On April 8 and 9, the music organization Crescendo will present the first in a series of four concerts of vocal and instrumental music.
This first concert of Crescendo’s 2022 season is a program featuring chamber music with a “twist.” The repertoire featured and the instruments uses not only crossover into different genres of classical, folk and contemporary music, but they also break down the barriers between these genres and illustrate how very connected these different styles of music are.
The unifying element is the folk dance – from Poland over Spain to Latin America. Folk music and dance rhythms permeate classical music, and connect different genres and eras from the Baroque to present times. Polish folk music and dances influenced music by many Baroque composers, including some that are generally associated with serious sacred music, such as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Philip Telemann. The ensemble will present their own ar-rangements of three Baroque works, Telemann’s Suite Polonoise, and Bach’s famous Orchestral Suite in B minor, and his motet “Singet dem Herrn.” All are great examples of this fusion of styles.
Traditional Spanish, Polish and European dance music was influenced by the Folk music in Colonial Latin America. The ensemble will present their own arrangements of Mariachi tunes and other traditional dances from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bolivia and Chile. Some of these pieces will be preceded by improvisations in Baroque style. Connecting the past and the present are two contemporary works, written in this decade and based on Latin American dances.
Dan Román, the composer of one of the contemporary works written for the ensemble, describes the fusion in the following way: “My piece is an attempt to meld two seemingly dissimilar musical traditions: minimalist music, and folkloric and popular dance music such as the Bomba, Plena, Salsa, and Mambo. These two traditions turned out to have great affinity to one another due to the use of layered rhythms and a sense of perpetual drive.”
The musicians who present these works will use an unusual combination of chamber instruments: Violin and per-cussion played by Job Salazar, Carlos Boltes with viola and charango, and Crescendo’s Founder and Artistic Director Christine Gevert, virginal and organ.
These concerts have been made possible in part with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Support has also been provided to Crescendo from CT Humanities (CTH), with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.
The concerts will take place on Friday, April 8, at 6 pm at Trinity Church Lime Rock, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville, CT, and on Saturday, April 9, at 4 pm at Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA. Tickets are $35 (general seating), $60 (premium seating), and $10 (youth). All audience members, including staff, and performers must show proof of being fully vaccinated. Musicians, audience members, and staff must remain properly masked once inside the performance venue. These policies are subject to change. Access online ticket sales and the full Covid precaution policy in the most updated version on Crescendo’s website: www.crescendomusic.org.
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As an audience member I acknowledge that I am aware of certain risks of participating in public events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that I am choosing to enter the venue my tickets are purchased for at my own risk. In order to do my part to not spread this virus, I agree to not attend the concert if I have tested positive for COVID, or if I have been knowingly exposed to COVID-19 and not had a subsequent negative PCR test. I agree to enter any indoor or partially covered (patio) space only if I am fully vaccinated and wearing a face mask fully covering nose and mouth. I will show my vaccination card before entering any of these spaces.
I agree to not enter the venue and to return home if (a) I have a temperature of 100.4 degrees or above, (b) the venue’s medically trained professional determines that I may not safely enter the venue, or (c) there is reason to believe I carry the coronavirus despite the current absence of symptoms. If I enter the venue, I agree to strictly follow all health and safety rules the organizer of the concerts has posted, which are designed to protect patrons, workers, and performers.
Our venues have improved ventilation, using forced airflow that does not recycle the inside air. All of our performers, staff members and volunteers are fully vaccinated, and wear masks covering mouth and nose during the events. The musicians may choose to perform unmasked (on stage only) with proof of negative Covid antigen tests, and at least six feet between them and the nearest audience members. These policies are subject to change, and will be updated periodically.
Thank you for your understanding and for helping to make these concerts safer for all!
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