel if you change plans.

Note on Woods Lake Trailhead: The drive out to this trailhead follows a long dirt road that is rough in spots. Please plan accordingly as it about a 30 minute drive from Whitefish. If using google maps, make sure the map is routing you past Beaver Lakes Trailhead.

For more information about this event and other education & community programs call 406-862-3880 or email wteducation@whitefishlegacy.org.

Effectively communicating with your team members is one of the key foundational skills of being a good leader. How well you communicate can either inspire people to do more or deflate them into “just getting by.” Muddled communication can significantly impact employee retention, production and sales results, team morale, and more.

How effective is your communication with your team members?

In this workshop you will learn:

• How to provide clear communication and expectations to set everyone at ease
• Help your team members understand WHY what they do is so important
• How to create a positive work environment where employees feel heard, respected, and motivated to contribute to the organization's success
• How trustworthy you are and how to increase it

On First Thursdays throughout the summer and fall, the art community of Whitefish comes together to host an evening of featured artist exhibits, entertainment, and light refreshments!

The Haunting of Lakeside Montana – October 3rd & 4th
Enter at your own risk…

The Cursed Mine – Wash your gems in a river of blood, if you dare.
 Maze of Shadows – Every turn brings you closer to what’s lurking inside.
 The Ghoster Coaster – Take a chilling ride through the haunted town of Lakeside, where the dead awaken after dark.

Tickets are limited – secure yours now… before it’s too late.

 42nd Annual CHMS Pumpkin Patch
 Saturday, October 4th
 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Thirty Eight, Downtown Whitefish

 Event Highlights:

• Traditional carnival games with a Montessori and autumn twist

• Pumpkins for picking

• Soups donated by favorite local restaurants

• Adult beverages & kid-friendly drinks, hosted by Averill Hospitality and Merit Financial Advisors

• Live music & entertainment

Purpose:
All proceeds benefit the Children’s House Montessori School Scholarship Fund.

Two concert time options:  6PM and 8PM. 

Join Mike Eldred on October 4, 2025 as Amazing Place Music presents a very special On the Stage performance featuring The Very Best of John Denver – an intimate evening of some of the most familiar and beautifully simple melodies and lyrics ever written.

In our “On The Stage”” series, all seating is on stage with the artist. 

Due to popular demand, your favorite local heathens are back at The Second Story... with some Halloween surprises!

Expect original songs, sketch comedy, and laugh-out-loud moments that toe the line and then dance right over it. It’s bold. It’s brilliant. And this October, it's so funny it's scary. Get in the spooky spirit and laugh 'til you die on October 5th at The Second Story!

Join Flathead Audubon and Whitefish Legacy Partners for a quiet morning of exploration into the lives of local birds while learning the basics of birding.

Binoculars and spotting scopes will be provided, but feel free to bring your personal binoculars and birding books as well! Coffee will be provided at the trailhead. Bring a mug!

This event is free and suitable for adults and mature children. RSVPs are required. Please cancel via email if you change plans. 

Note about Smith Lake Trailhead: After you turn off Lakeshore Drive, you drive ~1 mile on a dirt road to reach the actual trailhead. Keep driving until you hit the end of the dirt road! This road is rough in spots, so take it slow if using a vehicle that is lower to the ground. 

Accessibility: This walk does require travel on a single-track, dirt trail. The trail is mostly flat but a little uneven, including some rocks and roots. 

For more information about this event and other education & community programs call 406-862-3880 or email wteducation@whitefishlegacy.org.

Rooted at the Edge is a work of creative nonfiction that paints a portrait of a ranching community in a threatened landscape steeped in history, conflict, and beauty. Donna Erickson explores the hilly skirt of ground at the northern boundary of Missoula, Montana, separating the town from the wilderness beyond. The North Hills region represents the critical--and often highly personal--issues at play at the edge of many western towns. We are thrilled to host Donna for a book reading and signing event at our Whitefish gallery at 6pm on Thursday, October 9th!

