KVNO News

Vesper Concerts Begins with ‘Baroque Sensations’

By Corbin Hirschhorn, KVNO News

September 16th, 2017

Omaha, NE—The Vesper Concert series, based at the Presbyterian Church of the Cross, begins its next season this weekend with “Baroque Sensations,” a collection of pieces from the composers of the era—Telemann, Vivaldi, and Bach. The concert will feature flute, violins, viola, cello and harpsichord. Juliet Yoshida, violinist with the Omaha Symphony has also organized “Baroque Sensations.”

“I organized this concert because I just really wanted to put together a concert that had all baroque music and there is no baroque ensemble in Omaha,” Yoshida said. “So I thought this would be a really good opportunity to just see what level of interest there is in town in the music loving community for baroque music. Everyone that I chose to play on this concert has an interest in the baroque period, and because of that, I kind of wanted everyone to choose what they wanted to play. Alyssa [Griggs] chose her own concerto. I did some digging with Susanna [Perry Gilmore], and we agreed on one, and I just let Brian [Sherwood] choose his own solo Bach because that’s really a personal choice I think.”

The term classical music refers to many styles and hundreds of years’ worth of compositions, and the Baroque period started around the year 1600. This was before some today’s popular instruments, like the piano, had even been invented, and contemporary performers consider this in their playing style. The timbre of many instruments has changed as well.

“It has its own performance style. It’s kind of interesting. People can be baroque specialists for example. In string playing we use less vibrato. Sometimes people will use period instruments, so there’s no chin rest on the violin. The bows are shaped differently. They’re shorter, and instead of it arcing downward, it arcs up, so it looks more like a bow and arrow really. We won’t be using period instruments, but we will be using those instruments to inform how we use our modern instruments. You’re focusing a lot on making musical ideas—since you don’t have a vibrato at your disposal—you’re more thinking in terms of dynamics and how you use the bow the speed of the bow, so coordinating dynamics swells and just really focusing on the colors that you can create on the instrument, with your bow, rather than with your left hand.”

Hear “Baroque Sensations” as part of the Vesper Concert Series this Sunday at 3pm at the Presbyterian Church of the Cross. For more information, visit vesperconcerts.org

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