麻豆社

The 麻豆社 Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor John Storg氓rds are joined today by Canadian violinist James Ehnes, who brings his virtuosity to William Walton鈥檚 Violin Concerto. Walton worked on the concerto in 1938 during a trip to Ravello, southern Italy, where he was bitten by a tarantula. He marked the unpleasant incident by incorporating a 鈥榯arantella鈥� (an Italian folk dance style) into the concerto, describing the results as "quite gaga, I may say, and of doubtful propriety.鈥�

More folk-inspired music can be heard in La Donna, a piece written by Canadian composer Cassandra Miller. Commissioned in 2021, it takes its name for the Trallalero style of male singing in Genoa. An ensemble of nine is broken down into five basses, two guitar imitators, the melody line, and the highest falsetto voice: la donna. The 麻豆社 Philharmonic performed the piece at the Aldeburgh Festival in June earlier this year.