“In a clear, authentic voice, Donna Erickson herds words with the same acumen and determination she developed moving sheep and cattle in her youth, drawing on her experience of her Montana home to tell a universal tale about attachment to place. She inspires us to think about the future of our surroundings with empathy and common sense, and to see how land creates belonging.” Frederick Steiner, Dean of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania and author of The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning

We’re back and excited to partner with Two Sparrows and The Patio Whitefish for our Annual Family Fall Fest! Bring the whole family for an afternoon full of fall fun.

Saturday, October 11th
12:00 – 3:00 PM
The Patio Whitefish

Enjoy seasonal favorites and family-friendly activities:

• Caramel Apple Bar
• Pumpkin Painting
• Fall Arts & Crafts
• Yard Games

Admission is FREE — all are welcome!

We can’t wait to celebrate the season with you and your family!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, join us for a night of music, comedy, and community support with Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and comedian Erica von Kleist. Her critically acclaimed jazz comedy show, “BOOBS!”, takes a hilariously bold look at everything from mansplaining to menstruation, nipples to breast reductions. Featuring piano, sax, and ukulele, Erica’s performance is rated R—for rrrrreally funny with adult themes!

This unforgettable evening benefits Logan Health’s Save a Sister program, which has provided lifesaving breast health services across Northwest Montana since 2008. Thanks to community support, Save a Sister has helped fund over 1,300 mammograms and ultrasounds, along with biopsies, lymphedema garments, and nutrition classes—removing financial barriers for women in need.

Search for wild mushrooms and learn general classifications and identifying characteristics. Dale Johnson, who has been exploring the woods for wild mushrooms for over 30 years, will be leading this spring mushroom foraging expedition. Bring your bear spray and a basket to collect mushrooms. Guidebooks will be provided for hands on identification.

Accessibility: Hunting for mushrooms requires off-trail travel, but the education components will all take place in the parking area.

This program is free and family friendly! We know committing to plans can be difficult--your RSVP is appreciated but not required. When you RSVP, be sure to do so for each member of your party and cancel if you change plans.

Note on Woods Lake Trailhead: The drive out to this trailhead follows a long dirt road that is rough in spots. Please plan accordingly as it about a 30 minute drive from Whitefish. If using google maps, make sure the map is routing you past Beaver Lakes Trailhead.

For more information about this event and other education & community programs call 406-862-3880 or email wteducation@whitefishlegacy.org.

Mastering Time & Energy: 

Strategies for Creating Purpose & Flow

October 16, 2025 12-2pm

Description:

Feeling stretched thin, burned out, want more time for YOU? This hands-on workshop is designed to help you reclaim your time and manage your energy more intentionally—so you can show up with clarity, focus, and purpose.

We’ll go beyond basic time management and dive into how your energy flows throughout the day. Together, we’ll:

• Identify energy leaks—the habits, tasks, and people that drain your focus
• Pinpoint energy inputs—what fuels you and keeps you engaged
• Do practical calendar work to align your schedule with your energy rhythms and create white space—intentional breathing room that fosters creativity, recovery, and better decision-making

Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed or simply want to find more flow in how you work and live, this workshop will give you the tools to design a more spacious, energized, and productive life.

Second workshop in series will be November 13, Own Your Impact: Leading with Confidence and Clarity

Join us for an evening exploration of forest bathing with Certified Forest Therapy Guide Sharon Stevens. Forest bathing walks are designed to open the door to the healing properties of nature. Unlike a typical nature walk or hike, forest bathing focuses on slowing down, tuning into your senses and deepening your connection with the natural world. We accomplish this through a series of simple, sensory “invitations.”

Participants should come prepared for the following:

- Long pants are recommended for off-trail travel

- Appropriate clothing for the weather and warmth for slow travel or periods of sitting

- You might bring a light weight camp stool, yoga mat or sit-upon as we may sit quietly for 10–15 minutes at a time.

