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| From right: Joan Parsley, William Bauer, Gesa Kordas, Paul Jacobson, Brandi Berry and Debra Lonergan. |
Need some inspiration? Take a cue from Vivaldi and find it in nature. Ensemble Musical Offering, Milwaukee’s band for early music, will showcase the famous Baroque composer Antonio Lucio Vivaldi in a three-part program called The Vivaldi Project: The Composer’s Affinity to the Natural World.
Brazilian recorder virtuoso Clea Galhano, guitarist Rene Izquierdo, bassoonist Marc Vallon and traverso (Italian flute) player Paul Jacobson will bring some of Vivaldi’s lesser-known work to life. “This project has been a dream of mine for the past three years,” says Joan Parsley, Musical Offering’s artistic director. “The concert became a reality as I continued to find out more about Vivaldi’s Nature Concertos. They are not just about nature, but rather the sentiments and affects that make up a poetic vision of the music.”
The first program in the trio is Saturday, March 5, 8 p.m. at Cathedral Church of All Saints, (818 E. Juneau Ave.) and Sunday, March 6, 4 p.m. at the Wauwatosa Woman’s Club (1626 E. Harwood Ave.). Highlights of the repertoire from this program include: La Notte (The Night) Concerto in G Minor for transverse flute, strings and continuo and La tempesta di Mara (The Storm at Sea) Concerto in F Major for transverse flute, strings and basso continuo.
But wait … there’s more. A tango encore? Indeed! Stick around for excerpts from the sultry bordello-style music of Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. This piece will be played in its entirety, juxtaposed with Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) at the September program.
Program two and three will take place April 16-17 and Sept. 10-11.
Parsley explains, “Most music aficionados know Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and they evoke certain associations, but in other concertos, like La Notte or La Tempesta di Mare, the pictures that come to mind are not so concrete, perhaps they are more startling, more bizarre and I think, more imaginative. Vivaldi was a master at writing these magnificent concertos to showcase the various instruments in absolutely extraordinary ways.”
Musical Offering strives to bring early music to contemporary audiences through The Vivaldi Project, by putting the Baroque master’s work side by side with Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. There’s nothing like a little tango to spice things up!
Parsley has been working in the field of early music since 1986, founding the Historical Keyboard Society of WI and in 1998, Ensemble Musical Offering. For tickets to The Vivaldi Project concerts, call 414-258-6133 or click here. All programs include a pre-concert lecture beginning one hour before the concert and even a little tango dancing afterward.
