When you visit the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra’s concert “BEE is for BACH” on Feb. 10, you will hear the Central Pennsylvania premiere performance of “If Bach Had Been a Beekeeper” by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
Since 2011 Pärt has been listed as the most performed living composer in the world. His music can sizzle with excitement and create startling musical pictures which challenge and satisfy the audience’s musical emotions.
For this concert Maestro Yaniv Atar has selected a work by Arvo Pärt which not only paints a picture of Johann Sebastian Bach as a beekeeper but also connects the music of the Estonian composer with the real music of Johann Sebastian Bach himself.
Violinist Debbie Trudeau and oboist Robyn Costa will bring to the stage of the State Theatre one of Bach’s most beloved and widely performed works, the Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor. Members of the PCO, Debbie and Robyn are frequent soloists within the orchestra but are happy now to step to the front of the stage for this special performance.
Following the Concerto Maestro Atar and the orchestra will enter JS Bach’s imaginary apiary to check on the honey and enjoy the sounds of buzzing violins and violas. Not to worry, no one will be stung and at the end of the piece is the very sweet sound of musical honey.
The soloist for the concert is Naomi Seidman, professor of flute in Penn State’s School of Music. Naomi has performed as a soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony, Kingsville Symphony, and Ballet Austin. She has also been an invited performer, judge, and presenter at National Flute Association (NFA) conventions and is a member of the NFA Cultural Outreach Committee. Naomi will be performing the very beautiful Suite in B Minor for Solo Flute and Orchestra.
But Bach and Pärt are not the only star composers on this concert. To wrap up the concert we’ll hear a marvelous symphony by Mozart, magnificent music composed in a great hurry, in only five days in the city of Linz, Austria. It seems that Mozart needed a symphony in a hurry so he wrote one in a flurry, in his head, and then wrote it out in just a few days. The music was finished and performed on time to a very happy audience.
The concert will take place at the State Theatre in State College at 3:00 pm on Sunday, February 10, 2019 [[MAP]]
