On Saturday, the fourth season of concerts at Wentworth Villa will continue with a recital by two very accomplished young musicians: cellist Rosanna Butterfield and pianist Jannie Burdeti (7:30 p.m., 1156 Fort St., $40/$25; ). Both have had close connections with Victoria, though now live elsewhere: Butterfield is based in Washington, D.C., Burdeti in 91原创.
Their program on Saturday will include works by Schumann, Debussy and Martin, though the first half will be devoted to this year鈥檚 birthday boy, Beethoven 鈥� his Op. 66 variations on a theme from The Magic Flute and his gorgeous Op. 69 cello sonata.
As with many Wentworth Villa concerts, this one sold out early, but a waiting list is taken and some last-minute attendees can usually be accommodated.
Also on Saturday, the Early Music Society of the Islands will present one of the world鈥檚 most celebrated period-instrument ensembles: Concerto K枚ln, a Cologne-based orchestra founded in 1985 (8 p.m., Alix Goolden Hall, $40/$35/$30, student rush $10; ). It will be their only 91原创 stop on a tour tha includes Lincoln Center in New York and the Library of Congress in Washington.
For this occasion, the orchestra will comprise 14 string players (four of them violin soloists) plus lute and harpsichord.
The main attraction will be (according to EMSI) the first complete period-instrument performance here of Vivaldi鈥檚 The聽Four Seasons, the famous set of four programmatic violin concertos first published in 1725聽in his Op. 8.
Even if you鈥檙e one of those people who runs amok at the thought of ever hearing The Four Seasons again, this concert should tempt you, for Concerto K枚ln takes a free, improvisatory, highly personal approach to these much-played works, its stated motto for its interpretation being 鈥淓very moment a new moment.鈥�
This approach pays off handsomely, to judge from the orchestra鈥檚 2016 live recording of The聽Four Seasons, on the Berlin Classics label, with one of its four concertmasters, Shunske Sato, as soloist. The performances are vivid, passionate, ferociously committed, with an extraordinary (dare one say Romantic?) richness of nuance.
On Saturday, Concerto K枚ln will perform three other concertos all featuring multiple soloists: Vivaldi鈥檚 Op. 3/No. 10, for four violins; Geminiani鈥檚 concerto-grosso arrangement of La Folia, Corelli鈥檚 famous violin sonata; and Bach鈥檚 D-minor concerto for two violins, BWV 1043. On Sunday, the Victoria Symphony鈥檚 Classics series will continue, though 鈥淣eoclassics series鈥� might be more accurate on this occasion: Excepting the curtain-raiser, the stormy overture to Haydn鈥檚 opera L鈥檌sola disabitata (The Deserted Island), the program is devoted to 19th-century fare (2:30 p.m., Farquhar Auditorium, University of Victoria Centre, $35-$58; ).
The central work is Schumann鈥檚 Piano Concerto in A聽Minor, one of the greatest and most influential specimens of the early-Romantic concerto. The soloist will be Lorraine Min, the Victoria-born pianist who moved back here in 2008 and has since performed half a dozen times with the Victoria Symphony, most recently in 2018.
The concert will also mark the return of guest conductor Jean-Claude Picard, artistic director of the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivi猫res, in Quebec, who was here last in May 2019 for an Explorations concert.
He will conduct Bizet鈥檚 popular First Symphony, a work of Mozartian freshness, exuberance, melodiousness and colour, and of Mozartian precociousness: Bizet was a 17-year-old student of the Paris Conservatory when he wrote it. Though first performed only 80聽years after it was composed, it is now a staple of the repertoire.
Finally, also on Sunday, the University of Victoria鈥檚 School of Music will offer a guest concert by the Viano String Quartet, a young ensemble that is quickly establishing a major reputation (8 p.m., Phillip T. Young Recital Hall, by聽donation; ).
Comprising two 91原创s and two Americans, the Viano was formed in 2015 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where it is currently serving as ensemble-in-residence (through 2020-21) while also performing around the world 鈥� on three continents this season alone. It has won prizes in many international competitions, including first prize last summer in the prestigious annual Banff International String Quartet Competition.
Sunday鈥檚 program will include two substantial late works: the first of Haydn鈥檚 Op. 74 quartets, and Dvor谩k鈥檚 Op. 105, the last of his 14聽quartets.
