McDUFFIE

MACON

Thursday, August 30, 3012

I attended the McDUFFIE MACON concert in the company of My Bride.  This free event sponsored by the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and the Townsend School of Music Mercer University featured Robert McDuffie performing with the Violin, Distinguished Faculty Artist and the McDuffie Center String Ensemble.

We arrived about one hour early and it was a good thing we did.  By the time the concert started the performance was a "Standing Room Only" (SRO) event. 

Before I discuss the Concert literature I would like to say that the 2012 McDufie Center String Ensemble consist of 25 talented individuals.  Nine came from the following foreign countries:

Manto Agouridou, cello (Athens, Greece)

Shin Jung Lee, violin (Seoul, South Korea)

Mattis Palm, double bass (Lund, Sweden)

Jessica Pinkersgill, viola (Victoria, BC, Canada)

Li Shiqi, cello (Shanghai, China)

He Siao cello (Shanghai, China)

Rogerio Shieh, cello (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Elizabeth Skinner, violin (Victoria, BC, Canada)

Rochelle Sumampong-Heavens, violin (Victoria, BC, Canada)

The balance of the Ensemble came from:

Woodstock, GA

Honolulu, HI

Warwick, RI

Mounds, OK

Rochester, NY

Peachtree City, GA

Monona, WI

Houston, TX

El Paso, TX

Dade City, FL

Roswell, GA

Oak Park, IL

Redding, CA

Bulverde, TX

Saint Louis, MO

Honolulu, WI

The literature for this fun concert was composed by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Astor Piazzola, Paul Schoenfield, Erno Dohnanyi, Johannes Brahams, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Samuel Barber.

"Adagio" was my favorite performance of the evening.  Prior to each selection Robert McDuffie provided comments about the background of the music or interesting information about the Composer.  For "Adagio" we learned that one day after the death of President Kennedy, his Widow requested a private concert with this selection. 

Several of the selections were performed by the Faculty Artist.  They certainly did well and their performances certainly set the standard for the Music Scholars selected for this McDuffie Center String Ensemble.

This was a fun concert, like I stated above, and they kept everyone on the edge of their seats.  I will close this Blog Entry with this comment.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend a McDuffie center String Ensemble Concert do so.  In fact I would even suggest that you alter your personal schedule so that you can attend at least one of these Concerts. 

Although I am not a Music Scholar, I can certainly state that this was a dynamic performance and I can understand and also appreciate why this was an SRO event.