Shem Guibbory

Chaconne #49 – Alpharetta Symphony Youth Orchestra

Sunday April 16, 2023, 5:00 P.M. Alpharetta, Georgia

What a wonderful event we had – I performed for and worked with these aspiring young musicians!

I was very happy with how the whole event turned out. The large community room with the youth orchestra musicians on my left, and their families and friends on the right, had a beautiful sound perfectly suitable for the violin. I could feel the awareness and attention from both groups – they were excellent listeners.

In this 49th performance of the work I was exploring the relationship between rhythmic discipline (think: metronome) and freedom to let the musical ideas take shape as elements, as ideas, as scenes, in the story that lies inside this compositon.

I have come to see the Chaconne as the capstone movement intrinsically linked with the Gigue, Sarabande, Corrente and Alllemande that come before. All are part of one story, told with extremely personal expression by a man who always put his person aside and focussed on the Music in service to the Divine.

Next performance is #50 – the halfway mark that I hope to celebrate in New York City at the home of a wonderful friend and photographer – stay tuned!

Chaconne #12 – Sunday January 13, 2013

Private performance, Orangeburg, NJ.

This evening was a most wonderful experience, a perfect expression of what I am hoping to accomplish with the Journey of 100 performances.  Our Host and Hostess thoughtfully invited 14 or so of their good friends, from different paths in their lives, including their daughter-in-law who will be delivering a wonderful baby in approximately three weeks.  According to Mom, Baby loved the performance and was dancing away!

Everyone in the group had a chance to introduce themselves and describe their role on our Hosts’ lives, and then the music began.  The notion of Journey through Music had such powerful resonance for each and every person there, and that made me happy.

What pulled it all together was yet another creative accomplishment: a vast buffet dinner with homemade Italian and Italian-influenced culinary wonders!  No kidding, this was just a like a variation on what was depicted in the film “Babette’s Feast”!

As for me and the music, I certainly enjoyed playing for these wonderful people.  I was using a brilliant violin made in 1776 by Antonio Gragnani – an instrument that I am not completely familiar with, it being on a limited loan to me from David Segal Violins, Ltd.  The tension and sounding manner of the instrument itself is considerably different than my own, and handling the multiple voices was, shall we say,  challenging – a few more weeks with the fiddle would have been perfect.  

 

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