Allegro Opens Fall With Venice Show

One of the amazing things about this town is the variety and quality of the arts going on. While in cynical moments it seems like a handful of the same people make everything happen, one can pass through cynicism and arrive at the epiphany stage to realize that just two people are responsible for shaping the entire musical community of Spokane.

OK, so Beverly Biggs and David Dutton haven’t founded absolutely everything, but they have been performing, starting concert series and planning events since 1969, and without them this place would be much smaller.

Biggs and Dutton were founders and leaders of Connoisseur Concerts and the Northwest Bach Festival, institutions which are still thriving under other leadership. Their current contributions include the Royal Fireworks concert, 21 years old and going strong enough to expand to the Royal Fireworks Festival — the nation’s only Baroque period arts festival, and Allegro, their Baroque and Beyond concert series which also includes the Music In Historic Homes concerts.

For all of this work, they were two of 11 people named “Pioneers” in 1989 by the Spokane Regional Business Center. As a representative of the arts community receiving a business award, Biggs said she “remained speechless” about being cited as among those “who have made a significant and lasting impact upon our region, who have left an indelible footprint, whose vision and leadership has benefited the community and the region immensely.”

Allegro will also be honored by the City of Spokane next week. The arts organization will receive one of the city’s Arts Awards during the regular Monday night meeting of the Spokane City Council, in recognition of National Arts and Humanities Month.

Allegro has been performing since 1985 and will be leading us to Venice for the opening of their 1999-2000 season for some “Music Along the Grand Canal.” When you put together gondolas and Baroque music, you are bound to fish out some Vivaldi and Albinoni, and that is just what Biggs and Dutton have on the line.

Antonio Vivaldi, nicknamed the Red Priest for his hair and his original vocation, wrote 500 or so concertos for all kinds of instruments, mostly for the violin. While some have claimed that he wrote the same concerto 500 times, Vivaldi was in fact the most original and influential composer of his generation and contributed significantly to the advancement of violin technique.

Friday’s concert will feature several of those concertos, including the Violin Concerto in E-flat “La tempesta di mare,” describing a storm at sea. One of Vivaldi’s 50 odd double concertos, the Violin/Oboe Concerto in B-flat will also be performed, along with a concerto for three soloists, two oboes and a bassoon.

Vivaldi made his living composing, performing and conducting, but his contemporary, Tomaso Albinoni, came from a wealthy family and falls into the talented amateur category. For someone who didn’t need to earn his bread and butter by it, Albinoni wrote quite a bit and had a remarkable melodic gift. He is remembered today for his concertos and chamber music, if not for his operas.

Two Concerti a cinque, neither of which calls for five players, will be presented. Opus 10, No. 1 is for strings and in Opus 9, No. 12 a pair of oboes joins the strings.

Demonstrating Vivaldi’s violin technique will be a guest artist who has made a specialty of the Baroque period, Anthony Martin. Martin is a founding member of Frans Brueggen’s Orchestra of the 18th century, Aston Magna, the Bach Ensemble, Boston Baroque, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Artaria Quartet. He has performed as a soloist with Mostly Mozart at the Lincoln Center and Tanglewood, and at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

CONCERT ALLEGRO Allegro presents - “Venice Music Along the Grand Canal” at 8 p.m. on Friday at The Met. Tickets are $18/$15/$12/$8 through G&B, and discounted season tickets are available from the Allegro office, 455-6865. Antonio Vivaldi wrote 500 or so concertos for all kinds of instruments, mostly for the violin.