Violin Virtuoso to Perform with Main Street Chamber Orchestra

Acclaimed violin virtuoso Akemi Takayama will be the featured soloist with the Main Street Chamber Orchestra on Saturday, May 13 at 4pm at Grace Episcopal Church in Berryville. The concert includes works by Beethoven, Mozart, and CPE Bach. 

Dr. Takayama will perform Mozart’s delightful Violin Concerto #5, “The Turkish”, so called due to the Turkish musical elements woven into its fourth movement. Mozart likely wrote this concerto for his own performance as it is full of virtuoso passages. 

Dr. Takayama, a founding member of the Main Street Chamber Orchestra (MSCO), is one of the most sought-after freelance musicians in the Mid Atlantic. In addition to her position as Associate Professor of Violin at Shenandoah Conservatory, where she holds the Victor Brown Endowed Chair in Violin, she is concertmaster of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra. 

The second half of the May 13 concert is devoted to Beethoven’s jubilant Symphony No. 2. The composer Hector Berlioz said, “Everywhere in this piece, Beethoven smiles.” This is amazing when considering it was written when the composer was considering suicide over his deteriorating hearing. While there are a few dark clouds, Beethoven is here at his most optimistic, even including a few musical jokes.

The concert will open with Carl Philipp Emanual Bach’s Symphony No. 1. A son of J. S. Bach, CPE is known as the “Berlin” Bach for his years spent in that city. CPE was an early adopter of the new “sturm und drang” style that stressed wide extremes of emotion. The work will showcase the superb skills of the MSCO string musicians as they take on the storms. 

Tickets are on sale on our website, mainstreetchamberorchestra.org. Students under 18 are free. The MSCO is pleased to introduce to the community its recently established board of directors. Jon Goldberg serves as president and music director; the Very Reverend Justin Ivatts, treasurer; Helena Goldberg, secretary; and Diana Kincannon, Dr. Donovan Stokes, and Lawrence Goldstein.