- Water and snacks if needed.

This event is free and suitable for adults and mature children. RSVPs are required because spots are limited. Please cancel via email if you change plans.

Accessibility: This walk does require travel on a single-track, dirt trail, most of which is ADA-compliant. The trail is wide but a little uneven, including a slight up hill. Off trail travel is optional.

For more information about this event and other education & community programs call 406-862-3880 or email wteducation@whitefishlegacy.org.

Compass Autumn Harvest Festival  | Stress Less, Live More

When: Saturday, October 18th, 12:00–2:00 PM
Where: Compass Chiropractic – Whitefish (?? insert address)
Who: Families, friends, kids, and our Compass community (open to all!)
What: Games, treats, raffles, wellness fun, and… PIE-A-DOC ??

? Fall in Whitefish means cozy drinks, pumpkin fun, and a chance to come together as a community — and Compass is throwing the ultimate autumn celebration you won’t want to miss.

Here’s what’s waiting for you:
?? Family Game Stations – Pumpkin tic-tac-toe, ring toss, balloon wall, spoon relays & more.
?? Fall Treats & Drinks – Hot apple cider, hot chocolate, pumpkin spice goodies.
?? Wellness Experiences – Free neuro scans for kids + SoftWave demos for adults.
?? Raffle Prizes – Earn tickets at every station. More tickets = better chances!
?? Pie-a-Doc Challenge – The highlight of the day! Patients are voting now… come find out which doctor gets creamed.

Grand Opening: Emperor & Titan: Mahler 1

October 18-19, 2025

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

This grand concert features two powerful and popular works from the repertoire by Beethoven and Mahler, composers who were pivotal in launching new aesthetic courses for music, Beethoven, bridging Classical and Romantic and Mahler, Late-Romantic and 20th century. Pianist Alon Goldstein, a Glacier Symphony audience favorite, returns as soloist in Beethoven’s most dramatic and final concerto. Plus, the symphony will perform Grammy Award winning composer Jessie Montgomery’s thoughtfully compelling Hymn for Everyone composed in 2021.

Buy Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

Grand Opening: Emperor & Titan: Mahler 1

October 18-19, 2025

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

This grand concert features two powerful and popular works from the repertoire by Beethoven and Mahler, composers who were pivotal in launching new aesthetic courses for music, Beethoven, bridging Classical and Romantic and Mahler, Late-Romantic and 20th century. Pianist Alon Goldstein, a Glacier Symphony audience favorite, returns as soloist in Beethoven’s most dramatic and final concerto. Plus, the symphony will perform Grammy Award winning composer Jessie Montgomery’s thoughtfully compelling Hymn for Everyone composed in 2021.

Buy Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

Averill Hospitality Presents Live Music at The Firebrand Featuring Kenny Bowling

October 28th, 12pm - 1pm, Code Girls United office
AI NotebookLM for Event Planning:  Spend less time planning and more time on your mission

Nonprofits can learn to streamline event planning from start to finish. Centralize notes, agendas, and budgets; generate fresh ideas and checklists; draft sponsor letters and social posts; and capture feedback all in one place.  Bring your lunch and your gmail (computers provided) to see how NotebookLM brings organization, creativity, and efficiency to your events, plus try it out in a hands-on demo.

October 30th, NotebookLM for Grant Writing: Save time by centralizing funder research, summarizing requirements, and drafting proposals directly from your notes

Nonprofits can polish narratives, create compelling data summaries, and keep your team aligned all in one place. In this session, you’ll see how NotebookLM streamlines grantwriting from start to finish, plus try it yourself in a hands-on demo. Bring your lunch and your gmail (computers provided).

The Poetry of Meaning: Glacier Chorale in Concert

November 8, 2025

Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Every year, the Glacier Chorale and Chorale Conductor, Dr. Micah Hunter, wow our audience with a themed night of impressive choral music. Our chorale’s voices fill the hall with only piano accompaniment, and it is a very special musical experience and important time to support our hard working and talented chorale.

