Winter Concert At Mississippi College Features Classical and Modern Latin Selections

Music lovers can enjoy the classical works of Italian Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi as well as the lively Argentine sounds of Astor Piazzolla at a Clinton concert.

The third edition in this season’s Sclater Chamber Music Series, the concert is set for January 30 at Mississippi College’s Aven Fine Arts Building. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. that Friday evening.

An extraordinary group of musicians from Central Mississippi will appear that night on stage at the Jean Pittman Williams Recital Hall.

Performers will include violinist Marta Szlubowska, concertmaster of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. A native of Warsaw, Poland, Marta first performed in concert in her native land as a 7-year-old at the Warsaw Recital Hall. She’s served as the concertmaster for the Jackson-based symphony since 2004.

Marta will join pianist Lynn Raley and cellist Taylis Fernandez to perform “Winter” from Piazzola’s “Four Seasons.”

Several performers at the concert will bring plenty of Mississippi College connections. They include pianist Angela Willoughby, who chairs the Mississippi College Music Department, music professor Ben Williams on harpsichord and music instructor Tyler Kemp on piano.

One of the program’s numbers is “Two Dances” by Piazzola with Kemp and Willoughby teaming up on piano.

Other musicians include two violinists: Mississippi Symphony Orchestra assistant concertmaster Vince Massimino, and Emily Williams, wife of Ben Williams. Milena Rusanova on violin, Ausra Jasinieviciute on viola and Jesse Christeson on cello round out the night’s performers.

The Mississippi College concert will feature a little bit of everything. Classical music composed by Vivaldi, a Venice-born virtuoso violinist who died in 1741, will be part of the program So will music with a Latin twist by Piazzolla, an Argentine tango composer and arranger who died in 1992.

The annual MC Music Department series is named in honor of James Sclater, who retired in 2010 after serving 40 years on the Christian university’s faculty. An award-winning Clinton composer and mentor to generations of musicians, Sclater continues to perform in the metro Jackson area.

Tickets to the Sclater chamber concert are $20 for general admission and $5 for students at any school. Tickets can be purchased online at mc.edu/marketplace or at the door. For more information, contact Dottie Serio of the Music Department at 601-925-3440.