The Vivaldi Project

 

Praised for its brilliant and expressive playing, The Vivaldi Project, co-directed by Elizabeth Field and Stephanie Vial, is dedicated to presenting innovative programs of Baroque and Classical string repertoire that combine scholarship and performance to both educate and delight audiences. A review from Fanfare Magazine (2019) expresses the opinion that “the period instrument world could use more practitioners like The Vivaldi Project.” The period instrument ensemble takes its name from the virtuoso violinist and innovative composer Antonio Vivaldi in recognition of his pivotal position between earlier Baroque and later Classical composers (those well known and beloved as well as those rarely heard).

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It is the central belief of the Vivaldi Project that musical performances are Events. Music from the 17th and 18th century was conceived at a time when its very existence depended on the personal and spontaneous expressions of live performers for live audiences. Highly rhetorical in nature, music was viewed as a language in its own right―just as capable of communicating ideas and emotions, only through melody and harmony rather than words. The Vivaldi Project strives to create this sense of immediacy and communication to its audiences, which is reflected in reviews such as "The Vivaldi Project has helped to reinsert our sense of wonder and surprise at music that will never sound old." (Classical Voice of North Carolina) More Concert Reviews

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Since it was founded by Field in 2006, the Vivaldi Project has performed in the DC area and throughout the country, including live performances and interviews for Washington's WETA, North Carolina's WCPE and WUNC, WBAA's Acoustic blend, and Minnesota Public Radio. Radio podcasts In 2010, the ensemble toured the Piedmont region of North Carolina with an unprecedented performance of all six of C.P.E. Bach's String Sinfonias, W. 182, under guest conductor John Hsu. More about our performances  The Vivaldi Project celebrated its 10th anniversary in November, 2017 with an online auction and Gala.  Photo Gallery of Event

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The ensemble's current ongoing project is to explore and record neglected string trios from the mid- to late-18th century. Their recording series, Discovering The Classical String Trio, is receiving critical acclaim both for the innovative repertoire, and the "superb" playing (Strings Magazine). Volume One, released in April 2016 was featured in the Early Music America article, Vivaldi Project Explores Neglected Treasures and has been featured on numerous radio stations and was selected as a “Top 5 Pick” by Colorado Public Radio, declaring “the performances are superb -- sensitive and vital." Volume 2, released in August, 2018, was declared by Gramophone as “just as captivating as their first volume," and "highly recommended.” Both volumes were featured as CD of the month on Washington’s WETA in November, 2019.  Volume 3 was released in June 2021, and according to Fanfare, "all period string playing should sound like this." CD reviews

 

The Vivaldi Project  seeks to educate audiences while sharing its enthusiasm for early music and the instruments on which it was played. Program notes and remarks from the stage guide the audience through the story being told at each concert. The Vivaldi Project welcomes communication with its audience and strives to build relationships with local arts organizations to bring a deeper appreciation for our classical music heritage to diverse metropolitan, rural, and under-served communities. Vivaldi Project co-directors, Elizabeth Field and Stephanie Vial also feel passionately abut the need to to make the study of early music more widely available to performers, and especially those who are not able, or who do not necessarily wish to work with period instruments. Education

 

The Vivaldi Project's educational arm, the Institute for Early Music on Modern Instruments (EMMI) offers professional string players the opportunity to study baroque and classical performance practices using their own modern instruments. From 2009- 2014, Co-directors Elizabeth Field and Stephanie Vial held the Institute annually at George Washington and George Mason Universities. In addition they have presented concerts, workshops and residencies at numerous conservatories and musical institutions including: the Boston Conservatory of Music, the Longy School of Music, the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University,  the University of Illinois and the University of Iowa, Vanderbilt University, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where they have given regular guest master classes. The goal is to provide not merely a set of technical tools, but an instrumental vocabulary through which the language of this incredibly rich, varied and complex music can be conveyed effectively on modern instruments.  Participant Testimonials

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