Musical trip around the world
<p>The Valinor Quartet with Ben Powell on violin, Slava Tolstoy on guitar, Greg Feingold on bass, and Sergei Teleshev on accordion.</p>
Area residents and students received a musical treat on Friday afternoon when The Valinor Quartet held an assembly and workshop in the Superior school gym with a “musical tour around the world”.
The Mineral County Performing Arts Council (MCPAC) brought the group to Superior where they held the assembly followed by a reception where students met the musicians. They then held a free public concert at 7 p.m. at the LDS Church.
The Quartet consists of four members, who are an ethnic mix of Russian, American and English. They played a unique hybrid of jazz and classical music with Sergei Teleshev on accordion, Ben Powell on violin, Slava Tolstoy on guitar and Greg Feingold on bass.
The group started with the class waltz “Danube Waves”. Afterwards, Ben Powell asked the crowd, which ranged from Kindergarten through adults, who played musical instruments and who sang. With numerous hands raised, he said, “of course, everyone sings.”
They then played their rendition of “You are my Sunshine” followed by an Argentina tango, “La Copa de la Vida”. Guitarist, Slava Tolstoy then asked the student, in his heavy Russian accent, where they thought he was from, to which students responded “Scotland”? “Germany”? “Italy”? “Mexico”? He commended the group on their knowledge of geography, and then explained that he was actually from St. Petersburg, Russia.
This was followed by a rousing “Those were the Days” where the audience joined in with clapping. The audience was again calmed down by a classical piece “Ashokan Farewell” made popular by Ken Burn’s Civil War documentary which aired on PBS.
Things livened up again with the country tune “Devil’s Dream”, followed by a pop tune by Cold Play “Viva la Vida”.
The group took turns talking about their instruments and background. At the end of their performance they opened the floor to questions. Fifth grader Destiny Horn asked how to play the violin. Powell invited her up and gave her a quick lesson.
The internationally renowned group covered such a wide variety of musical tastes that it made their performance entertaining for ages young and old.