The Four Seasons of Vivaldi and Piazzolla

Four seasons become eight when the National Chamber Ensemble presents The Four Seasons of Vivaldi and Piazzolla on Saturday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Rosslyn Spectrum. Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette is the special guest host for the evening.

General admission tickets are $33 for adults and $17 for students, plus applicable service charges. Tickets are available online at www.nationalchamberensemble.org and at the box office one hour prior to the performance. Group discounts for 10 or more are available by calling (703) 685-7590. For more information, call (703) 685-7590 or visitwww.nationalchamberensemble.org. The theater has free garage parking and is two blocks from the Rosslyn Metro. A wine and cheese reception with the artists follows the concert.

Inspired by landscape paintings by Italian artist Marco Ricci, “The Four Seasons” is one of Antonio Vivaldi’s most famous works. Composed during the Baroque period and published in 1725, each concerto is accompanied by sonnets, written, as most believe, by Vivaldi himself. The sonnets provide a narrative for the music, offering a more complete picture of each season as the composition weaves its way through spring, summer, fall, and winter.

The performance of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” will include a reading of the sonnets by Mr. Fisette, as well as a multimedia presentation accompanying the performance that includes photos, moving images, and Vivaldi’s own words that he wrote into the music. The Ensemble’s Artistic Director Leonid Sushansky, called “a musical storyteller” by The Washington Post, will perform the violin solos with a sextet that includes two violins, viola, cello, double bass, and harpsichord.

In contrast, Astor Piazzolla’s “Las Quatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)” is inspired by the rhythms of the Argentinian tango. Once of Argentina’s greatest cultural exports, Piazzolla fused jazz and tango with classical forms and 20^th century harmonies, creating the musical genre of nuevo tango.

Conceived as four discrete pieces, and written nearly 240 years after Vivaldi’s work of the (almost) same name, “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” begins with summer and concludes with spring. Originally scored for Piazzolla’s Quinteto of violin, piano, electric guitar, double bass, and bandoneón (a type of concertina), the Ensemble will perform the composition as a trio featuring Natasha Dukan on piano, Sean Neidlinger on cello, and Leonid Sushansky on violin. Images of Buenos Aires throughout the seasons accompany the musical performance.

The 2016-17 NCE season concludes on May 13 with Music of Our Time, celebrating classical music from film and theater, and an appearance by Bowen McCauley Dance.

About Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre

Located at 1611 N. Kent Street, Arlington VA

Parking: Free garage parking, entrance on Arlington Ridge Road

Metro: Blue/Orange/Silver – Rosslyn Station