Midday on Music continues now in the studio of our sister station, WTMD in Towson, where we are fortunate to be joined by members of the Mount Vernon Virtuosi Cello Gang. The founder of the Virtuosi is Amit Peled, an internationally acclaimed ‘cellist and conductor and, for the past two decades, a professor at Hopkins' Peabody Institute conservatory.
Peled founded the Mount Vernon Virtuosi five years ago to provide professional opportunities for young musicians, and to bring music to people young and old throughout the Baltimore-Washington area, in venues that are not restricted to just concert halls.
The Mount Vernon Virtuosi Cello Gang is a rotating ensemble composed of Peled and five of his gifted Peabody student cellists who frequently tour the country. The Gang currently includes Shawn Hsu, Paul Lee, Rachel Taylor, Natalia Vilchis and Jiaoyang Xu.
For today's Midday mini-concert, the group performs three distinctive works beautifully arranged for six cellos:
Georg Golterman's Serenade, Op.119, No. 2;
Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vocalise; and a Brett Howland medley arrangement of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and George David Weiss's What a Wonderful World.
You can watch video of today’s performances by the Mount Vernon Virtuosi ‘Cello Gang on the WYPR YouTube page, or click the video below:
Amit Peled and his Cello Gang's performance today previews their concerts in Montgomery County, Maryland, this weekend. They'll be playing on Saturday, December 10 at 4pm at the Spencerville Church in Silver Spring.
On Sunday, December 11, they will play two shows at the Bender Jewish Community Center in Rockville, at 2:00 and 4:00pm. Click the links for more details.
