The first of our two Fall Ensemble Concerts was attended by the largest audience we’ve had in decades: it was Parent’s Weekend and we were on “the schedule.” Wow—we should plan on that every time! So the students got to experience playing for a large enthusiastic crowd—a nice experience indeed. Fortunately, thanks to our plan to have the eight students play in four guitar duets this time, all of them got on stage. In addition to the guitar duets, every studio member prepared a mixed-chamber work; most of those pieces will go on our second concert, two weeks later.

We began with a performance of two duets for lute by John Johnson. Sara Baunoch and Rio Manzanares played with élan:

Next up were tenor Peter Juengst and Nik Divall on the theorbo, for a performance of two early Baroque monodies. Their performance was breathtaking: the audience went crazy over them. (Full program is reproduced at the end of the post).

Next on stage were guitarists Damian Goggans and Nicolas Wakeman, in a performance of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s gorgeous Prelude and Fugue in E. The duo’s performance was so beautiful, the audience audibly sighed.

Manuel de Falla’s great piece, La Vida Breve, as arranged for two guitars, was next, as deftly handled by Josie Stone and Aleksandr Lapshin. The audience erupted with excitement when it ended.

A second mixed chamber work followed: the evocative flute and guitar arrangement of Haro No Umi, by Michio Miyagi. The spare, exotic sounds of the koto and shamisen filled the room as flutist Jonah Ordower and guitarist Rio Manzanares played. This piece, too got a warm and enthusiastic response.

Our program concluded with two movements from the brilliant Brazilian duet, Suite Retratos by Gnattali. Guitarist Nik Divall and Grigor Ylli played with panache and the audience rewarded them with hoots and hollers.