RSO Winter Concert Will Include Guest Harpist

RIDGEFIELD — Music of a diverse nature — by J.C. Bach, Debussy and Stravinsky — will headline Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra’s winter concert on Saturday, February 3, at 8 pm. Led by RSO music director Maestro Sidney Rothstein, the concert will aso feature guest harpist Wendy Kerner Lucas.

The concert will be in the auditorium of Ridgefield High School, on North Salem Rd (Rt 116).

Ms Lucas will perform Debussy’s impressionistic and relaxing harmony, Danses Sacree et Profanes for harp and strings, first performed in 1905.

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring will provide a different mood. When it was first performed in 1913, it provoked what has become the most infamous of music-inspired riots.

According to Maestro Carling, who is also the RSO librarian, “Not only was the audience angry at the subject matter [pagan ritual and human sacrifice], the dizzying percussive impact of Stravinsky’s elemental rhythms and towering harmonies had a very disturbing effect on the audience, especially in the front rows!”

J.C. Bach, son of the more famous J.S. Bach, brings a more formal type of music to the concert. His Symphony for Double Orchestra is a lovely illustration of baroque music’s more measured formality and charming embellishments.

Double orchestra means just that: the RSO will be split in two, with one “orchestra” seated to the right, and the other to the left of the conductor. The idea is that each orchestra plays off against the other, taking turns with music, or both playing together.

Seating is reserved and tickets range from $25 to $35 each. Tickets can be purchased at Ridgefield Music Store, by calling the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra office at 203/438-3889, or via the RSO Web site at ridgefieldsymphony.org.