The primary attraction of the evening for me was the Third Brandenburg Concerto by J. S. Bach, the finest piece of music ever written. There were other delightful pieces as well, however, and over the course of the festival all classical genres, from Bach to Shostakovich, are well-represented.
I emphatically recommend the Festival to readers who are close enough to commute. There will be two more evenings of music (tickets are $10 for each evening), with a final performance on Saturday, June 11th.
The Festival is designed to give music students a chance to hone their performing skills under the tutelage of older mentors, who also perform with them on stage. Tuition grants are underwritten by donations, so that students from all over the country have a chance to gain invaluable experience and receive instruction that they might otherwise miss.
To give you a taste of the Festival, below the jump is a brief video clip of the opening of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, as played by a euphonium quartet:
During my trip to Floyd I expected a 36-hour break from the Jihad, but no such luck! Jihad may be found even in the Blue Ridge Mountains and their foothills in Southwestern Virginia.
I’ll have more on that in my next post.
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