“Historical performance is like Live-Action Role Playing, or LARPing. We get to be musical time-travelers…going back to the periods of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and on, and we get to re-create the music they were hearing, the instruments they were playing, and the style they were used to.”
– Baroque Violinist Rachell Ellen Wong
Fresh off her graduation from the select Historical Performance program at the Juilliard School, Heifetz alum-turned-faculty-performer Rachell Wong brought some centuries-old music that were nonetheless represented a brand-new sound on the Heifetz summer stage: With no chin or shoulder rest, gut strings, and a Baroque-style bow, Rachell and fellow musical time-travelers Beiliang Zhu and Andrew Rosenblum dug into a sonata by 17th-century superstar composer and violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, whose, “compositions stand as some of the most startlingly advanced music of the Baroque era,” in the words of the All Music Guide.
So, for our latest Video of the Week, we’ll leave it to Biber to provide the music, Rachell, Beiliang and Andrew to bring it to life, and for you to enjoy!
PS – the versatile Rachell Ellen Wong, who’s played everything from Bach to Brahms to Bernstein to Scottish reels and Klezmer chops on the Heifetz stage, will be back in Staunton next month to perform at our Heifetz Spring Hootenanny (March 19) and free Bach Around The Clock (March 21) concerts. Get your tickets now!
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704) “may have been the finest violinist of the 17th century,”