UW cellist Beth Vanderborgh will be among soloists during Sunday's concert. (UW Photo)
The University of Wyoming Chamber Orchestra will perform a string orchestra concert Sunday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Concert Hall. Admission is free.
Director James Przygocki says the program will feature music by student and faculty soloists.
The concert's first half will feature three baroque concertos. Telemann's "Concerto for Two Violas" will feature soloists Daniel Galbreath and Pedro Araujo. Telemann was one of the most prolific and inventive composers of the Baroque era, and one of the first to feature the viola as a solo instrument.
The other two concertos are by Italian baroque master Antonio Vivaldi. His orchestra was known as one of the greatest in Europe.
The soloists in the "Concerto in G Minor for Two Cellos" are UW cello professor Beth Vanderborgh and student Wei Gao. This will be followed by the "Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor," featuring violin soloists Ara Harytyunyan, Maggie Warner, Ana Peterlin and Gretchen Heberling.
The second half of the concert will be devoted to "Idyll for String Orchestra" by Czech composer Leos Janacek. He was a musical folklorist, theorist and composer who lived from 1854 to 1928. His music is distinctly modern and creative, expanding the boundaries of Romantic style and strongly rooted Slavic folk music that he studied and collected.
"It is in a much more traditional romantic style that shows the strong influence of his teacher, Antonin Dvorak," Przygocki says. "The folk music that Janacek loved permeates this work as it does in his later compositions."
The UW Chamber Orchestra is a select group of 25 string players. This will be the only concert they perform this semester.
