Supporters of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra braved a torrential thunderstorm to enjoy an exceptional performance by violinist Igor Pikayzen and pianist Lindsay Garritson at the fifth annual Benefit Concert hosted by the Vero Beach Friends of the ACO and held last Tuesday evening at the Orchid Island Beach Club.
“This is the start of the ACO’s 27th year. Many of you have been supporting the ACO from the early years and that speaks volumes about our special orchestra,” said Friends President Jean Beckert, before thanking the evening’s sponsors and praising former Vero resident and Conductor Laureate Andy McMullan and wife Jean, ACO founders.
McMullan passed the baton in 2004 to Stewart Robertson, who retired at the end of the 25th anniversary year, and the new music director, Maestro David Amato, officially came on board July 2016. Amado was chosen after an extensive search that narrowed to four finalists, each performing as a guest conductor in the 2016 Masterworks series in Vero Beach, Stuart and Palm Beach Gardens.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Maestro David Amato. In addition to the great music you will be hearing, it will be a continuation of the great legacy that was begun by these two people sitting right here in front of me,” said Marie Jureit-Beamish, ACO board chair, referencing the McMullans.
“It has been a little bit intimidating and overwhelming meeting so many people; so many fans of the ACO. We do have really a tremendously wonderful season of music planned,” said Amato. He shared a quick overview about the upcoming season before adding, “You really cannot go wrong; it is the greatest music.”
And speaking of great music, the audience was entranced by the outstanding performance of gifted Russian-American violinist Igor Pikayzen, a Julliard graduate with a master’s from the Yale School of Music, in his Vero Beach debut. Guests were slightly more familiar with Lindsay Garritson, whose sister Ashley Garritson is ACO principal cellist and whose mother is Jureit-Beamish. Lindsay Garritson, who is also an accomplished violinist, is equally brilliant as a soloist or, as she was Tuesday, an accompanist.
Special highlights of the evening included the Sonata in G minor by Claude Debussy, which Amato said came at a time when the composer was just beginning to forge ahead into new edgier territory. Pikayzen and Garritson brought the audience to their feet with the final piece, Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasie, the Academy-nominated score to the 1946 movie Humoresque, based on themes from Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen.
“Wow – I didn’t know fingers could fly over keys and strings so quickly!” exclaimed Beckert, once the applause finally died down.
“I couldn’t be more pleased; it’s excellent in every sense,” said Andy McMullan after the performance, about the evolution of the ACO. “The orchestra makes its own legacy at this point.”
“Stewart Robertson was superb, and now David Amato is going to carry us to even greater heights,” added Jean McMullan.
For information on the full season, visit ACO-music.org.
