InConcert Sierra: The Chamber is Opening!

InConcert Sierra will present one of the top chamber orchestras in the world, Les Violons du Roy, conducted by Jonathan Cohen, and featuring renowned mandolinist Avi Avital on Sunday, October 17 at 2pm

This concert will be the exciting opening of InConcert Sierra’s 2021-22 Third Sunday Chamber Series and 75^th Anniversary season. It is the first InConcert live performance after closing in March 2020 due to the pandemic. 

“After losing more than an entire season and a half of performances and ticket income due to the pandemic, we are excited to be able to reopen with a preeminent chamber ensemble such as Les Violons du Roy, joined by an absolute favorite of mine, the unsurpassed superstar mandolinist Avi Avital.  Classical music performances have been silent for far too long and I anticipate this live concert will be a transcendent experience that we’ve all been profoundly missing,” said Julie Hardin, ICS executive director.

The program includes Bach’s “Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor,” Vivaldi’s “Mandolin Concerto in C Major,” Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue,” Vivaldi’s “Concerto for Lute and Two Violins in D Major,” and Bach’s “Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D Minor.”  Four of the five works are arranged by Avital for solo mandolin.

Based in Québec, Les Violons du Roy takes its name from the celebrated court orchestra of the French kings. It was founded in 1984 by Bernard Labadie, and continues under celebrated music director, Jonathan Cohen, to explore the nearly boundless repertoire of music for chamber orchestra. The fifteen-member ensemble plays modern instruments, albeit with period bows for Baroque and Classical music, and its interpretations are deeply informed by the latest research on 17th- and 18th-century performance practice.

Avi Avital is the first solo mandolinist to be nominated for a Grammy Award. His inspired music-making has electrified audiences in performances around the world, including appearances with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under the batons of great conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Osmo Vänskä, and Giovanni Antonini. He previously performed for InConcert Sierra with the famed Assad Brothers guitar-duo in February 2018.

InConcert had to postpone their gala opening of “Broadway on the Pond” in August due to the smoky conditions and postponed their September concert with the InConcert Sierra Orchestra due to the surge in Covid cases.

The October 17 performance will move forward with Covid restrictions in place, including a vaccinated-only attendance policy, masks required at all times indoors, limited audience numbers with social distancing encouraged, no pre-concert forum, no intermission, and a 70–80-minute performance.  Doors will open at 1:30 and vaccine-checks will begin at 1:15pm.

This performance is a Legacy Concert dedicated to the memory of Mildred Anderson. For more information, visit inconcertsierra.org.