Baroque concertos illuminate candlelight concert

Saturday's Vivaldi by Candlelight concert will focus on concertos.

"The baroque era was the heyday of the concerto genre," said series music director Gerald Elias. "Composers like Vivaldi and Bach used the form to great expression."

Five concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, J.S. Bach and Tomaso Albinoni will be on the program, ranging from the well known "Autumn" Concerto from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major.

The musicians playing this year's concert had a say in what works were to be chosen. "The ensemble this year is almost the same as last year's," Elias said. "After last year's concert, I asked everybody what they would like to play this year."

The program gradually took shape out of the many suggestions Elias received. "I was looking for cohesion," he said, "and the program evolved slowly into the five concertos that we're going to play."

One of the works on Saturday's program is Albinoni's Concerto in D minor for oboe. "(Utah Symphony violist) Scott Lewis suggested it," Elias said. "He made an arrangement for viola, and I wanted to do it. The slow movement is one of the most beautiful things Albinoni wrote."

The three composers on the program were contemporaries who knew each other personally or through their music. "Albinoni and Vivaldi were either good friends or arch rivals," Elias said. "I'm not sure which."

Bach was a great admirer of Vivaldi's music. "Bach spent a lot of time transcribing his music," Elias said. "There was a real connection between the two and mutual admiration. It's fitting to have them on the same concert."

Joining Elias and the ensemble will be two guest flutists, Sergio Pallotelli and Cesar Vivanco. They'll be featured in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto.

Pallotelli, who received his master's degree at the University of Utah, has performed locally many times, Elias said.

"One of the things he did was a concerto with Susan Goodfellow and the Salt Lake Symphony a couple years back when I guest conducted."

Vivanco has been the principal flutist of the National Orchestra of Peru for the last 38 years. Elias met him a few years ago on his first visit to Peru. "I've known him for the last five years," he said. "Cesar was actually the one who got my conducting career going."

Elias said that Vivanco is a national treasure in his native country. "The flute in all its variations is the national instrument of Peru, and Cesar is recognized for playing both traditional and classical music."