Seattle Chamber Orchestra: Minimal Baroque
$35 ($25 senior, $10 student w/ID)
- Lorenzo Marasso, keyboard & conductor
- Brendan Shea, violin
- Wendy Wilhelmi, flute
Edward Cowie — Orca-Seattle Aubade for Strings (world premiere; SCO Commission)
Arvo Pärt — Fratres
Philip Glass — String Quartet No. 2 "Company"
Johann Sebastian Bach — Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
Join us on Friday, February 17th, at 8pm, for another concert of the Seattle Chamber Orchestra! On the program exciting works across Baroque and Minimalist styles, from J.S. Bach to Philip Glass and Arvo Part. Feature of the evening is the World Premiere of a new commission by British composer Edward Cowie, whom The New York Times considers to be "the greatest living composer directly inspired by the natural world." The new piece is inspired by the Orcas killer whales, celebrity creatures in Seattle, featured in a dance among the mists over the Seattle harbor.
On the program also Arvo Part's "Sacred Minimalism" with Fratres for strings, and the hypnotic repetitions of Company by Philip Glass. Framing the evening are two major works by J.S. Bach, the Orchestral Suite #2 and the Brandenburg Concerto #5, which sees a violin and a flute as soloists, along with the harpsichord, and is probably the first concerto in which the soloist is embarking in a novel and exciting virtuosistic cadenza.
The works on the program will be performed by members of Seattle Chamber Orchestra with Brendan Shea (violin) and Wendy Wilhelmi (flute) and conducted by SCO Music Director Lorenzo Marasso.
Concert will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Join us at 7:15pm for a pre-concert talk. Concert begins at 8pm. Admission includes the pre-concert talk, the performance, accompanied by fines wines and appetizers.
About Seattle Chamber Orchestra
Founded in 2021, Seattle Chamber Orchestra seeks to bring music lovers tantalizing combinations of the traditional and modern, performed by world-class professional musicians. Brought to life through thoughtful programming that educates as much as it inspires, SCO seeks to reinvigorate live classical music, which has suffered most of all during the pandemic, by providing opportunities musicians and audiences to explore new music and challenge established boundaries.
https://www.seattlechamberorchestra.org/About Lorenzo Marasso, keyboard & conductor
Lorenzo Marasso is an impassioned and sympathetic conductor, concert pianist, chamber musician, educator and radio host. Dubbed the "king of repertoire," Lorenzo's creative programming reveals lesser known masterpieces and rarely performed arrangements. Lorenzo's performances have been broadcast in numerous media outlets, including Seattle's 98.1 Classical King FM and NPR. In 2021 Lorenzo founded the Seattle Chamber Orchestra and is serving now as the ensemble's music director. In the same year he also started hosting a weekly radio program called Dress Rehearsal on 107.3FM KBFG Seattle. Equally inspired by contemporary music, Lorenzo has commissioned and performed world premieres of new works by several international composers who have written and dedicated pieces to him. In July 2020 he completed the Invention Project, a commission of new pieces for piano inspired by J.S. Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias. Further commissions included works composed by Michael Finnissy, Edward Cowie and Bernhard Lang.
https://www.lorenzomarasso.comAbout Brendan Shea, violin
Brendan Shea is an award winning violinist and chamber musician. His chamber music awards were won when he played with the Wasmuth Quartet and include the Bronze Medal at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, Gold Medal and Audience Award at the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, and Grand Prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. As a founding member of the Wasmuth (now Verona) Quartet, he performed across the United States, Germany, and Japan.
Brendan has performed with many world class ensembles and performers. As a soloist he has performed with orchestras in Washington D.C, Brussels, Sendai, Indianapolis, and South Bend. His award winning duo, the Shea-Kim Duo, has competed internationally and performed recitals in Asia, Europe and North America. Their awards include the Ackerman Chamber Music Award and Gold Medal at the Manhattan International Music Competition. Their second CD, The Sound and the Fury, was released by Blue Griffin Records in November of 2021. He premiered Frederic Rzewski’s Night, Death, and Devil with the Emmy Award winning 8th Blackbird. He has been a finalist and semi-finalist at the Queen Elisabeth, Isang-Yun, Seoul, Sibelius, and Carl Nielsen, and has taken first place with Honors at the Glazunov International Competition in Paris. He and his wife Yerin Kim formed the Shea-Kim Duo in 2015, and recently released their first studio album "The Sound and the Fury '' Under Blue Griffon Records.
He recently moved to Seattle from South Bend, Indiana where he was a member of the Euclid Quartet at Indiana University South Bend, visiting professor of violin/viola at the University of Notre Dame, and concertmaster of the South Bend Symphony. He is currently the concertmaster of the Boise Philharmonic and Langroise Trio Artist-in-Residence at the College of Idaho.
https://www.brendansheaviolin.comAbout Wendy Wilhelmi, flute
Wendy Wilhelmi is active as a teacher and performer throughout the Pacific Northwest, frequently playing with some of the region's finest ensembles, including the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Northwest Sinfonietta and Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra.
For two seasons Wendy served as assistant principal flute and piccolo of the Vancouver (BC) Symphony and prior to that engagement was a regular member of the Spokane Symphony for ten years. She is also active in the studio recording industry and can be heard playing flute, piccolo and alto flute on numerous commercial and movie soundtracks including Eloise at the Plaza, About Schmidt, Die Hard 3 and Air Bud.
In addition to her orchestral engagements, Wendy has been involved in a variety of chamber music ventures, most recently participating in the 2009 Seattle Chamber Music Festival winter season and the 2009 Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.
Ms. Wilhelmi received her Bachelor of Music in music history magna cum laude from the University of Washington, and her Masters of Music in flute performance from Northwestern University where she studied with Walfrid Kujala. She was principal flute of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and co-principal flute of the Philarmonica de Queretaro (Mexico) prior to returning to her native Northwest. In 1998 Ms. Wilhelmi won first place in the National Flute Association's Piccolo Artist Competition.
When not playing or teaching the flute, Wendy can be found studying romance languages, running, hiking, biking or helping out in her family's winery and tasting room in Seattle.
https://musicalretreat.org/faculty/wendy-wilhelmi