The Vero Beach Chamber Orchestra will present the second performance of its 15th season on Sunday, April 23, 2023, featuring Vero Beach native, Sara Luciani (nee Diehl) performing the beautiful Concerto for Oboe and Strings by Domenico Cimarosa.
“The Orchestra is delighted to welcome Dr. Luciani back to Vero Beach, and we look forward to working with her on Cimarosa’s Concerto,” explained VBCO President, Dwight Holmes. “Our director, Page Howell, has also programmed two audience favorites, Gioachio Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture and Franz Schubert’s First Symphony. The concert will be at 2:00PM at the Vero Beach High School Performing Arts Center.” The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.
Dr. Luciani is an international performer and active freelance oboist. Currently second oboe and English horn with the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Sara was previously principal oboist with Palm Beach Pops. She has performed with other ensembles including the Austin Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Miami City Ballet, Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Symphony, and Treasure Coast Opera. A versatile player, she has been a soloist with the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra and with the Polish jazz band, “Young at Hearts.” She has also performed with Frank Sinatra Jr., Broadway stars Idina Menzel and Lea Salonga, tenor Andrea Bocelli, producer David Foster, and jazz greats Ken Peplowski and John Pizzarelli, to name a few.
Dr. Luciani has taught music classes from elementary through college and strives to be a full-time college professor in the future. She has been a guest clinician at music camps and workshops worldwide, including lecturing at the International Jazz Workshop in Puławy, Poland about performance-related injuries in musicians.
Originally from Vero Beach, Florida, Dr. Luciani received her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern State University in Louisiana, her Master of Music degree from the University of Texas, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami. Her principal teachers were Richard Foster, Tony Smith, Dr. Mark Ostoich, Bob Atherholt, and Robert Weiner. She currently resides in Miami, Florida with her husband, jazz trombonist Dante Luciani. After nearly a three-year hiatus due to Covid restrictions followed by a battle with breast cancer, Dr. Luciani is thrilled to return to the stage…cancer free!
The Vero Beach Chamber Orchestra is a long-standing and valued artistic asset of the Indian River County cultural community. True to its founding mission over 15 years ago, the orchestra is comprised of professional and non-professional musicians as well as higher level student musicians, working together with the Vero Beach High School to encourage and support music education in the school district.
“The VBCO is very unique in its operations”, explained Holmes. “Our performances are free and open to the public, as we encourage new audiences to try classical orchestral concerts on us! We donate our music to the high school orchestral library for the benefit of future orchestral students, and we are always on the lookout for new players, particularly violin and viola players in our community who might like to join our ranks.”
For more information, please visit VeroBeachChamberOrchestra.org.