Antonio Vivaldi
“Gaga for Vivaldi” Opens Blue Ridge Orchestra Season
This month, Blue Ridge Orchestra (BRO) opens its 17th season with “Gaga for Vivaldi,” an intimate chamber program of Baroque pieces for string orchestra. Music director Milton Crotts returns to the podium after a year-long sabbatical at the American School in Japan. “I’m returning to Asheville with a renewed enthusiasm for making and sharing music at all levels,” says Milton. The concert takes place on Saturday and Sunday, September 17–18, at Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church and Deerfield Retirement Community’s St. Giles Chapel, respectively. Each performance begins at 3 p.m.
“I conducted Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos in G Minor in 1994 with the Glacier Symphony and fell in love with it,” he says. “More than 20 years later, when I encountered two highly talented cellists at BRO, I decided it would be the perfect time to program this great work.” These two cellists, Erin Klimstra and Bill Bednash, will perform the Concerto in this production. “I was introduced to this piece as a young teen in middle school strings class,” says Erin. “Now, more than 20 years later, I am excited to play it in its entirety with BRO. It’s a coming-full- circle kind of moment for me.”
A unique intertwining of classical and modern influences, Lady Gaga Fugue is a Baroque arrangement of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. As the final piece, it may steal the show.
The season continues with Homage to Haydn in October, Blue Ridge Orchestra Revels (featuring local fiddler Jamie Laval) in December, A Wedding with Wolfgang in March and Cantus Terrae (a celebration of Earth Day) in April. Admission for all performances is free, and donations are accepted. For more information and directions, visit blueridgeorchestra.org.
