An evening of memories and the music of Silvia Kind

Bach's birthday is just the right date for a celebration of the late harpsichordist and professor Silvia Kind. Her friends, students and family picked this March 21 as the day for a memorial gathering in her memory at Meany Theater, where the former University of Washington prof often led her beloved Collegium Musicum ensemble in concerts during her years at the UW (1967-1978).

The Swiss-born Kind, a noted devotee of Bach's music, died at 94 in June of 2002, but it has taken nearly four years to get the event together, following the settling of her estate and the participation of her Swiss grand-nephew Uelrich (Ueli) Dubs. "A tribute to her was done earlier in Zurich," says former student and well-known conductor/keyboardist George Shangrow, "but that doesn't begin to capture the grandeur of Silvia Kind."

Helping to capture it locally on Tuesday will be three other harpsichordists, Marguerite Margusson, David Locke and Robert Kechley, along with Shangrow, playing concerti for three and four harpsichords by Kind's beloved J.S. Bach (born on that day in 1685). They will be joined for a one-hour program of music and reminiscence by such well-known players as Eileen Swanson (a violist who also studied harpsichord with Kind); flutist Jeff Cohan; and vocalists Catherine Haight and Brian Box (performing Bach's "Coffee Cantata," a humorous work about a rebellious daughter's determination to drink the new "in" beverage, coffee — quite apropos for Seattle audiences).

A reception will follow, in the Meany lobby, where everyone will be served two treats Kind always loved: champagne and fortune cookies.

"She always had those for students," Shangrow remembers, "the ones who were 21 and older, of course."

Kind was a "tremendous influence" in Shangrow's life.

"She opened one door after another," he recalls, "from a Rousseau landscape to a pack of endangered wolves that she was helping to support. At the harpsichord, she showed me the incredible things you could do with rhythm, accent and interpretation. She made it fun. And even though she was not a conducting teacher, I learned more about conducting from her than anyone else, because she really knew about making music."

Renowned around the world as a harpsichordist, Kind had a rare zest for life, roaring off in her truck ,Pablo (named for Picasso), to Native American gatherings, wolf sanctuaries and concerts. Students would sometimes find her in a yoga pose — often on her head — when they entered her studio. She was friends with composer Paul Hindemith, eminent novelist Günter Grass and pianist Glenn Gould, among many others.

Kind herself will be heard at the Tuesday event, courtesy of recorded interviews conducted late in her life by Shangrow.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com