Mt. Vernon Virtuosi Adds Vocal Star Jasmine Barnes and More

The Mount Vernon Virtuosi (MVI), a Baltimore based chamber orchestra founded and led by acclaimed cellist Amit Peled will perform a  free "Made in Maryland" concert on Sunday, May 25, at 3pm at the St. Ann Catholic Church in Washington.  The church is at 4001 Yuma St. NW one block south of the Tenleytown Metro Station. 

As part of their annual “Made in Maryland” concert cycle celebrating music and composers that are related to Maryland they will welcome on stage their  first voice competition winner, Maryland native Jasmine Barne's gorgeous song cycle for soprano and strings, present the famous ‘Good Morning Baltimore' song from the movie Hairspray in a new arrangement for strings, the heartbreaking gorgeous adagio by Washington DC native George Walker, Caroline Shaw's homage to Dumbarton Oaks, and finally Elegie and Serenade by Gustav Strude, who was Baltimore Symphony's first conductor.

The program will include composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman's "Good Morning, Baltimore" (from the play Hairspray) with Jasmine Barnes providing the vocals. Gustav Strube's "Elegie and Serenade". Caroline Shaw's composition "Plan and elevation: The grounds of Dumbarton Oaks".The final offering will be George Walker's "Lyric for Strings".

Amit Peled, conductor, founded the orchestra in 2018 as a place for young artists to grow professionally.  In a recent interview with Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodericks, Peled said while describing the purpose of MVI, “So when you leave the Music House, eventually, you will go to Iowa City or to Oklahoma City and work instead of being depressed that you're not Yo-Yo Ma.”

There are seventeen string players in the MVI who work and perform during their two year residency.  They regularly  perform in inner city schools, prisons, the Pratt Library, hospitals, St. Ann Church in Washington D.C. and the Bender Jewish Community Center in Rockville.