Las Vegas Sun

April 25, 2024

2 local soloists with symphony

The orchestra is premiering Concerto for Harpsichord by American composer Nevett Bartow. The musical work will be performed by Hesselink, professor emeritus of Longwood College in Virginia, playing a Flemish double harpsichord custom made for him in 1987 by prize-winning harpsichord builder Richard Kingston of North Carolina.

Hesselink, who moved to Las Vegas in 1993, was selected as one of the first music educators to visit the People's Republic of China in 1981. He is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the College Music Society, the American Musicological Society, the Organ Historical Society and the American Society of English Handbell Ringers.

Hesselink is dean of the Nevada School of the Arts and teaches as an adjunct faculty member of the music department at UNLV.

Gurley, a Las Vegas resident since 1976, made her national debut as a cellist in Carnegie Recital Hall in 1972. In 1973, as a member of the Swiss Chamber Orchestra, she toured throughout Europe. She has played with a number of major symphony orchestras in the United States and has held the position of principal cello with the Nevada Chamber Symphony for the last 10 years in which she has been a featured soloist each season. She is the director of the Amadeus School of Music.

In this concert, she will be playing the Adagio from the cello concerto by Elgar and the "Gavotte" by Popper for cello and orchestra.

Other works included in this concert are the Concerto Grosso in D minor by Vivaldi, Haydn's Overture in D and the "Elegie" by Busch.

For more information, call 433-9280.

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