On Thursday, Feb. 16, the UW department of music hosted its 40th concert of the 2022-2023 school year. Titled “Concerto Soiree”, the 25-member chamber orchestra played 14 songs, with each being accompanied by a representative solo.
The program contains diverse works, from Baroque favorites like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to recently composed pieces like Gwyneth Walker’s The Viola Speaks. It was directed by Beth Vanderburgh, who is a professor of cello artistic director, UW Cello Festival and graduate studies coordinator.
“I think the audience will be amazed at the breadth of talent and the commitment and passion of our players,” Vanderburgh said.
“Every member of the orchestra will have a solo in the concert tonight. Since some of our players are undergraduates and some are graduate students, the pieces selected needed to be the right fit for each performer, both in the level and temperament.”
The show opened with a rendition of Leandro Leo’s Concerto for Four Violins, which featured four different violinists, Ryan Petesky, Anh Vom, Julian Bistos, and Faith Danner, standing in front of the orchestra, showcasing their individual talents.
The tone then shifted with a more energetic piece as four new violinists, Taylor Laforce, Lydia Gilbert, Alice Wood, and Tera Swaby, came up front and played a version of Antonio Vivalidi’s Concerto for Four Violins.
The third switched things up when Molly Walters, a bass player, came out and performed a slow song composed by Antonio Vivaldi called E Minor Sonata RV40, No 5 for solo bass and strings.
The fourth song, also a solo, was a sharp, quick, and dramatic song called Viola Concerto in the Style of J.C Bach, written by Henri Casadesus in 1947. The music department’s Mimi Tan was the solo viola in this performance, adding in powerful staccato moments.
After Tan bowed, two cellists, Connor Rothfuss and Drake Fisgus took center stage to perform Oblivion for Two Cellos and Strings, written by Astor Piazzolla (arr. Johnstone). This performance was a noir style with a steady tempo and subtle changes in volume.
Then an uplifting performance of Concerto in G Major for Two Violins, written by Georg Phillip Telemann and performed by Bryce Allen and Sawyer Winn, changed the mood in the concert hall.
Gregory Ball and Ashley Schnell put on a rendition of another spirited piece, Double Violin Concerto in DMinor, composed by J.S Bach in 1731.
Directly after Stephanie Benedict performed The Viola Speaks by Gwyneth Walker, she did it so well that director Vanderburgh went and sat down. She remained sitting for the rest of the concert, allowing the students to showcase their talents without her assistance.
Both Giovanna Schmieske and Vy Le then took the violin and cello to play an abrupt and fast-paced song entitled Concerto for Violin and Cello in Bb Minor RV547, written by Antonio Vivaldi in 1949.
After came a cellist named Jason Cox, who took his time on center stage to perform the sultry Nocturne by Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky without any music in front of him.
Then came crowd favorite violinist Shoesi Ando as he stood and showed the crowd an intense, fast-paced song entitled Summer from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Henrique Rabelo and his harpsichord took the chance to direct his fellow symphony members in Concerto No. 2 by Bach. After Rabelo finished, Stephanie Flores performed a loud and aggressive song by Vivaldi, titled Cello Concerto RV 407.
Rounding out the night was Bach’s Concerto for Three Violins BWV1064r. This song had three soloists, John Fadial, Giovanna Schmieske, and Alsion Dooley. All three of them received a standing ovation.
Also, was it a full symphony orchestra? Like they had all the instruments? Cause we are highlighting a lot of the strings in this, and if it was a full symphony with a focus on strings, thats something that could be mentioned.
