Ah well... sometimes, you just end up doing these things! Normally, as a violinist, I do much prefer playing with other people. There is just so much more fun in the interaction and play between colleagues on stage... as long as all the other players are of the same mindset!

However, I did agree today to fill in for a short lunch-time concert at a venue that I will hopefully have a longer concert collaboration with in the future as I try to grow an Early Music ensemble here. The concert is about two weeks out (well, just under two weeks I guess...) and the opening came about due to a last minute cancellation (sickness, I think), and so things have to move pretty quickly to make sure that it will work okay.

Given that I don't really have a solid group of players around me yet, and it is impossible to call in people from other cities with little or no budget, I figured that I would just go it alone and do a solo violin/viola/d'amore concert. It is a short concert, only roughly 30 minutes of music required, and a good deal of chatter to help fill the space.

So, this afternoon was spent trying to figure out what sorts of little bits and pieces would work together to make up a programme. The main difficulty is the fact that the space is not incredibly resonant, and that means that I have to choose pieces that will work best in that sort of space when playing alone. After all, the violin (and the other instruments) are not really great (in my opinion...) without a bass instrument to accompany. The other thing that I have to keep in mind is the fact that the concert is less than two weeks out, and I have limited practice time due to travelling and concerts in the weeks beforehand.

All of this put together, means that I have slightly more constraints than I would normally prefer... but I think it should be manageable. I have settled on mostly pieces that I have performed in the past, and so it should be possible to bring them up together in the time required.

It will be a bit of an eclectic mix of composers and pieces. There won't be a full piece, but more like movements from works instead... the concert is designed to be more of a taster rather than a full fledged dinner! It is an introduction to the more obscure Baroque repertoire, and also an introduction to the historical style and instruments that I'm a specialist in.

The idea is to start to get a local interest in this sort of thing... both amongst the audience, and also with the musicians that live locally, in order to form a sort of home-grown ensemble that will grow into who knows what. So... this will be the beginning of a very very long-term project... starting with one player, and then hopefully slowly growing to a flexible sized ensemble that can tackle a whole range of repertoire from the Baroque through to the late Classical on historical or modern instruments but in an historically informed performance style.

I know that there is some latent interest from audience and performers... and it would be nice to try and nurture and grow that locally. I'm going to try... who knows if I'm the right person for it... but I feel like someone has to start, with little little steps!

So... in the end, some interesting selections from lesser known compsers such as Baltzar, Telemann, Pisdendel, Hoffmeister... and two of the most famous composers, JS Bach and Anonymous!

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