Watch Now: Violin Duos from The Shire

Recorded Friday, April 17, 7pm

HOW TO VIEW: Click on the video image towards the bottom of this page or visit our Facebook page. 

Join NBSO violinists Ealaìn McMullin and Jesse Holstein (who happen to be married) for a journey around the world in 60 minutes.

Opening the program will be Georg Philipp Telemann’s Suite for Two Violins based upon Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Originally, this Suite was part of a magazine subscription that Telemann published called “The Faithful Music Master.” Shrewdly, in order to get the next movement of the suite, you had to purchase the next issue.

After escaping shipwreck, clumsy giants, tiny Lilliputians and the like, we will travel to Eastern Europe for several of Béla Bartók’s Duos. Based upon folk songs hitherto unknown beyond the myriad of villages across Transylvania, Rumania, Slovakia, Wallachia, and Ruthenia, these little gems by Bartók contain some of the most brilliant and innovative (and pedagogically useful) writing for the violin.

Upon leaving Eastern Europe, we will conclude the program with a duet by the Armenian-American violinist and composer Kristapor Najarian. Composed in 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, “A Tale for Two Violins” is based upon Armenian and Turkish folk songs, as well as original melodies composed by Najarian himself.

The concert will remain available for viewing below. Simply click on Watch Now and fast forward to about the 12-minute mark.