Join us for “The Poetry of Meaning,” a concert that ventures beyond mere performance to explore a captivating philosophical query: Can music truly convey meaning?  Through a carefully curated section of beautiful and masterfully performed choral pieces, we will demonstrate how meaning is intrinsically linked to the poetic spirit.  Prepare to discover how the musical interpretation of poetry transcends, or even redefines, the meaning of the poetry itself.  Whether you are drawn to the intellectual discourse or simply seek an evening of glorious choral artistry, this event promises to be deeply rewarding.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

"Let's Be Bold," a quarterly opportunity for local business women to network and tap into each other's knowledge and expertise.

Let's Be Bold is an informal, bring-your-own-lunch event where businesswomen get together to share experiences, ideas, failures and successes ... and to mentor, inspire, support and bring out the best in each other.

 Events begin with a "Mix & Mingle" from 11:45 to 12 noon, followed by a round of self-introductions, a guest speaker, discussion and some closing announcements.

David Sedaris is one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is a master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers.

Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, David Sedaris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, and Calypso. His book The Best of Me , collects 42 previously published stories and essays. Sedaris also wrote Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of fables with illustrations by Ian Falconer. He is the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. His pieces regularly appear in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” The two volumes of his diaries, Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) and A Carnival of Snackery, Diaries (2003-2020) were New York Times bestsellers. An art book of Sedaris’s diary covers, David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium , was edited by Jeffrey Jenkins. His most recent book, Happy-Go-Lucky, debuted at number one on the New York Times best-seller list. The audio version of Happy-Go-Lucky, written and narrated by Sedaris, won the 2023 Audie Award. His first children's book, Pretty Ugly (TOON Books, February 27, 2024), has illustrations by Ian Falconer and received a ‘star’ review from Kirkus.

Sedaris and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. 

Sedaris has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His audio recordings include “David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure” and “David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall.” A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). Since 2011, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled “Meet David Sedaris.”  In 2019 David Sedaris became a regular contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, and his Masterclass, David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor, was released.

There are over 16 million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 32 languages. He has been awarded the Terry Southern Prize for Humor, Thurber Prize for American Humor, Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor, Time 2001 Humorist of the Year Award, as well as the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In March 2019 he was elected as a member into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2020 the New York Public Library voted Me Talk Pretty One Day one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years.

“Sedaris ain’t the preeminent humorist of his generation by accident”   -Whitney Pastorek, Entertainment Weekly

“Sedaris has hit upon the narrative equivalent of Pepsi, or the PlayStation, or oxygen, or the haircut: something that others in the world might actually want and find useful. . .  He’s smart, he’s caustic, he’s mordant, and, somehow, he’s . . . well, nice.”   -Bill Richardson, Toronto Globe and Mail

“Sedaris’s droll assessment of the mundane and the eccentrics who inhabit the world’s crevices make him one of the greatest humorists writing today.”   -Chicago Tribune

“Sedaris belongs on any list of people writing in English at the moment who are revising our ideas about what’s funny.”   -San Francisco Chronicle

Own Your Impact: 

Leading with Confidence and Clarity

November 13, 2025 12-2pm

Description:

Leadership isn’t just about titles—it’s about presence, purpose, and the impact you make every day.

In this reflective and interactive workshop, you’ll explore what it truly means to lead—both in your personal life and within your teams or communities. Through guided exercises and group dialogue, you’ll:

• Redefine what leadership means—beyond positions or authority
• Examine the roles leaders play in different settings
• Reflect on where you naturally show up as a leader and spaces that you would like to stand more in your power

This session is about embracing your influence—stepping into your leadership with greater confidence, self-awareness, and purpose.

