Craven Community College’s Lifetime Learning Center will host the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra on April 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Orringer Auditorium on the New Bern campus. They will perform “Strangers in a Strange Land,” an intriguing program that explores music by composers born in one country who traveled to other countries to compose and play music.
Concertgoers will hear the influences of the composers’ birthplaces, along with new influences from their adventures to other lands. George Frideric Handel was born in Germany, studied and made his first mark in Italy, and spent his career in England. Willem de Fesch of the Netherlands joined Handel’s orchestra in London. Jean-Baptiste Lully, consummate Frenchman, was born Giovanni Battista Lulli in Italy. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, traveled from his birthplace, the French colony of Guadeloupe, to France. Born to a French planter and an enslaved African woman, Chevalier de Saint-Georges gained his education and musical training in France, becoming a virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, though living her life in France, could be called a stranger in a strange land, making her way in musical society as one of the very few professional female composers.
All of the featured composers wrote music that was vivid, charming, exciting, and moving. NCBO will play these pieces and bring a lively and engaging evening of musical storytelling.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students. For additional information or to purchase tickets, visit CravenCC.edu/Explorations.
By Craig Ramey