Marine Barracks Washington DC -- On Sunday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m., four different ensembles from “The President’s Own” will present a concert featuring an eclectic mix of selections for different ensembles, including a cello trio with double bass, a woodwind trio, a marimba and cello duo, and a string quintet. The concert will take place at the Marine Barracks Annex in Washington, D.C. and is free, with no tickets required. The program will also stream live on the Marine Band website and YouTube channel.
Coordinated by violinist Staff Sgt. Foster Wang, the concert will begin with Georg Christoph Wagenseil’s Sonata No. 1 in D, a composition for three cellos and double bass and one of a set of quartets for low strings written by Wagenseil. The Austrian composer’s works were widely disseminated and performed and even influenced the great composers Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Following the Sonata, an oboe, clarinet, and bassoon trio will perform Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Trio for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon. Villa-Lobos sought a distinctly native sound in his works and was influenced both by travels to the interior of Brazil and the street music of Rio de Janeiro. His Trio follows suit with feelings of South American dance and driving, primitive rhythms, all influenced by his native Brazil.
The second half of the concert will feature the unique and unlikely ensemble of a marimba and cello duo performing Steven Simpson’s Flow, a work that literally “flows” from the two instruments with little interruption, followed by Mozart’s String Quintet No. 3 in C, K. 515. While Mozart was more well-known for his string quartets, of which he published 23, he only published six string quintets, which were not well received during his lifetime. However, many historians regard them as masterpieces and consider them superior among his chamber works. His quintet K. 515 makes use of the number five in multiple ways, from five instruments, five independent lines weaving in and out, and five-bar phrases throughout. Although a chamber work, the quintet is monumental in nature, possessing the grandeur and construction of a symphony with elements of a fully staged opera.
The Marine Barracks Annex is located at 7th & K Streets in southeast Washington, DC. Free parking is available under the overpass on 7th Street. Patrons should have identification available for possible security checks at the gate.
Complete program and notes
Directions and parking
Watch the live stream