Guests at the Atlantic Classical Orchestra Harp & Harmony benefit concert were treated to bravura performances by exceptional musicians Bridget Kibbey and Tina Burr Apelgren. The concert, held last Tuesday evening at the Orchid Island Beach Club, was hosted by the Vero Beach Friends of the ACO.
“This is the 26th year of Atlantic Classical Orchestra,” said Friends President Jean Beckert, praising the vision of former Vero Beach resident and Conductor Laureate Andy McMullan and wife Jean for its 1991 creation. McMullan passed the baton in 2004 to acclaimed Artistic Director Stewart Robertson, who retired at the end of this past season’s 25th anniversary year.
The ACO has narrowed the field for a new conductor to four renowned finalists who will each conduct the orchestra during the 2016 Masterworks series. Beckert noted that the Friends committee will offer a series of Meet-the-Maestro luncheons prior to each Vero concert, giving attendees an opportunity to get to know them a little better.
Most in the audience were familiar with the gifted Tina Burr Apelgren, principal flutist and frequent soloist of the ACO and the Brevard Symphony and a former radio personality on the local NPR station, WQCS. They were less familiar but will surely now want to hear more from harpist Bridget Kibbey, understandably the recipient of numerous national and international awards. Originally from Ohio, Kibbey currently resides in the charming neighborhood near The Cloisters in upper Manhattan, and tours as a soloist in this country and abroad.
Special highlights of the evening included Camille Saint-Saens’ four-sectioned Fantaisie, originally written for violin and harp but translated for flute and harp by Apelgren. The harp’s rich reverberation registered beautifully against the crystal brilliance of the flute, and Kibbey likened Apelgren’s exciting lyrical outbursts to flute pyrotechnics.
Sharing that she had accepted a bet to transcribe Johann Sebastian Bach’s majestic Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 for the harp, Kibbey said with a smile, “I saw it as a great challenge.”
Although instantly recognizable, her remarkable adaptation was entirely unique, prompting Apelgren to remark, “I think if Bach would have heard you play that on the harp, he wouldn’t have written it for the organ.”
A Bach sonata and two pieces by Latin American composers rounded out their performance, prompting a standing ovation overall and the comment from Jean Beckert, “I think we’ve found a new dynamic duo.”
There are only a handful of harpists at her level,” said Gretchen Cover, who had loaned her treasured Salvi “Apollo” Concert Grand Pedal Harp for the occasion. “She brings out the best in the sound and possibility of the instrument. She just makes it sing and speak in a voice that it is meant for.”
It was absolutely superb,” said McMullan. “It’s not your usual combination.”
Jean McMullan said that watching Apelgren took her back to 26 years ago when they were getting ready for the very first ACO concert, remembering, “We got a call that Tina had just gone into labor – so she missed that first one!”
The 2016 ACO Concert Season opens in Vero Beach on Jan. 14 at the Waxlax Center for the Performing Arts at Saint Edward’s School. Visit www.ACO-music.org for more information.
