ARKADELPHIA -- Ouachita Baptist University's School of Fine Arts will host the Highlands Duo in concert on Thursday as part of its guest artist series.
The concert, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in McBeth Recital Hall. The Highlands Duo includes American violinist Benjamin Shute and Malaysian harpsichordist Anastasia Abu Bakar.
"The performance will feature one of the most common instrumentations of the sonatas written during the Baroque period, violin and continuo (harpsichord), and one that our students and colleagues seldom have a chance to hear on campus," said Carlos Feller, visiting assistant professor of music at Ouachita. "In addition to that, the works will be performed as they sounded almost 300 years ago, on instruments that are as similar to the original ones as possible and following performance practices of that time."
The Highlands Duo has performed in many European venues, including the Schlosskonzerte Bad Krozingen and Schlossfestspiele Marburg, as well as American institutions such as Dickinson College, Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma City University, Southeast Oklahoma State University and Wheaton College Conservatory of Music.
Shute and Bakar first performed together in 2009 while studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany.
"Ben, Anastasia and I taught together at another university, and we shared a common interest in early music – mostly from the Baroque period (1600-1750) – performed on period instruments, which are replicas of instruments made during that era,” Feller said," Feller said.
Additionally, Shute and Bakar will work directly with students as part of their visit to campus. Shute will deliver a lecture on Friday at 10 a.m. Bakar will meet with Ouachita piano students on Wednesday at 3 p.m. to demonstrate the harpsichord and coach students currently studying Baroque repertory.
Email Carlos Feller at [email protected] or call 870-245-4160 for more information.
Entertainment on 10/23/2018