PSO ‘Vivaldi’ returns for winter at Wesley
Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra will present its “Winter Vivaldi” concert, 3 p.m. Jan. 31, Wesley Church Bethlehem, 2540 Center St. Bethlehem.
“Winter Vivaldi,” a January afternoon staple of the Sinfonia’s subscription season, is fashioned after the group’s popular summer series, “Valley Vivaldi,” with its intimate, uplifting Baroque repertoire. The repertoire is for chamber ensemble, rather than full orchestra, and features principal instrumentalists of the Sinfonia. Within the gossamer texture, each instrument can be heard with clarity.
In the Jan. 31 program, piano, oboe and flute will take center stage, supported by strings. The Sinfonia musicians will be joined by Father Sean Brett Duggan, pianist, a frequent soloist with the group, for Johann Sebastian Bach’s Piano Concerto in D minor, BWV 1059.
Duggan is a monk at Saint Joseph Abbey in Louisiana, with extensive formal musical training and recital experience. He specializes in the works of Bach. He has been making regular visits to the Lehigh Valley to perform since 2000, sometimes with the Sinfonia, sometimes in solo recital, but always in close collaboration with the friends he has made with conductor Allan Birney and Sinfonia musicians.
Sinfonia principal flutist Robin Kani will be featured in Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in G, RV 438, and Sinfonia principal oboist Cheryl Bishkoff, together with her colleagues, will perform the Oboe Concerto in C minor by Italian composer Benedetto Marcello, a contemporary of Vivaldi.
The program also includes the Trio sonata in F sharp minor by Arcangelo Corelli, and Premier Concerto by Jean-Philippe Rameau, a French composer of the Baroque era.
The audience is invited to meet the musicians and converse with fellow patrons at a post-concert reception.
Tickets are expected to be available in advance or at the door. Reservations and information: PASinfonia.org, 610 434-7811