The Vivaldi Project presents

A Rare Performance of

The Six String Sinfonias, W. 182

by C.P.E. BACH

performed on period instruments

with guest conductor Maestro John Hsu

Thursday, September 16, 2010 7:30 pm

First Presbyterian Church

305 East Main Street | Durham, NC

Tickets: $20/ $15 students with ID and First Pres. members

For more information and tickets please go to

The Vivaldi Project Website

Tickets also available at the door.

The Vivaldi Project is a premier period instrument ensemble, based in Washington DC, and dedicated to presenting 17th- and 18th-century string repertoire. The name, The Vivaldi Project, refers not only to the group’s core repertoire—the extraordinary works of the virtuoso violinist and composer, Antonio Vivaldi—but also the project of probing into the roots of Vivaldi’s distinctive musical style, as well as his role as the most influential Italian composer of his generation. Vivaldi’s innovative contributions to string writing, the concerto genre, and programmatic orchestral music place him as a pivotal figure between earlier baroque composers and later classical composers.  Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, in addition to being the leading keyboard player and teacher of his day, was also recognized as a composer with innovative and revolutionary ideas—the six sinfonias for strings containing some of the most audacious and dramatic material he wrote. These sinfonias illustrate how the art of violin playing as advanced and developed by Vivaldi directly influenced orchestral violin writing, increasing the technical demands placed upon the players and raising the standard of their playing.

John Hsu is the Old Dominion Foundation Professor of Music Emeritus at Cornell University, where he taught for 50 years (1955-2005). As an instrumentalist and conductor, he has toured throughout this country and Europe, and made award-winning recordings. Among them are his CD of Haydn Baryton Trios (with violist David Miller and cellist Fortunato Arico), which was chosen Winner in the Music Retailers Association’s Annual Award for Excellence in London, 1989; and his CD Symphonies for the Esterhazy Court by Joseph Haydn (with the Apollo Ensemble), which was nominated for the 1996 International Cannes Classical Music Award. In May 2000, the government of France and its Ministry of Culture bestowed the high honor of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on John Hsu in recognition of his life-long commitment to French Baroque music as a scholar, performer, and teacher. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, which awarded him the Honorary Doctor of Music degree in 1971, and the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003. He currently lives in Chapel Hill, NC.