SARANAC LAKE – Performing chamber music, Ouluska Pass will entertain the crowd at Saranac Village at Will Rogers at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15.

This musical quartet will include Gregor Kitzis, Molly Aronson, Elaine Dewar and Madeleine Jansen. They will perform “Dohnanyi Serenade” for violin, viola and cello, “Mendelssohn String Quartet in A Minor” and some shorter pieces featuring musical saw.

Gregor Kitzis, a founding member and first violinist of The Ouluska Pass Chamber Music Festival in Saranac Lake, has performed and recorded with orchestras including The Orchestra of St. Lukes, Blanche Moyse’s New England Bach Festival, Concordia, Long Island Philharmonic and Bang On A Can’s Spit Orchestra.

Kitzis has performed with new music groups including, Modern Works, Ensemble 21, North/South Consonance, Essential Music, Common Sense, The Group for Contemporary Music, and the Crosstown, Xenakis and S.E.M. Ensembles.

He has also performed with many bands, including Songs from a Random House, Gawk, Church of Betty and Voltaire. Additionally, Kitzis has performed nationally on venues such as Saturday Night Live, Live From Lincoln Center, the David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Rosie O’Donnell and Jay Leno Shows, as well as new music and jazz festivals throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Molly Aronson is a cellist known for her “solidity and verve” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Engagements include the Embassy Series, Savannah Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, Luzerne Festival Series, Chamber Players International, Chateau Festival in Paris and Berlin, Mohawk Trails Concerts, and Interlochen Faculty Chamber Series, and has performed with Amazonas, and the Larchmont Chamber Players at Carnegie Hall.

Aronson has toured with the Sernedip Piano Trio, RT9 Ensemble, Anderson Hill Trio, and with Eric Genuis’ Concerts for Hope, performing piano trio music in state prisons across the U.S.

Aronson has been a concerto soloist with the Valley Winds and Holyoke Civic Symphony, and has been a featured performer with the Opus One Chamber Orchestra, Asian Cultural Symphony, New York Virtuosi Orchestra, Purchase Symphony Orchestra, and Interlochen Arts Academy Choir. She frequently joins the Savannah Philharmonic, Glens Falls Symphony, and Garden State Philharmonic as a member of the cello section.

Not limited to the realm of classical music, Aronson has performed with such artists as Rod Stewart, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Andrea Bocelli, Disturbed, 2Cellos, The Irish Tenors, Celtic Thunder, The Game of Thrones Live Experience, Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

She appeared with Vanessa Williams at Lincoln Center, the Songwriter’s Orchestra, and played on Sessions at the Hempstead House jazz series. She frequently works with Britton and the Sting, and recently toured Montana with Kristen Estelle and the Heartstrings after recording her most recent album.

Aronson is currently a teaching artist with the InterSchool Orchestras, is on faculty at Larchmont Music Academy, Bloomingdale School of Music, and the Luzerne Music Center during the summers. S

Violinist Madeleine Jansen has been praised by the San Francisco Classical Voice for her interpretation of composers from Dvorak to Brubeck.

As a soloist, Jansen has performed in venues that include Carnegie Hall, the United Nations Headquarters, Capitol Hill, and Flushing Town Hall.

As a chamber musician, Jansen has performed at the Ouluska Pass Music Festival, the Ithaca New Music Collective concert series, and the Luzerne Music Center faculty artist series.

Jansen has toured the U.S. with a piano trio presented by the Concerts for Hope Foundation, in which she performed for inmates in maximum security prisons. Outside of classical music, Jansen has performed with iconic singers Rod Stewart, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, and on NBC’s Today Show.

A passionate teacher, Jansen is the string department head at the Luzerne Music Center, a summer festival in upstate New York. Violinist Elaine Dewar grew up in British Columbia, starting piano lessons at five and violin lessons at 10. After earning a bachelor of music in 1985 and a master of music in 1990, she has enjoyed a career of professional playing and teaching in Canada and the United States.

Symphonic engagements include the Orchestra of Northern New York, the Harrisburg Symphony and the Bronx Opera Orchestra.

She has also performed with a variety of artists including Joni Mitchell, Johnny Mathis, Vic Damone, the Electric Light Orchestra, and Luciano Pavarotti.

She is the principal second violin for the Orchestra of Northern New York, was the artistic director for the Tri-Lakes Community Orchestra based in the Adirondacks. She is section leader in the Community String Orchestra of the Adirondacks under Esther Rogers.

She is a member of NAVE (Northern Adirondack Vocal Ensemble) and the Dust Bunnies. As always, the musicians will speak with the audience before performing to share with you what’s unique about each piece and what to listen for. Everyone is invited to meet and chat with the musicians after the concert.

This concert is open to the public and a $10 donation is requested.

Refreshments will be served.

For more information, call 518-891-7117.