Everything old is new again as the Bach Sinfonia and lutenist Ronn McFarlane perform Vivaldi’s Complete Works for Lute and the world premiere of McFarlane’s “Firedance” at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Performing Arts Center.
Bach Sinfonia is led by Artistic Director Daniel Abraham, co-chairman of American University’s Department of Performing Arts and director of choral activities. Since its founding 15 years ago, the Maryland-based nonprofit organization has championed early music in both performance and education. Comprised of more than 40 professional musicians from the area and throughout the country, the ensemble presents four concerts each season on period instruments, as well as many lectures, residencies and open rehearsals. In addition to McFarlane, this concert features 14 strings players and soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani.
If you go
Bach Sinfonia with Ronn McFarlane
Where: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Performing Arts Center at Montgomery College, Silver Spring
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Info: $28, general admission, $25 seniors, $15 students ages 15 through university, free for children ages 14 and under; 301-362-6525; bachsinfonia.org
As a 2009 Grammy Award nominee for best classical crossover album, McFarlane proved that the lute is even more flexible today than it was when troubadours strummed its strings. His “Indigo Road” taps such contemporary styles as bluegrass, Celtic music, rock and jazz as the 16 original songs navigate a journey through nature. His initial goal was to write in the old style, but after sensing how well other instruments complement the lute, he added harp, flute and percussion. That same point of view prevailed as he created “Firedance.” “Since the Bach Sinfonia and I are label mates, Daniel Abraham had been interested in a joint recording project,” McFarlane says. “I composed ‘Firedance’ in a style with lots of quintal harmony that may remind listeners of Copland. I’m looking forward to hearing it out loud because it’s exciting for a composer when his work comes to life in a performance instead of in his mind. I’ve always loved the lute works of Vivaldi and have never performed his complete works in a concert, so I’m also pleased about this opportunity to play them.”
A native of Clarksburg, W.Va., McFarlane graduated with honors from Shenandoah Conservatory. He had focused on the guitar for many years, beginning with membership in a rock band, but during his graduate studies at Peabody Conservatory, he discovered the lute and never turned back. Later, as a Peabody faculty member, he began touring and recording with the Baltimore Consort, an early-music ensemble now in its 30th season with 14 recordings on the Dorian label, the most recent celebrating music from late 15th- and early 16th-century Spain. Earlier this season, he founded Ayreheart, a group featuring lute, harp, flute, brass, percussion and vocals, with the purpose of performing his original music.
“For many years, I focused on the guitar, but when I began studying classical guitar I got hooked on the beauty and expression of classical music,” he says. “Rock ‘n’ roll has rhythm and direction, but Renaissance music combines both qualities, so I switched to the lute and the music of the past. Only recently have I been composing music for the lute.”
Wherever he performs, he wants the audience to leave filled with vitality, because the role of music is not merely to entertain, but to lift spirits, he hays. The lute, he promises, enables that to happen.
“The lute has incredible variety and malleability,” he says. “At some point in history, it was described as a folk instrument of high art that transports the listener to a high consciousness. That sounds like something you’d hear about new age music, but it’s true. The lute is not just an instrument of the museum and ancient times.”
