NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Piney Woods Camerata at Stephen F. Austin State University will present music from the Baroque Period when the ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.
The ensemble is comprised of SFA School of Music string faculty and students with Geneva Fung, staff accompanist, as harpsichordist. The program will feature the works of composers Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel and Frederick the Great.
Handel's Concerto Grosso in C major HWV 318 is one of the best-known works on this program.
"Handel composed this piece as interlude music for one of his larger choral works called 'Alexander's Feast,'" said Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, associate professor of violin at SFA and founding member of the Camerata, "but it was immediately popular on its own as well." Dalmas and her graduate student Leonard Chow will be featured in this work.
Two pieces by Vivaldi will be performed, including a concerto for two cellos that was originally composed for cello and bassoon.
"This concerto is unusual in its form, with surprising tempo and mood changes throughout each of the three movements," Dalmas said. Music faculty member Evgeni Raychev and his graduate student Manab Naskar will perform the solos in this double concerto.
Frederick the Great was the ruler of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, and he was also a flutist and composer, writing four symphonies and more than 100 sonatas. The Camerata will perform his Symphony in A major.
The recital is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music and is a feature of the Cole Performing Arts Series.
Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu. This same program will be presented at Panola College in Carthage earlier that day.
Axe ’Em, Jacks!