Winter Oasis, by the Baroque music ensemble Relic, is a wonderful production. Enthusiastically and flawlessly performing works by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi and other composers, this group is entertaining, inspiring and educational. Over 80 people packed the New Deal Café for a lunchtime concert on Monday, February 20 to hear these 10 musicians play. This was one of a number of shows this touring group is doing in our area.
Children were a large and participating part of the audience at a Community Center show on Saturday. Greenbelt resident and violinist Natalie Kress invited the kids up to play a few notes and to conduct the group, which they did with much energy and excitement.
The 10 musicians are mostly graduates of Juilliard, six of whom founded the group, with members from Peabody and the Hague Conservatory in the Netherlands. The music is played on violins and violas, a cello and bass, harpsichord, bassoon and a rather ancient instrument called a theorbo. This very long-necked relative of the lute is played by Hague graduate Menglin Gao. That and the harpsichord are both ancestors of the guitar and piano, respectively. “The theorbo fell out of favor in the mid-1700s, although some more modern composers have included it on rare occasions,” Gao said.
A Greenbelt Community Foundation grant is responsible for helping to bring this excellent group here to perform.
Coming shows this week include one at The Clarice Smith Center at University of Maryland on Friday, February 24 and a second show at Greenbelt Community Church on Sunday, February 26 at 3 p.m. These free shows are a wonderful opportunity for young and old to hear some terrific music.
For those who cannot attend the live performances, Greenbelt Access Television filmed the New Deal Café concert which will be available to watch on the station.
