Blacksburg Community Strings Winter Concert
Music of Sibelius, Grieg, Vivaldi, Bartok & Mendelssohn
with guest soloist Carolyn Smith, flute

The Blacksburg Community Strings will give their Winter Concert on Monday evening, Feburary 19, at 7:30 PM in the Squires Student Center Recital Salon on the Virginia Tech campus. Admission is free.

Formed in the fall of 1999, BCS is well into its second season. The group is a stringed instrument orchestra whose purpose is to provide string music for the listening pleasure of Blacksburg residents and as a musical outlet for the orchestra members. There are sections in the ensemble for violin, viola, cello and double bass. The orchestra has about 30 members, who range in age from middle school students to retirees and in musical level from intermediate players to professionals. Membership is open to any and all people in the Blacksburg area who enjoy playing beautiful, mostly classical, bowed string instrument music. Anyone interested in becoming a member is urged to contact any current member for information. Rehearsals are on Monday nights, 7:30-9:30, at the Blacksburg Middle School.

BCS gave its first formal concert in May of 2000 but has played in numerous venues around the valley since 1999. The group has participated in two Blacksburg Holiday concerts, the 2000 Independence Day concerts in Blacksburg and Radford, several performances at Warm Hearth, the Bach Marathon in Blacksburg and Blacksburg's initial First Night on December 31, 2000. BCS is seeking status as an official Blacksburg volunteer organization, similar to the Blacksburg Community Band. In fact, BCS was formed at the urging of Ed Schwarz, the Director of the Blacksburg Community Band, and is linked to the Band through the Blacksburg Music System. The Community Band and BCS plan to play together regularly.

The Conductor of the Blacksburg Community Strings is Mr. Åke-Eric Renqvist. Before leaving his native Finland to make his home in Virginia, Conductor/Violinist Renqvist was awarded the distinguished title "Director Musices," as signed by the president of Finland in December 1995. For 29 years he was a violinist/violist with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Renqvist taught at the Helsinki Conservatory and a number of other music academies, and served as director of a private music school in Helsinki. He completed his studies in violin at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and studied conducting with Premysl Charvat, principal conductor for the National Opera in Prague. Renqvist has broad experience not only in performance but also in both musical research and administration. Recently Mr. Renqvist moved from Finland to the United States with his wife, who is a Virginian.

The Concertmaster of the Blacksburg Community Strings is Ms. Anneke Sanzenbach. She began her music education at the age of six. At 15, she attended the Royal Conservatori in The Hague, where she studied violin with Jan Klein for three years. After three additional years on the viola, she began playing with the Rotterdam Philharmonic at age 21. Having now lived in the U.S. for 35 years, she plays with various ensembles and with the Summer Musical Enterprise productions as well as with the BCS.

For further information contact Mr. Ken Shaw, BCS member, at 408 Franklin Dr, Blacksburg (24060), 552-4600 (H), 231-5345 (W) or email shaw@math.vt.edu. BCS Web site: http://arts.bev.net/NRAC/perform/bcs/

Program for Winter Concert, 2001 (7:30 PM, Monday, February 19, Squires Recital Salon):

• Jean Sibelius, Romance in C
• Edvard Grieg, Two Elegiac Melodies
  Hjertesår (Heart's Wound)
  Våren (Springtime)
• Antonio Vivaldi, La Tempesta Di Mare - Carolyn Smith, flute
  Allegro
  Largo
  Presto
  

-Intermission -

• Bela Bartok, Négy Kis Tánc—Four Small Dances
  It's told you can't be mine
  Snow has fallen on the market of Gödöllö
  Evening in Transylvania - Carolyn Smith, flute
  Slovak Peasant Dance
• Felix Mendelssohn, Sinfonia IV in C Minor
  Grave
  Andante
  Allegro vivace