Classical Music: Stefanovic and King 'duet' their way
By Anthony Sclafani
Posted 2/19/09


In the world of chamber music, violin and guitar duos are nowhere near as easy to find as, say, piano trios and string quartets. That may be a good thing, says Troy King, the guitarist half of the Stefanovic-King Violin & Guitar Duo, which will perform in Columbia Feb. 22.

"As far as getting gigs, it allows us to approach places that normally violinists wouldn't play very much, like guitar societies," King says. "But we also can approach chamber music societies. The nice thing about a violin-guitar set-up is that it provides a really fresh program for a music series that may originally have only had string quartets or something like that."

The Stefanovic-King Violin & Guitar Duo started six years ago as a collaboration between King (a virtuoso who has released multiple CDs) and Ivan Stefanovic, the associate principal second violin for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. But the pair's actual relationship dates back to the late-1980s, when they attended the Cleveland Institute of Music together.

The duo found themselves both living in the Towson area when they decided to pool their talents. King says he was surprised by the number of compositions penned for their particular instrumental pairing.

"There're some great works out there," notes the Towson resident. "There are obviously a number of things by Paganini that he wrote for violin and guitar, because Paganini was both a violinist and a guitarist."

It's a bit surprising, therefore, that the duo's planned program this weekend for the Sundays at Three concert series won't include any works by the Italian composer. Rather, the pair will introduce a different mix of old and new works, some of it written for their instrumental combo, and some not.

One dedicated violin-guitar number will be "Mountain Moor" by modern composer Stephen Funk Pearson. King says the Scottish-influenced piece was inspired by the composer's journey to Scotland and its characteristic moors.

For good measure, the duo is planning to throw in a few transcriptions of compositions intended to be played on other instruments.

"The Astor Piazzolla piece we're doing," notes King, referring to "L'Histoire du Tango," written for flute and guitar, "is done frequently with violin and guitar, but this was an arrangement Piazzolla approved during his lifetime."

The program will also include Johann Sebastian Bach's "Sonata in G Major, BWV 1021," Maurice Ravel's "Piece en forme habanera" and Jacques Ibert's "Entr'acte."

"The guitar is an instrument that is probably known more as a popular music instrument," muses King, "but I think when you bring that into the classical realm, it makes it a little more attractive. It pulls people into classical music who may not otherwise hear it."