Guest violinists Mark Dorosheff and Monika Chamasyan lifted the Crozet Community Orchestra to a new strata when they performed in its spring concert March 22 at Crozet Baptist Church in Crozet.
The concert was the CCO’s third since forming a year and a half ago. It now has 51 musicians involved under the leadership of music director Philip Clark.
The program opened with Dorosheff, a classical virtuoso with the U.S. Air Force Strings, and the orchestra playing Mozart’s Rondo in C. Mozart would have been delighted.
Next the orchestra played Sibelius’s intriguing Karelia Suite.
Then Chamasyan followed with the scandalously beautiful Nocturne for Solo Violin and Chamber Orchestra, by Edouard Baghdasaryan. She compelled her listeners with longing. The singing of the strings was irresistible. It stunned the souls in the crowded sanctuary and balcony who for while it lasted heard a transcendental song. They could barely stop clapping when it was over and Chamasyan was obliged to come back out to accept the crowd’s love before they would let things go on.
Next came Gabriel Fauve’s Pavane, performed by the orchestra alone.
Then Dorosheff and Chamasyan combined for Pablo de Sarasate’s Navarra. Their performance was impeccable.
The orchestra concluded the program with Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, ending the concert on a triumphal note.
Chamasyan credited Clark with writing an arrangement of the Nocturne for the orchestra, which she said allowed Bagdasaryan’s virtually unknown music to be exposed. Chamasyan is a champion for composers of the Soviet period who she thinks are undiscovered and unappreciated. She said there other “amazing” Baghdasaryan pieces that should be performed. She said she would come back to Crozet to do it. She and Dorosheff are married.
Many thanks to Clark and to the orchestra for providing Crozet with music that sets such a high standard.
CCO president Denise Murray announced the creation of the Crozet Community Singers, likely to be another ornament of the Crozet music scene.
