Memorial celebration for Ray Adams on Saturday in Aspen

A combined memorial service and celebration of life is planned for Saturday at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen for Ray Vincent Adams, a longtime resident of the Roaring Fork Valley who died March 12 following a brief but intense battle with two brain tumors.

Adams, who was 60, was the conductor and composer in residence for the Aspen Choral Society for more than three decades. His productions of annual performances of Handel’s “Messiah” were a valleywide tradition for 35 years.

Adams also put together numerous world-premiere performances in the valley of his original sacred choral and orchestral works, composed both at his home here in Aspen and in other locations.

The event starts at 2 p.m. and is scheduled to run for two hours. It will feature musical and spoken remembrances of him from family and friends.

Among other things, members of the Aspen Choral Society are to perform a number of works by Adams and other composers, which are to include choral works, orchestral music and a slide show of Adams’ life put together by local video artist Peggy Wilkie,

In addition, there is to be a film depicting Adams’s artistic temperament and his views about his life, produced by longtime valley resident Mark Harvey.

Violinist Julian Hallmark, of Los Angeles, longtime concert master for the Aspen Choral Society, also will be on hand to perform the “Pastoral Symphony” from the “Messiah.”

The general public is invited to share this final farewell to a popular figure in local culture.