Tonight’s performance has been made possible by the generosity of Mike and Sue Gillespie.

In an interesting coincidence the Festival returns to TERO Estates with music of Claude Debussy for a second year in a row. The ragtime shenanigans of Golliwog from our 2014 Season give way to a pair of dances for harp and strings: one sacred and one profane. Profane, of course, means "secular", and does not refer to any four-letter words uttered during performance. The so-called profane dance is a gentle waltz-like movement, while the sacred dance has a dignified processional quality. Debussy composed the work at the request of an instrument maker in Paris to show what the newly invented cross-strung chromatic harp could do. Like Betamax in the 1980’s, the cross-strung chromatic harp ultimately lost out to the VHS-like concert pedal harp. Happily, Debussy’s beautiful work remains, and is equally suited to the winning instrument heard tonight.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

DANSE SACRÉ ET DANSE PROFANE FOR HARP AND STRINGS

Artists: Timothy Christie, viola; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Amy Ley, harp; Stephen Miahky, violin; Philip Payton, violin; and Stephen Schermer, bass.