Funding for this program has been provided by the FS Foundation, bringing together adults of all abilities and backgrounds as they pursue passion, prosperity and purpose.

Linda and Alvaro Pascotto the Carol Franc Buck Foundation in memory of Carol Franc Buck.

Additional support provided by these funders.

If you go to a concert here, you're under the stars.

It's a clear sky.

You've got the moon got these beautiful trees looking up at you.

When I first saw the the outer shell, I thought, Oh, gee, but it's not a glorious concert hall, like established building.

But then you realize, you know what you'd miss a lot because the audience is mostly out in the open.

They feel the breeze.

There's this great communal nature connection which I've never seen anywhere else.

The repertoire this week really, really suits that well with the Dvoák, Carnival Overture.

Dvoák, Carnival.

It's just full of life.

I mean, it's and exactly, actually, that is what he called it originally, Bohemian Life or Bohemian Carnival.

It is one of the three overtures he wrote as a triptych about nature, life and love.

And so this one is about what he thinks is life in a carnival.

And it has this opening that, you know, it just introduces.

Oh, you're right in the middle of it with the circus and, you know, with people jumping and dancing.

Percussion and off beats and dance rhythms.

And after this happens, I play one long note which aligns beautifully into the English horn solo.

Very pastoral, in a slow three.

And then the flute answers.

And apparently Dvoák was depicting two wayward lovers.

At this point, you know.

From the start to the end, the audience will be on the edge of their seat, just just grooving along with this very exciting and fun piece.

This piece that was premiered in 1892 in Bohemia, if you will, to much success.

The same year, 1892, he went to New York to be one of the first teachers there at the National newly formed National American Academy in New York City.

Imagine coming from the Czech countryside and, you know, a long boat journey here and then being here for four years, starting this great conservatory.

He inspired generations of young American composers, and as part of the first concert to introduce his music and himself to the audiences and to this next generation of musicians.

This piece was performed.

And I think this was a great way to kind of, you know, invite people to understanding, hey, I know how to have a good time.

We have a very unusual thing, which is a concerto for marimba, played by Svet Stoyanov, who is a leading marimba virtuoso of today.

And this is a piece by Emmanuel Séjourné, a French composer.

It's a very romantic piece.

It and it's only for strings String Orchestra with the solo marimba.

As a percussionist I've always been very drawn to the beauty of the art form and the lyricism of the artform, because that's not always what comes to mind when people hear the word percussion.

I think generally people think maybe of drums a bit, volume, you know, a bit more of a sort of groovy type of drumming, if you will.

Even though it's clearly percussion, because the mallets hit the wooden slats and have that that percussion impact.

It has the potential for a type of expression that other percussion instruments typically don't have.

You can create really exquisitely soft sounds, very elegant ones, and literally sing just like an instrument can through your instrument.

The range of it and the virtuosi like Sven, who are holding two mallets in each hand and can play four notes or more at once.

It's really incredible what they can do, like complete chords with harmony.

And the ones who have a real finesse for expression can get lines and phrasing and feeling out of it.

That you wouldn't normally associate with percussion.

The second movement is very rhythmic, kinetic, exciting, virtuosic for the soloist.

And so my role as a soloist is really to find a way to sing through the marimba.

With my colleagues performing together.

And I know that Svet will make the most of this.

And I think we're going to have a lot.

He's going to get a big ovation, I'm sure.

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

The second movement is a Canzonetta, so a song.

And there's actually an original second movement that Tchaikovsky just published as a separate piece called Meditation.

Actually, a lot more virtuosic than the movement that he ended up putting in there, which I think is another testament to his genius.

He was actually just thinking about how the player was going to feel on the stage after playing this warhorse 20 minute first movement.

The second movement is fairly technically simple, but it's actually some of the most heart wrenching music that there is in this piece, and it just kind of washes over you and evokes so many deep emotions from your soul.

Last movement is the barn burner.

That's the one where everyone says, Oh, I hear your fiddling.

And they probably do because it's it feels like a fiddle tune in a way.

And there's there's such a rustic romp in the middle of it.

And the cellist, too, in the middle of it, like, I mean, that is - come on, that's folk music.

Like, it totally is.

And so it's just so much fun for everybody.

But then Tchaikovsky still finds his moments for these beautiful melodies that, like, you feel like they're they're discoveries of music and not, not like creations.

Do you know what I mean?

It's like if that music was, has been waiting to be found.

It's just because it just feels so perfect in this last movement, there is a bunch of virtuosity and speed and, and passion and intensity.

But.

But at the same time, it's all just so joyful and uplifted.

Like the main theme in it, um... so.

But it's always like up, up, up and so.

So it's not, you know, it's not but it's, you know, it's always wanting to go, go, go.

And so I just I always think of dancers or, you know, somebody who always needs to be on their toes and ready to jump.

That's, that's kind of the the feeling of this last movement.

It's, it's such a blast.

There's something about playing outdoor concerts for me that makes the whole affair seem more casual somehow.

My father's an amazing banjo player, and he was in a gospel bluegrass band called The Narrow Road.

And so that was my in to music pretty much was bluegrass and folk music.

When Tessa Lark kicked off her silver sandals I thought, Why am I wearing heels every night?

Why don't I just treat a classical music festival like we can bounce back and forth between bluegrass and classical?

She plays on this incredible Stradivarius, so she calls her art, sometimes Stradgrass.

And that night gave me a lot of joy.

Funding for this program has been provided by the FS Foundation, bringing together adults of all abilities and backgrounds as they pursue passion, prosperity and purpose.

Linda and Alvaro Pascotto the Carol Franc Buck Foundation in memory of Carol Frank Buck.

Additional support provided by these funders.