Highlands Duo to perform Baroque period pieces at Ouachita Oct. 25

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October 19, 2018 - Tiffany Lee

Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Fine Arts will host the Highlands Duo in concert as part of its guest artist series. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will be held Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in McBeth Recital Hall.

The Highlands Duo includes American violinist Dr. Benjamin Shute and Malaysian harpsichordist Anastasia Abu Bakar.

“The performance will feature one of the most common instrumentations of the sonatas written during the Baroque period, violin and continuo (harpsichord), and one that our students and colleagues seldom have a chance to hear on campus,” said Dr. Carlos Feller, visiting assistant professor of music at Ouachita. “In addition to that, the works will be performed as they sounded almost 300 years ago, on instruments that are as similar to the original ones as possible and following performance practices of that time.”

The Highlands Duo has performed in many European venues, including the Schlosskonzerte Bad Krozingen and Schlossfestspiele Marburg, as well as American institutions such as Dickinson College, Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma City University, Southeast Oklahoma State University and Wheaton College Conservatory of Music.

Shute and Bakar first performed together in 2009 while studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany.

“Ben, Anastasia and I taught together at another university, and we shared a common interest in early music – mostly from the Baroque period (1600-1750) – performed on period instruments, which are replicas of instruments made during that era,” Feller said.

Additionally, Shute and Bakar will work directly with students as part of their visit to campus. Dr. Shute will deliver a lecture on Friday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. Bakar will meet with Ouachita piano students on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at 3 p.m. to demonstrate the harpsichord and coach students currently studying Baroque repertory.

For more information about the event, contact Dr. Carlos Feller at fellerc@obu.edu or (870) 245-4160.

By Tiffany Lee // Download full header photo.

October 19, 2018