Name: Seasons of Life
Start: 2024-11-14T18:00:00-05:00
Location: Lake Placid Center for the Arts

The Community String Orchestra of the Adirondacks - Chamber music group - is proud to announce their upcoming concerts on Thursday, November 7th, Saranac Village at Will Rogers at 7:30 pm in Saranac Lake, and on Thursday, November 14th, Lake Placid Center for the Arts at 6 pm in Lake Placid.
The concert “Seasons of Life” will present musical works from spring to autumn, from early works to very mature works of composers from the Baroque era to the 20th century.
Concert Mistress and Violinist Elaine Dewar will be the soloist in Antonio Vivaldis Violin Concerto “Autumn”, the third concerto of his famous “Four Seasons”. She will be accompanied by the string group, Megan LaPierre on solo cello and Dr. John Curtis on harpsichord.
This piece was written for an all girls orchestra in Venice around 1720 while Vivaldi, himself a virtuoso violinist, was the music director and teacher at the girls orphanage there.
Autumn will be followed by another piece written for a Girls School Orchestra: “The Dargason”, the last movement of the St. Paul’s Suite which Gustav Holst completed early in his career. It was premiered in 1913 at the opening of the new music wing of the St. Paul’s Girls’ School in West London where Gustav Holst was the music director until 1934. It features the folk song “Dargason”, later on mixing in “Greensleeves” and playing both songs parallel to each other to the end.
Artistic Director, conductor, composer and multi-instrumentalist Alex Malin is giving us a very special treat: he was able to fulfill the wish within the orchestra to perform “Bolero”, a large orchestral work by Maurice Ravel written late in his career in 1928. It was his last completed work, mechanical in nature, and said to be inspired by Ravel's visit to a large factory.
Alex arranged this skillfully to fit a small string group. He will be the wind soloist on multiple instruments. He added snare drums (Nick Seleni) and to amplify the orchestral sound a mighty piano part (Drew Benware). Bolero will be conducted by Dr. John Curtis.
We hope to see you at one of our two concerts! The concerts are free, donations are graciously accepted.