Venice Baroque Orchestra
Thursday, March 1, 2018 at 7:30PM
Fine Arts Center Concert Hall
This Venice-based period-instrument ensemble specializes in vibrant performances of the works of one of that city’s native sons, Antonio Vivaldi, as well as other early-music composers such as Caldara, Locatelli, and Galuppi. The orchestra is known for their rediscovery of 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces and their revelatory pursuit of the essence of the compositions they play, which the Washington Post once described as “tearing the powdered wig off this music once and for all.” Their extensive touring has brought them to concert venues around the world; for this concert they will be joined by virtuoso musician Anna Fusek on wood recorder. “There’s a wildness in Vivaldi’s music that makes it so exciting, a sense of barely controlled fury in his huge, cascading waves of sound. But there’s also a heart-breaking vulnerability at its core, and the Venice players balanced them to perfection.”—Washington Post
Pre-show talk in the Concert Hall Lobby at 6:30 pm.
Ticket Prices
$45, $35, $20; Five College Students & Youth 17 and Under: $15, $12, $10
Please call the Box Office to see if you or someone in your party is eligible for a discount.
Accessible Seating Available by calling the Box Office at 413-545-2511
Italian prix fixe dinner available at the UClub before the concert. Details at fineartscenter.com/prixfixe.
Founded in 1997 by Baroque scholar and harpsichordist Andrea Marcon, the Venice Baroque Orchestra is recognized as one of the premier ensembles devoted to period instrument performance. The orchestra receives wide critical acclaim for its concert and opera performances throughout North America, Europe, South America, Japan and Korea,Taiwan, and China. It has appeared in more cities across the United States than any other Baroque orchestra in history.
Committed to the rediscovery of 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces, under Marcon’s leadership VBO has given the modern-day premieres of Francesco Cavalli’s L’Orione, Vivaldi’s Atenaide, Andromeda liberata, Benedetto Marcello’s La morte d’Adone and Il Trionfo della Poesia e della Musica, and Boccherini’s La Clementina. With Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the orchestra has staged Cimarosa’s L’Olimpiade, Handel’s Siroe, and Galuppi’s L’Olimpiade, and reprised Siroe at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, its first full staging in the United States. Highly unusual for a Baroque ensemble, in 2010, the VBO premiered a major contemporary work in the United States, Philip Glass’s violin concerto The American Four Seasons.
The orchestra has been seen worldwide through several television specials, including films by the BBC, ARTE, and NTR (Netherlands), and has been the subject of three recent video recordings Its performances were also featured on Swiss TV in a documentary film by Richard Dindo, Vivaldi in Venice.
The VBO has an extensive discography with Sony and Deutsche Grammophon (DG). Their 2012 release on Naïve, a pasticcio of Metastasio’s L’Olimpiade, featuring the recording premieres of many 18th-century opera arias, was awarded the Choc duMonde de la Musique. It has also been honored with the Diapason d’Or, the Echo Award, and the Edison Award.
“This group performs at an extremely high technical level, displaying a wide expressive range and virtuosity.” South Florida Classical Review
“Founded in 1997, the Venice Baroque has attracted many of the field’s most interesting and prestigious soloists, primarily by combining rigorous group preparation with leader Andrea Marcon’s extraordinary scholarship. In perhaps his most famous musical coup, VBO founder Marcon located 15 concertos by Vivaldi that had never been recorded before.” The Independent
Jorge Caballero
¡Guitarra! Classical Guitar Series
Saturday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m.Eric Carle Museum, Amherst
Widely regarded as one of the finest guitarists of his generation, Jorge Caballero is the youngest musician and the only guitarist to win the Naumburg International Competition Award, an honor comparable to the Pulitzer Prize for musicians. He is known for his dazzling virtuosity, his intense musicality, and his spellbinding performances.
Silk Road Ensemble
Thursday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m.Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, Chamber Seating
Inspired by the exchange of ideas and traditions along the historical Silk Road, cellist Yo-Yo Ma established Silkroad in 1998 to explore how the arts can advance global understanding. A Grammy-nominated collective of performers from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, the ensemble has been at the core of Silkroad’s work to connect the world through musical performances and learning programs and fostering cultural collaboration around the world. The ensemble’s lively concert features classical music and sumptuous traditional music alongside new work
Pre-show talk in the Concert Hall Lobby at 6:30 pm.
Cameron Carpenter: International Touring Organ
Friday, April 27 at 8 p.m.Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, Chamber Seating
Cameron Carpenter is smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music, and all the while generating international acclaim unprecedented in his field. Carpenter’s repertoire—including the complete works of J. S. Bach, film scores, and original compositions and hundreds of transcriptions and arrangements—is probably the largest and most diverse of any organist. “Extravagantly talented… the audience’s response was raucous… everything he touches turns fantastical and memorable.” The New York Times
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