Conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performs Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'
The Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech presents the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which will perform one of the most popular pieces of classical music repertoire – Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” – on Monday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m.
The concert will be held in the Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, located within the Moss Arts Center’s Street and Davis Performance Hall at 190 Alumni Mall.
Orpheus will be joined for the performance by violinist Ryu Goto. Following a successful collaboration in Japan, they will reprise their “Four Seasons” performance for American audiences. Widely considered to be one of the greatest masterworks in all of Western art, these concertos are recognized as some of the boldest program music of the entire Baroque era. Rounding out the concert will be Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3” and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings.”
The chamber ensemble will also engage with area students prior to the performance. Undergraduate string students in Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts, as well as fifth and sixth grade students from the Radford Youth Orchestra, will have the opportunity to observe Orpheus during its rehearsal and talk with the artists about their process.
Orpheus is a conductorless orchestra, which means the ensemble’s musicians rotate leadership duties among members of the group. For each piece, an elected committee of musicians determines the concertmaster and principal players of each section. These players develop an overall concept for the music and present their interpretations to the entire orchestra for consideration and rehearsal. In the final rehearsals all members of the orchestra participate in refining the interpretation and execution.
This method of sharing leadership is known as the Orpheus Process — where the individual musicians must rely on one another for repertoire and programming choices, interpretive decisions, and, ultimately, the responsibility of success. The Orpheus Process has been the focus of studies by researchers at Harvard and Stanford Universities and leadership seminars at Morgan Stanley and Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, among others.
The 2013-14 season marks Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s 41st year of making music through collaboration and democratic leadership. With over 70 albums, including the Grammy award–winning “Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures,” associations with the leading contemporary soloists, and 39 commissioned works as part of their history, Orpheus continues to grow with innovative projects and new musical adventures around the world.
Violinist Ryu Goto, who will join Orpheus for the performance, made his concert debut at the age of seven. Since then, he has appeared as soloist with numerous international ensembles, including the National Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Symphonica Toscanini, Vancouver Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets
Tickets are $25-$40 for general public and $10 for students and youth 18 years old and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, noon to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300.
Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Event parking for visitors is $5. Event passes may be purchased in advance through the Center for the Arts box office or when entering the garage on event evenings. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.
MetLife Foundation is the Official Tour Sponsor of Orpheus. This concert is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York state legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council.
