Il lacerato spirito from Simon Boccanegra

We are a family of classical musicians who present concerts in which “serious” music is made accessible to all listeners. We do this by performing a variety of music — some in humorous and creative ways, all out of love for the music and the message it carries. We take our music making very seriously, while attempting to not take ourselves seriously at all.

Our family also has a love of world cultures and is passionate about seeking justice for all people of the world, living simply and peacefully, and connecting communities around the globe. We carry these concerns into our music, so portions of our concerts may be devoted to sub-themes of compassion, social justice and sustainable living.

We (John, Mary, Kresha and Katie Frankhauser) live in Spokane, Washington, and for more than twenty years have been active in the Spokane musical arts community. In addition, each of us has served in leadership roles in churches and mission organizations. This has led our family to work in countries from Brazil to South Africa and has cultivated a greater sense of global citizenship for each member of the family.

This concert series is borne out of John’s long-time dream to present concerts of diverse and well-crafted music in a creative, light-hearted setting. He has hoped to integrate Christian faith into the fabric of a concert without becoming “preachy” in the process. That dream has also included performing music that acknowledges the injustices and suffering of people around the world.

The dream took years to unfold, but in the interim another aspect of the dream emerged: making the concerts a family event with father and daughters as performers. In other words, John took a twenty-five year hiatus to raise his own troupe, an undertaking that seems to have succeeded very well!

There is a Latin phrase, soli deo gloria, which succinctly describes why we do what we do; we want to bring glory to God in everything we do by using the specific gifts and passions which have been given us.

We are excited and energized by the huge success of our opening concert, presented at First Presbyterian Church in Spokane. We believe our concerts are particularly appropriate for church groups who would enjoy a musical presentation integrating music, faith and justice themes, as well as for college settings where students could benefit from a presentation of classical music through creative and entertaining programming.

For more information about us as performers, please see our individual pages. For more information about our family and our involvements, see our Frankhauser family website.