Music in an intimate setting

Those lucky enough to attend the 'Music & Merriment' celebration at a home in the Merced Hills heard world-renowned guitarist Jaume Torrent and violinist Joseph Gold last Saturday.

University of California, Merced music instructor Henrik Jul Hansen, who is also director of the Merced Symphony, met the two musicians when he played with them a few years ago. Since violinist Gold is from the Bay Area and Torrent was in the area, Hansen was able to get them to perform for the fund-raiser.

Torrent, a resident of Barcelona, studied under the legendary Jascha Heifetz. is known for incorporating his Spanish heritage in his playing while also pioneering a technique that takes advantage of electric amplification.

Both musicians will be performing with the Merced Symphony at the season's opening concert, Nov. 3, at the newly restored Merced Theatre in downtown. The concert will feature the American premier of the Concierto de Rialp by Torrent; the second movement of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez; Paganini in America (for guitar, violin and strings), also by Torrent; the Overture to Die Fledermaus by Strauss, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.