
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Daytona Solisti Chamber Players
Romancing the Strings
Joseph Corporon
Theme and Variations on Schmücke Dich
Franz Joseph Haydn
Allegro from Concerto for Violin and Harpsichord in F Major, Hob. XVII 6
Susan Pitard Acree, Violin
Paige Dashner Long, Harpsichord
Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto for Violin in D Major, Op. 61
Olga Kolpakova, Violin
Press Release and Program Notes
by Rick de Yampert
Daytona Solisti Chamber Players present Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in the “Romancing the Strings” concert on Feb. 11, 2024.
Beethoven’s only violin concerto – a work which languished in obscurity until a 12-year-old violin prodigy revived it four decades after its debut and 17 years after the composer’s death – will be performed by the Daytona Solisti Chamber Players with Ukrainian violinist and Daytona Solisti concertmaster Olga Kolpakova. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, is today one of the world’s best-known and beloved violin concertos.
The Daytona Solisti Chamber Players will perform the piece along with two other works during “Romancing the Strings,” the group’s annual Valentine’s concert. The concert will be presented at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11 at Lighthouse Christ Presbyterian Church, 1035 W. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach, where Solisti is in residence again this concert season. A $15 donation is requested at the door. For more information go online at daytonasolisti.com or call 386-562-5423.
The concert also will include Franz Joseph Haydn’s Allegro from Concerto for Violin and
Harpsichord in F Major, Hob. XVII 6, featuring Solisti music director and founder Susan Pitard Acree on violin and Paige Dashner Long on harpsichord. Long has performed with Daytona Solisti since it began in 2005 and commissioned her gorgeous harpsichord for performances with Daytona Solisti.
Also, the Solisti chamber players will debut an original work by principal cellist Joseph Corporon, his Theme and Variations on Schmücke Dich, a Lutheran hymn whose melody was written in 1649 by German composer Johann Crüger and later adopted by J. S. Bach.
Beethoven wrote his Violin Concerto in D major in 1806 for Franz Clement, one of the era’s leading violinists and one of the few musicians whom the composer believed could handle the difficult violin part. The concerto failed to garner much attention until 1844 – 17 years after Beethoven’s death – when 12-year-old violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim performed the work with the orchestra of the London Philharmonic Society conducted by composer Felix Mendelssohn.
Musicologist Dave Kopplin, writing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, said Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D “was a turning point for the violin concerto, perhaps even for the concerto itself. It was surely the first ‘Romantic’ concerto, an expressive work that pushed the limits of the form . . . and showed the way for generations of composers to come.”
Daytona Solisti was founded in 2005 by Acree after she moved to Daytona Beach from Atlanta. She previously played violin in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for 22 years, performing in New York (Carnegie Hall), London, Chicago, Paris and other cities. Daytona Solisti presents an annual concert series featuring performances by the Daytona Solisti Chamber Players, the Rickman-Acree-Corporon Piano Trio, the Daytona Solisti String Quartet and occasional solo recitals by Michael Rickman. The ensembles are composed of professional musicians from throughout Central Florida and Northeast Florida.
Solisti will conclude its 2023-2024 concert season with “Mozartiana – Music of Mozart” on April 21 featuring Michael Rickman performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 “Jeunehomme.” All performances take place at Lighthouse Christ Presbyterian Church in Ormond Beach. For additional information visit daytonasolisti.com.