Allegro String Ensemble

Last Friday (Nov 20), I attended a free concert organised by the Italian embassy in Malaysia, at Istana Budaya. It featured the Allegro String Ensemble, which played a selection of music from Italian composers like Verdi, Rossini, Scarlatti and others. The ensemble is conducted by Maestro John Allan and its leader is Maestro Antonella Aloigi Hayes.

What pleasantly surprised me is the orchestra is made up mainly of young Malaysians, most of whom seem to be in their teens. There was even a young girl of ten, I believe!Seeing such youthful performers is very delightful. Their passion and commitment to their art is something truly admirable. You can see the fire shining in their eyes. I did hear some of the remark after the concert that the hall was too cold though, ha ha.

They were supposed to start with the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, but decided to give the show a rousing start with the Overture from Rossini's William Tell instead. It was a good decision! Nothing like giving a show a bang right from the start. The Overture was pretty good! It would have sounded better with brass and percussion, but for a strings ensemble, they did very well. Since then I have seen excellent performances of this piece by the Berlin Philharmoniker (under Herbert Von Karajan) and the Halle Symphony Orchestra (under Mark Elder, at the Royal Albert Hall) on Youtube.

There were several pieces and composers that I was hearing for the first time, like Sonata-La Follia by Arcangelo Corelli, and Sonata for pianoforte K. 491 in D major by Domenico Scarlatti, and Tarantella, which is actually based on a Neapolitan folk tune, composer unknown.

The young ensemble was really amazing, and they really enjoyed themselves. The crowd loved them too. We asked for an encore, and they obliged us with Getaran Jiwa. I was silently mouthing the lyrics when they played it.A lot of wonderful thoughts formed in my mind during the concert.

That was my first live performance in a long time, and my first time at Istana Budaya, and what a way to make it back to the concert halls! There is nothing like watching a live performance, letting your heart sway to the movements and melody of the intruments. I was very moved. The performance was at the Lambang Sari hall, a smaller venue, which gave the event so much intimacy. The music, directly from the instruments, without going though any devices, unprocessed, makes it way straight to your ears and heart. Music at its purest, at its most sublime.

I look forward to more of such performances!