?The first workshop in the series is October 16, Mastering Time & Energy: Strategies for Creating Purpose & Flow 

Romantic Cathedral

November 15, 2025

Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Award winning, Ukrainian born pianist Anna Shelest, known as a champion of women composers, is featured in two exciting works for piano and orchestra by historically significant women composers. Clara Schumann’s only Piano Concerto is testament to her considerable talent as a composer and virtuoso pianist. The work is steeped in the Romantic tradition with lush harmonies and longing melodies. Chaminade’s exciting work is brilliant in orchestral colour and pianistic technique. Brahms’ symphonic masterpiece sometimes considered the composer’s “pastoral” symphony, at times envelops and soars like a Romantic Cathedral.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

THE EVEREST ENIGMA
Everest has always loomed large in our collective imaginations as the perfect embodiment of what a mountain should be: beautiful, terrifying - and yet, irresistible. But who really was the first to answer its siren call? History tells us that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent in May 1953, but there has always been a tantalizing possibility that British mountaineers George Leigh Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine may have beaten them to it. Mallory and Irvine were last seen on June 8, 1924, at 28,200 feet - just 800 feet shy of the summit - still going strong for the top. Could they have summited before they vanished into the clouds? The Everest Enigma is the tale of Mark Synnott’s quest to solve this 100-year-old mystery, a modern-day detective story that will take you from the archives of the RGS in London to high in the Death Zone, and then finally to the base of the North Face - where Sandy’s partial remains recently emerged from the ice.

About Mark
Mark Synnott is a New York Times best-selling author, a pioneering professional climber, a North Face athlete, and one of the most prolific explorers of his generation. His search for unclimbed and unexplored mountains has taken him on more than three dozen expeditions to places like Alaska, Baffin Island, Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, Patagonia, Guyana, Venezuela, Pakistan, Nepal, India, China, Tibet, Uzbekistan, Russia, Cameroon, Chad, Borneo, Oman and Pitcairn Island. In Yosemite, he has climbed El Capitan 24 times. In 2019, Mark summited Mount Everest via the Northeast Ridge, an adventure chronicled in his book The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession and Death on Mount Everest. More recently, he sailed his 47-foot fiberglass-hulled sailboat Polar Sun through the Northwest Passage, an adventure chronicled in his fourth book, Into the Ice: The Northwest Passage, the Polar Sun, and a 175-year-old Mystery. Mark’s film and television credits include work for National Geographic Television, Disney, NBC Sports, ABC, Warren Miller Entertainment, Teton Gravity Research, and Red Bull. An accomplished journalist, he contributes regularly to National Geographic magazine, and is the author of the international bestseller, The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan and the Climbing Life.

Back by popular demand, Wendy Moten will once again wow the crowd in an energy-packed, exciting celebration of gratitude to welcome in the season! Joined by Big Sky City Lights, Ross Bridgeman, Mike Eldred & band, Saturday, November 29th will be an evening to remember!

This is the fourth annual Season of Soul – a celebration of the season that takes place each November.

Handel’s Messiah

December 6-7, 2025

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Join Glacier Symphony Orchestra and Chorale for the yearly tradition of Handel’s Messiah to ring in the Christmas season! Our orchestra, chorale and four voice soloists shine in the performance of this 284 year old sacred oratorio. The Hallelujah chorus sing along creates a powerful feeling throughout the audience in the hall.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

Christmas Stroll 2025 is set for Friday, December 12th. The Christmas Stroll has been a long-standing community tradition in Whitefish, Montana. Holiday music, photos with Santa, caroling, tree lighting ceremony, & street artisans and food vendors.

The Nutcracker with San Diego Ballet

December 13-14, 2025

Saturday, December 13th at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 14th at 1:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Join Glacier Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Ballet Company, and young local dancers for the only professional, live orchestra performance of the Nutcracker in the Flathead Valley! Hear Tchaikovsky’s iconic pieces brought to life by the Glacier Symphony Orchestra and the dancing, costuming and set design of the ballet.

For Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

The Nutcracker with San Diego Ballet

December 13-14, 2025

Saturday, December 13th at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 14th at 1:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Join Glacier Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Ballet Company, and young local dancers for the only professional, live orchestra performance of the Nutcracker in the Flathead Valley! Hear Tchaikovsky’s iconic pieces brought to life by the Glacier Symphony Orchestra and the dancing, costuming and set design of the ballet.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

The Nutcracker with San Diego Ballet

December 13-14, 2025

Saturday, December 13th at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 14th at 1:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Join Glacier Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Ballet Company, and young local dancers for the only professional, live orchestra performance of the Nutcracker in the Flathead Valley! Hear Tchaikovsky’s iconic pieces brought to life by the Glacier Symphony Orchestra and the dancing, costuming and set design of the ballet.

For Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

West Side Story with Alpine Theatre Project

January 17-18, 2026

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Don’t miss this exciting collaborative performance of the iconic American musical composed by Leonard Bernstein with words by Stephen Sondheim in an exciting theatrical-concert production featuring a cast of nationally acclaimed and locally based ATP actor/singers and backed by symphony orchestra. 65th Anniversary of the Original 1961 Movie.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

West Side Story with Alpine Theatre Project

January 17-18, 2026

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Don’t miss this exciting collaborative performance of the iconic American musical composed by Leonard Bernstein with words by Stephen Sondheim in an exciting theatrical-concert production featuring a cast of nationally acclaimed and locally based ATP actor/singers and backed by symphony orchestra. 65th Anniversary of the Original 1961 Movie.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

INSIDE WONDERLAB: EXPLORING NATURE'S HIDDEN WORLDS
Step into a world of wonder with biologist-turned-photographer Anand Varma as he unlocks the mysteries of nature through cutting-edge photography techniques. In his Berkeley-based WonderLab, Anand captures the invisible behaviors of the natural world, beyond our naked eye. His images and videos reveal the hidden worlds that exist just outside of our perception, from the mesmerizing life cycle of a honeybee to the lightning-fast wings of a hummingbird. With Anand’s expert guidance, we can slow down the fast, speed up the slow, and magnify the miniature, enabling us to see the true beauty and complexity of the natural world.

About Anand
With a background in integrative biology, Anand Varma uses photography and video to share the science and stories behind things the naked eye cannot perceive - like the mating practices of jellyfish and the hunting habits of vampire bats in the Yucatan rain forest. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Anand spent several years assisting photographer David Liittschwager before receiving a National Geographic grant to document the wetlands of Patagonia in 2010. He has photographed numerous stories for National Geographic magazine, including the 2014 cover story, “Mindsuckers” - revealing the story of the world’s most resourceful parasites, the kind that can alter their hosts’ DNA and even control their minds. He has been a National Geographic emerging explorer, Media Innovation fellow, and Civic Science fellow, and has won the World Press Photo Award for best nature story.

For more information and ticket details, please visit: www.internationalguitarnight.com .

What Love Tells Me – Mahler 3

February 14-15, 2025

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Mahler’s Third Symphony has long been considered the ultimate attempt by a composer to attempt to express, in personal musical terms, the entire scope of human life and the natural world. Inspired by writings of Nitzsche, the 6 movements of this massive work encompass aspects of the natural world, human life and spiritual aspiration. The symphonic scope and expression are like non other in the repertoire, expressing the deep wonder of existence. What Love Tells Me is the title of the final movement of this expansive symphonic statement.

Tickets:  https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

What Love Tells Me – Mahler 3

February 14-15, 2025

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Mahler’s Third Symphony has long been considered the ultimate attempt by a composer to attempt to express, in personal musical terms, the entire scope of human life and the natural world. Inspired by writings of Nitzsche, the 6 movements of this massive work encompass aspects of the natural world, human life and spiritual aspiration. The symphonic scope and expression are like non other in the repertoire, expressing the deep wonder of existence. What Love Tells Me is the title of the final movement of this expansive symphonic statement.

