Grossmont Symphony Orchestra & Master Chorale began its season with range, depth and kinship. On Saturday, An Evening of Chamber Music was on the bill for the evening, with classical guitarist Robert Wetzel, Alyze Dreiling on violin and viola, and the vocal talent of Audra Nagby, a soprano. All three musicians are faculty members of the Grossmont College Music Department. The pairing of guitar to violin (or viola) and Nagby’s singing to classical guitar pulled the seventy audience members of fans and students right in with songs written centuries ago, and from different parts of the world.
Wetzel and Dreiling began the evening with sonatas written by Paganini, a violinist from nineteenth century Italy. Next, Nagby joined Wetzel with four songs (and one broken string) from seventeenth century England, such as “Rest Sweet Nymphs”, and lyrics that evoked poetry set to sound. The music could have accompanied a theater production the way Nagby melodically seamed each dramatic note to the next. Nagby is a lyrica colortura soprano, a soprano with “good flexibility, who can sing cadenzas easily, whose range comfortably extends to the sixth octave,” she said. Her wide vocal range was undeniable, with Wetzel’s guitar complimenting the smooth ladder of her octaves up and down.
It was an intimate setting. The venue was easy to disregard as the musicians played side-by-side, executing every last chord with the precision that comes with playing for years. The love for the art of making music was not underplayed, it was offered with abandon.
Wetzel would periodically close his eyes for a moment as he cradled his guitar, Dreiling smiled while holding her violin with perfect posture, as if it were part of her body. Nagby’s body lightly swayed to the music while she fiercely controlled her octaves. Their connection to the music implied that these musicians were not only instructors, but also students of music.
The harmony achieved by the performers did not suggest that Nagby has not been performing with Wetzel for long, as the music flowed seamlessly until the last round of applause.
The Grossmont Symphony Orchestra will run free performances until May. For venues, dates and times go to www.grossmont.edu/gso.
