Concert series opens Saturday at Opera House
The first Classics on Hudson concert takes place Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Hudson Opera House, 327 Warren St., Hudson.
The concert will feature Iva Bittová, a Moravian violinist and vocalist, and violinist Helena Baillie in a program titled “Folktales and Myths: Travels through Hungary and Beyond.” The program will feature the music of Béla Bartók and Leoš Janácek in special arrangements for voice and string quartet and performed with students from the Bard Conservatory of Music.
Highlighting Bartók and Janácek’s love of folk music, the program includes songs from Bartók’s celebrated set of “44 Duets for Two Violins” and the Moravian folk poetry found in Janácek’s songs. Based on folk songs from Hungary and Eastern Europe, Bartók’s duets for violin cover every aspect of a peasant’s life, from haymak- ing and harvests to weddings and war. Janácek’s music embraces elements of Moravian and Slovak folk music, infused with the rhythm, pitch and inflections of ordinary Czech speech to create distinctive vocal melodies.
Bittová, after working as an actress, decided to follow in her father’s footsteps as an instrumentalist and by composing her own music. The violin become her life’s passion and she developed a singular approach, in which violin and voice are two aspects of a single human instrument. She soon became a fixture in the Czechoslovak musical landscape, winning awards from the Czech Musical Academy, including Record of the Year in 1988, being named 2006 Brno-Top 100 Chart Personality of the Year, and performing in live state ceremonies for Václav Havel, George W. Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl and Margaret Thatcher. She developed an international reputation, which led her to working with artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Fred Frith, David Krakauer, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, the Calder String Quartet and many others. She moved to the Hudson Valley in 2007.
Baillie was hailed by The Strad magazine for her ”brilliance and poignance,” and stands apart for a rare ease on both violin and viola. She enjoys a multifaceted career as a performer and violin faculty member at the Bard College Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division. Spearheading an exciting new venture, Baillie recently assumed the artistic directorship of a newly-named, revived concert series, Classics on Hudson, bringing internationally celebrated artists and creative programming to new and diverse audiences, and establishing a new community outreach program committed to education and opportunity for students.
A prizewinner in international competitions — including Munich ARD, Banff and Tertis — Baillie has performed throughout Europe and the United States, with broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and Performance Today for American Public Radio. In her continued commitment to outreach and education, she has traveled across the globe to engage new audiences under the auspices of Midori’s Music Sharing Foundation.
Tickets are $35, $30 for members.
Visit hudsonoperahouse.org or call (518) 822-1438 for more information.