Tickets:  https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

WCC is pleased to welcome OTTMAR LIEBERT & LUNA NEGRA to the Flathead Valley.

Ottmar Liebert?s global success can be attributed to a myriad of things ? his creative vision, his determination and a strong sense of melody. Born in Cologne, Germany, he began playing guitar at 11. As an adult he pursued his dreams of playing rock music in Boston, and then settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe was a fresh start for Liebert in many ways and in addition to returning to the acoustic guitar, he remained open to letting the place define the music he made. It was this openness to the local landscape that defined what was to become his musical style, a mix of Spanish, Mexican and World elements, strong melodies tinged with a shade of melancholy, balanced with upbeat rhythms. Liebert founded the first incarnation of his band, Luna Negra, in 1989.

Liebert has since become one of the most successful instrumental artists of the past decades, entertaining audiences around the world and releasing a catalog of 33 classic albums including live recordings, an orchestral album for Sony Classical, a binaural surround sound recording, remix albums, a lullaby and a flamenco-reggae album. 

Galaxies Beyond! Space Music of John Williams

March 14, 2026

Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

Join us for this family program featuring John Williams iconic movie music from Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, and surprise selections! We also welcome invited composer Gala Flagello for performances of her two energetic orchestral pieces, Bravado and Vitality, rich in imagery and cinematic narrative.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

4 DECADES: THROUGH THE LENS
Go on an awe-inspiring visual journey through the lens with one of the most groundbreaking photographers of our time. Jodi Cobb shattered the glass ceiling as the first - and, for a time, only - female staff photographer at National Geographic, blazing a trail for future generations of female photojournalists. Her powerful imagery gave the world unprecedented access to hidden societies, from the elusive Geisha community in Japan to the veiled worlds of Arab women. Jodi has documented power, culture, geopolitics, and oppression. Travel with Jodi through four decades of her career photographing our shared history through gripping - and always poignant - stories.

About Jodi
Whether examining Japanese geishas’ ancient traditions for her book Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art; exposing the tragedy of human trafficking for her 2003 National Geographic article “21st Century Slaves”; or exploring the hidden world of the women of Saudi Arabia, photographer Jodi Cobb has searched for humanity in some of the world’s most complex, impenetrable environments. As a photographer with National Geographic for more than three decades, she shot over 30 stories for the magazine. Today, she works on a variety of freelance advertising and editorial assignments and teaches and lectures worldwide. She has received the prestigious Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism and was the first woman named White House Photographer of the Year, among many other honors. One of her photographs is on the Voyager spacecraft, out in the universe forever.

Ravel’s Bolero and Piano Concertos

April 18th at 7:30 pm

Wachholz College Center

This concert features popular works by French composer Maurice Ravel including a rare opportunity to hear both of his virtuosic piano concertos featuring the technically brilliant Canadian pianist, Sheng Cai. Plus, the evocative orchestral work Fenix (2019) by Polina Nazaykinskaya.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

Grand Finale: “Resurrection” Symphony – Mahler 2

May 30-31, 2026

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

What is perhaps one of the most thrilling final movements in the entire repertoire and an appropriate conclusion to this extraordinary masterpiece by Mahler. The “Resurrection” Symphony stands as a unique musical statement regarding humankind’s quest for spiritual aspirations and fulfilment.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp

Grand Finale: “Resurrection” Symphony – Mahler 2

May 30-31, 2026

Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Wachholz College Center

What is perhaps one of the most thrilling final movements in the entire repertoire and an appropriate conclusion to this extraordinary masterpiece by Mahler. The “Resurrection” Symphony stands as a unique musical statement regarding humankind’s quest for spiritual aspirations and fulfilment.

Tickets: https://www.wachholzcollegecenter.org/glaciersymphony/Online/default.asp