Berkeley Festiva to Welcome Davis Senior High School Baroque Ensemble, 6/4

The Berkeley Festival & Exhibition has announced the addition of a concert by the Davis Senior High School Baroque Ensemble on Wednesday, June 4 at 5pm. Located just northeast of the Bay Area in Davis, CA, Davis Senior High School boasts the distinction of having established the nation's first Baroque orchestra in a public high school.

Under the direction of Angelo Moreno, the Ensemble was established in 2009 to give the school's growing student body an additional music study and performance option. As a pioneer in the development of Baroque performance studies at the public high school level, the Ensemble consists of 34 students, from grades 10 to 12, who rehearse on a daily basis as part of their class schedules. The students play on instruments that have been converted to the style of the period -- including gut strings and Baroque bows -- giving them the opportunity to experience an historically accurate performance environment. The Ensemble is also fortunate to rehearse on a professional-level harpsichord made by John Phillips.

In addition to Moreno's talented leadership, the Ensemble receives weekly support and inspiration from Phebe Craig and Michael Sand, Instructors in the Department of Music at UC Davis. Moreno is himself a Baroque violinist and strings specialist who studied under Craig and Sand while at UCD.

In its concert for the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, the Davis Senior High School Baroque Ensemble will perform several of the most loved works from the Baroque period, including Vivaldi's Concerto in G minor, the "Summer" concerto from The Four Seasons; Vivaldi's La Folia, Op. 1 No. 12; Corelli's Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, commonly known as the Christmas Concerto; and Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for two violins in D Minor.

Following this concert will be the North American debut of Vox Luminis. Performing at First Congregational Church at 2345 Channing Way in Berkeley, the Belgian ensemble reprises the program from their all-Schütz CD that won Gramophone magazine's "Recording of the Year" in 2012. Also on the program are choral works by three generations of the venerable Bach family, including its best-known kinsman, Johann Sebastian. For more information about this concert and the more than 70 other concerts that take place during the Festival, visit berkeleyfestival.org. Tickets and Festival Passes may also be purchased online here.

To post a comment, you must register and login.