Published August 21. 2026 12:55AM<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra presents its summer season final \u201cValley Vivaldi,\u201d 7 p.m. Aug. 23, Wesley Church, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
The concert opens with violin soloist Dana Allaband in the slow, elegant French dance \u201cLoure\u201d and \u201cGavotte en Rondeau\u201d from Johann Sebastian Bach\u2019s \u201cViolin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006\u201d (1720).<\/p>\n
The work was given a significant honor when almost 50 years ago the \u201cGavotte en Rondeau\u201d was included on the Voyager Golden Record propelled into space aboard Voyagers 1 and 2.<\/p>\n
Although most known for his service to King Frederick the Great of Prussia, Johann Joachim Quantz composed \u201cTrio Sonata in C major, QV2:Anh.3\u201d around 1740 while serving the Dresden Court of the Electors of Saxony. The four-movement piece features Rainer Beckmann, recorder; Inna Eyzerovitch, violin; Noelle Casella, cello, and John Walthausen, harpsichord.<\/p>\n
Violinist Linda Kistler is the featured soloist in Antonio Vivaldi\u2019s \u201cViolin Concerto in D major, RV 208, Il Grosso Mogul\u201d (circa 1710). Composed during Vivaldi\u2019s tenure as violin teacher and music director at the Ospedale della Pieta, Venice, Italy, it showcases the soloist\u2019s virtuosic talent. Bach so enjoyed the work, he transcribed it for solo organ, \u201cOrgan Concerto in C major, BWV 594.\u201d<\/p>\n
Says Pennsylvania Sinfonia Concertmaster Simon Maurer, \u201cAfter intermission, Nobuo Kitagawa opens with a newly-finished edition, prepared by Nobuo himself, of George Frideric Handel\u2019s \u2018Sonata in B-flat Major HWV 357.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Handel played harpsichord, violin and organ, he had special affection for the oboe, which may explain the large number of works he composed for oboe. Kitagawa is joined by cellist Casella and harpsichordist Walthausen.<\/p>\n
Walthausen performs three movements from Jean-Philippe Rameau\u2019s \u201cPi\u00e8ces de clavecin en concerts – Premier Concert\u201d (1741) accompanied by Linda Kistler and Simon Maurer on baroque violins to provide a more historically-accurate balance to the piece.<\/p>\n
Says Maurer, \u201cThe grand finale of our summer concert series is Bach\u2019s double keyboard concerto in C Major BWV 1061,\u201d adding, \u201cJohn Walthausen and Gabriel Benton, both specialists in baroque music performance, are the soloists for this work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that in the 50-plus years of \u2018Valley Vivaldi,\u2019 this wonderful, deeply-uplifting, and spiritual masterwork has never been presented before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabriel Benton studied harpsichord at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, received a master\u2019s degree in historical performance from The Juilliard School and a degree in organ performance from Yale University\u2019s Institute of Sacred Music.<\/p>\n
John Walthausen is an organ and harpsichord soloist and ensemble artist in Baroque literature and contemporary keyboard works. He was organist-in-residence at Sapporo Concert Hall, Hokkaido, Japan. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Conservatoire National Superieur de Paris.<\/p>\n
\u201cValley Vivaldi,\u201d Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, 7 p.m. Aug. 23, Wesley Church, 2540 Center St., Bethlehem. Tickets: at the door; Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra office, 1524 W. Linden St., Allentown; 610-434-7811; https:\/\/www.pasinfonia.org\/valley-vivaldi\/<\/p>\n
\u201cClassical View\u201d is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com<\/p>\n
Gabriel Benton<\/p>\n
John Walthausen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published August 21. 2026 12:55AM Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra presents its summer season final \u201cValley Vivaldi,\u201d 7 p.m. Aug.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-269298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}