Saturday, May 14 at 8:00 pm
Fulton Recital Hall
Free Admission

Under the baton of Tim Semanik, the University Chamber Orchestra will perform Stravinsky’s Eight Instrumental Miniatures, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Pastorale; and Bottesini’s Passione Amorosa featuring co-winners of the 2010 Concerto Competition, violinist Emily Norton and Kirsten Paige, bass.

As a composer, Bottesini wrote instrumental and vocal music, both secular and sacred, including several operas. He was a bass singer, and the influence of bel canto permeates the melodies he wrote for the double bass. To this day, Bottesini is considered as one of the major contributors to the technique of this instrument. He played a three-string double bass – most of them today have four or five strings – tuned one pitch higher than normal, in order to better perform solos. He explored the possibilities of this instrument to a degree unknown before him. Those who had the opportunity to attend his performances were constantly amazed by the delicacy and the wide variety of sounds, from the most severe to the sweetest, that Bottesini could produce with his double bass.  In the nineteenth century, playing such virtuoso passages in a three-string double bass with gut strings added to the technical challenges. Soloist Kirsten Paige will not use the lowest string of her own four-string bass.