Ten Strings at Friday at the Ford

Violinist Sherri Deroche and guitarist Jason Deroche, a duo who call themselves Ten Strings, drew an overflow crowd on Friday to our Friday at the Ford concert at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. Hailing from La Grange, Illinois (a neighboring suburb), they attracted family and friends, fans of classical music, and many of our concert series regulars, who remember when Jason played solo guitar for us in November 2011. He amazed us then. He and Sherri equaled our high expectations in 2015.

Ten Strings played from many periods and tradition in their approximately 80 minute concert. They started with "Spanish Dance, no. 5" by Enrique Granados and "Melodie from Orfeo ed Euridice" by Christoph Willibald Gluck. If you know much about classical music, you will realize that neither of those pieces were scored for violin and guitar. According to Jason, there is relatively little original music for the two instruments together, so they make their own arrangements.

After beautiful duo pieces based on music by Bach, Jason played solos of "Cordoba" by Isaac Albeniz and "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" by Francisco Tarrega. Sherri rejoined Jason then for a Latin grouping featuring pieces by South American composers.

I was then pleased by their lovely interpretation of "Here, There, and Everywhere" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. A surprise to me was that some Baby Boomers in the audience did not recognize the song's origin. I guess it is a lesser known Beatles song.

They played "Cantilena,"a piece originally written for guitar and flute by Tom Febonio. The composer is living, unlike most of the night's composers, and Jason has spoken with him.

Ten Strings finished the evening with music by Niccolo Pagannini that was actually written for violin and guitar. These were probably my favorites of the night, for the the interplay between instruments was exciting. I heard many compliments as the audience left and received numerous thanks for booking the duo to play at the library.

Our next concert is Friday, March 13 when folksingers/songwriters Dana and Susan Robinson return to our library. The concerts are free thanks to the generous support of the Western Springs Library Friends.