Ana Vidovic in Concert

I went to a great concert by classical guitarist Ana Vidovic yesterday. The venue was Central Presbyterian church in Towson, MD. Arriving shortly before Ms. Vidovic was to start, I ended up in a rear pew; about as far from her as you could get. But the acoustics of the church are very good, and I could hear her guitar quite nicely.

I really enjoyed hearing Ms. Vidovic playing in person. I first heard her on the recommendation of a coworker; she is an extremely talented and accomplished guitarist!

Fortunately, I learned at a previous (acoustic) concert that my camera has a fairly loud shutter, so I waited until the very end of the concert to pop into the aisle for a picture of Ana – the one real benefit of the rear row was that this didn’t block anyone’s view. I also found the dedicated “quiet” mode of the camera (yes, this does dampen the mirror flip/ shutter release sound!). The above picture is a crop of a shot taken at ISO 3200 (!) with my lens zoomed to 200mm. Not too bad from ~100 feet away (back of the church).

The program:

1. Four Pieces by Astor Piazzolla
• Verano Porteno
• Milonga del Angel
• La Muerte del Angel
• Primavera Portena
2. From 12 Songs for Guitar, arranged by Toru Takemitsu
• Secret Love
• Over the Rainbow
• Yesterday
3. Recuerdos de la Alhambra by FranciscoTarrega
4. Asturias by Isaac Albeniz

INTERMISSION

5. Suite Castellana by Federico Moreno Torroba
• Fandanguillo
• Arada
• Danza
6. Sonata in D major, op. 77 by Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco
• Allegro con spririto
• Andantino, quasi canzone
• Tempo di Minuetto
• Vivo ed energico
7. La Catedral by Agustin Barrios Mangore
• Preludio saudade
• Andante religioso
• Allegro solemne

The only real drawback to the afternoon’s performance was the lady directly behind me who would root around in her purse for 10 minutes hunting her elusive Tic-Tacs. Upon finding them, she would forego merely dissolving them and proceed to crunch them individually. However, she was almost in time with the guitar, so it just added a little percussive accompaniment.

And a good time was had by all.