The Bach Parley’s season opener will feature some perennial seasonal favorites, including Summer and Autumn from the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. The ensemble will also play excerpts from a different Four Seasons, a set by Giovanni Antonio Guido. Music Director and violinist Valerie Arsenault says, “We will present musical pictures of all four seasons by Guido and two seasons by
Vivaldi. Although Vivaldi’s concertos are well-known, their composition leaves a fair bit to
interpretation and improvisation, so we hope it will be fun to hear our live performance.”

Along with Arsenault, the concert will feature Tommaso Bruno and Thomas Roggio on baroque violin, Wayne Pearcy on baroque trumpet, Timothy Hoekman on harpsichord, Kim Jones on baroque cello, Melanie Punter on baroque bass, and Brian Arsenault on baroque viola.
Wayne Pearcy, a graduate student in jazz at the FSU College of Music, made his Bach Parley debut in June 2023, and he will return to play Torelli’s Sonata in D major for trumpet and strings. Pearcy performs on a highly specialized Baroque trumpet or natural trumpet. Pearcy’s Baroque trumpet is a replica of an eighteenth-century trumpet, made from tubing about twice as long as a modern trumpet
and without any valves or fingerholes for changing the pitch.

The Bach Parley performs on period instruments – harpsichord, baroque style stringed instruments with gut strings, natural trumpet without valves or holes, and an early version of the flute made of wood and without keys called a traverso. The French word “parley” means discussion, so the commentary provided by Valerie Arsenault is an essential element of Bach Parley concerts. This
commentary includes historical context about the composers and the period instruments and offers suggestions about what to listen for in the music, letting the audience in to our process and why we love this music.

The Tallahassee Bach Parley is also the umbrella organization for a non-profit music school, The Bach Parley String Academy. It is now in its ninth year offering violin, viola, and cello lessons at St. John’s Episcopal church.