In our KPAC Performance Studio, members of The Orchestra San Antonio were playing music by Henry Purcell as a preview of their Christmas Baroque Brilliance concerts this week, happening Wednesday night at San Fernando Cathedral and Thursday night at the Tobin Center's Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater. What does a "Chacony" by Purcell have to do with Christmas?
"As dark as [the music] is, it doesn't seem like it has much of a place at the Christmas concert table," said violinist Brendan Speltz. "But it actually is the beginning of the program, and it helps signify the darkness of the world and the light that is coming."
Christmas Baroque Brilliance features music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, and others, interspersed with narration of the Christmas story, read aloud by Orchestra San Antonio supporter Jeff Galt and his grandson.
In addition to the lively holiday spirit, Speltz said baroque music is fun to listen to, and play. "What's so great about this music, and music from that time, is that there's very little instructions, so you can kind of let your imagination run wild a little bit," Speltz said.
Listen to Brendan Spetlz and his colleagues, Sami Merdinian, Luke Fleming, and Andrew Janss, performing in our studio by using the audio player at the top of this page. Christmas Baroque Brilliance will be performed for free at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at San Fernando Cathedral, and then again in a ticketed performance at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11 at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Details at: https://www.theorchestra-sa.org/
