Supporters of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra enjoyed another wonderful performance at their annual Benefit Concert at the Orchid Island Beach Club. This year’s Classy Brass concert featured the ACO Brass Quintet: Jesse Cook and Benedetto (Benny) Salvia, trumpets; Stan Spinola, horn; Tim Conner, trombone; and Jay Bertolet, tuba. After welcoming everyone and thanking the event sponsors, Nina Morse, president of the Vero Friends of the ACO, introduced Allison Kaiser, the newly appointed ACO executive director. “I know how much work goes into coordinating events like this, and we’re just so grateful that you’ve taken time to come and join us. I also want to say that the Atlantic Classical Orchestra is a real jewel. I’ve worked in and with orchestras for over 45 years, and what you have here is definitely worth being in awe of and protecting and taking care of,” said Kaiser. She said the ACO will soon launch the quiet phase of an endowment campaign to ensure that it can continue to flourish. “Thank you for being here and for supporting the ACO. It is indeed a gem. It is a bit of a hidden gem and we’re trying to make it a little bit less hidden,” said Maestro David Amado, ACO music director, who spoke about the series from the last, Masterworks IV, to the first, Masterworks I. “We have a wonderful season that I think proves that. The end of the season, we’re going to be featuring the organist at the Community Church here in Vero, Andrew Galuska. He’s going to be playing an organ concerto by Horatio Parker, written in 1901,” said Amado. “And then on the second half, we’re going to be playing a great late Victorian masterpiece by Edward Elgar, the Enigma Variations,” said Amado. “Very beautiful. It has that late 19th century, English nobility and propriety and sentimentality that I think is really very appealing.” Masterworks III, he said, is their “You Choose Your Destiny” concert, where subscribers voted their choice. “Lenny Sigal, our concertmaster, will be playing a Vieuxtemps Fifth Violin Concerto, and we’re opening that concert with Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave Overture, the Hebrides Overture,” said Amado. “And before that, our second Masterworks is all Mozart. It’s incredible that somebody wrote that much music, but it’s more incredible that somebody wrote that much music that’s that good,” said Amado. “We’re going to play a horn concerto with our own principal horn, Karen Schubert. And on the second half, we’ll be playing Mozart’s final symphony, the Jupiter Symphony, which was a piece that kind of ushered in the Romantic era. It so perfectly exemplifies the values of the classical period, the sense of balance and form and perfection and dazzling technical facility. I think in his own way, Mozart ushered in a new era of music with that piece,” said Amado. “And then we’re opening our season in January with music from the movies,” said Amado, referencing works by composers such as Korngold and Steiner as well as Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, with pianist Lindsay Garritson playing his Concerto No. 2 in C minor. The Atlantic Classical Orchestra Brass Quartet proceeded to enthrall the audience with a selection that included Vern Reynold’s “March” from Suite for Brass Quintet; Leonard Bernstein’s Suite from “West Side Story”; John Cheetham’s Scherzo for Brass Quintet; and an early piece written specifically for brass, Victor Ewald’s Brass Quintet No. 1 in Bb minor. For more information, visit AtlanticClassicalOrchestra.com. <em>Photos by Joshua Kodis</em> [gallery ids="212375,212376,212377,212378,212379,212380,212381,212382,212383,212384,212385,212386,212387,212388,212389,212390,212391,212392,212393,212394,212395"]