Northfield composer Joseph Marcello’s work is set to hit two Vermont stages next weekend, with premiere performances by the Vermont Philharmonic.
The orchestra will perform Marcello’s “Romanza — Serenade for Violin & Orchestra” on April 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, Vt., and on April 28, at 2 p.m. at the Barre Opera House in Barre, Vt.
According to a press release from Marcello and the Vermont Philharmonic, Conductor Louis Kosma first heard excerpts from “Romanza” nearly a decade ago at Marcello’s Northfield studio.
“He vowed he very much wanted to do something together,” Marcello recalled in the release. The work was eventually commissioned in commemoration of the orchestra’s 60th anniversary season.
Marcello is a native New Yorker who has lived, taught and composed in Northfield for the past 30 years. He is the recipient of the Delius Award for Composers for his suite, “Dances of the Night,” holds a master’s degree in composition and has an extensive resume of film scores, stage musicals and albums.
Marcello has additional local ties, with the Conway Chorus having premiered his “Three Canticles of Life,” “Pater Noster” and “Stabat Mater.” In the coming season, his “Concertino Antico” for mandolin chorus will be premiered by the South Hadley Mandolin Orchestra.
While the five opening minutes of “Romanza” essentially lay dormant for nearly a decade after Kosma first heard them, Marcello had his work cut out for him when Kosma informed him six months ago that the orchestra board had heard a virtual orchestral mock-up of the opening minutes and wanted to offer him the commission, with a deadline of February to complete the piece.
The work, which is scored for more than 60 players, lasts approximately 35 minutes and covers around 550 measures, was no easy task, Marcello recalled. But he said he’s accustomed to brief deadlines, having composed full-length musicals as director of an arts camp in New Hampshire and producing the scores for films, such as the 1998 documentary “The Biltmore.”
“The music produced is in no way inferior to music that takes five times as long to perfect,” Marcello said of his deadline-oriented compositions. “It’s as if the very intensity at work somehow magnifies the creator’s focus and clarity.”
The piece was conceived and composed as a celebratory showpiece for violinist Letitia Quante, who is the featured soloist. After hearing her complaint that all the new music she performs is computer-generated and awkward to play, Marcello determined he would write her “a work that honored the violin’s noble, fiery tradition, full of rhapsodic flights of fancy and lyricism — not to mention technical fireworks.”
Tickets may be pre-ordered through the Vermont Philharmonic website, vermontphilharmonic.com, or purchased at the door.