Last night my wife and I returned to Heron Arts for the final concert presented by One Found Sound. The title of the program was Divas Live! As might be expected, it involved a generous share of performances of music composed and/or sung by women primarily in the pop repertoire, such as Gloria Estefan, Dolly Parton, and Cher (the first three accounted for on the program). Those that share my own preferences could enjoy the efforts of three instrumental “divas,” two violinists and a violist in the One Found Sound ensemble.
Violinist Darren Sagawa (photograph from the Web site for the Carmel Bach Festival, where he is Music Librarian)
The first of these was Darren Sagawa (hence the scare quotes above), who performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 373 rondo for violin and orchestra in C major. This was followed shortly thereafter by Annamarie Arai-López performing a movement from the “Summer” concerto in Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, RV 315. Finally, violist Alexandra Simpson delivered a dynamite account of a set of variations composed by Niccolò Paganini.
That said, pop ruled over the evening in both spirit and practice. This made for a long evening; but, for those that like diversity in their music, there was never a dull moment. The full ensemble was as attentive as ever with a festive spirit that was never lagging.
