Music brought violinists Scott Moore and Erica Pisaturo together in the first place, performing together every day on tour. And music is how they continue to spend most of their time—when they’re not occupied being parents of two small kids, or navigating the maze of self-employment as freelance artists.
When Moore and Pisaturo moved to Lanesville from Kentucky in the fall of 2019, they had little idea what would happen: a pandemic and a second child. But all along, “it was the vibrant cultural ecosystem of Cape Ann, and New England, which drew us here. This place seemed full of promise for us as new parents and as artists, and though it’s taken some time, that promise has borne fruit. It feels like we’re just getting started,” Moore said.
The couple have been busy. Moore was appointed Concertmaster of the Cape Ann Symphony ahead of the 2022-23 season, adding the same role at Symphony by the Sea for 2023-24, and is currently a co-finalist for the Concertmaster job at Lexington (MA) Symphony.
Meanwhile, Pisaturo was recently named Principal Second Violin at Cape Ann Symphony, and concertizes elsewhere regularly as an orchestra professional.
The couple operates Open String Recordings, providing remote recording and arranging services to clients all around the country, as well as music production and engineering expertise for local clients. They regularly share the stage and recording studio with newfound compatriots like Zachariah Hickman, the Clements Brothers, Hayley Reardon, and Mark Erelli, to name a few. And they comprise half of the newly-formed Lobster Cove String Quartet, whose Annisquam performances have generated quite a buzz.
The Annisquam Village Church, where Moore is Artist-in-Residence, will host the pair for a performance Saturday, April 26 at 7:30pm. The program is titled ‘Dreams and Dances’ and spans some 300 years of music: from the capricious elegance of Telemann’s Canonic Duos to the tender melodies and swirling textures of Moore’s Suite for Two Violins, which the composer describes as “equal parts ballet score, barn dance, Impressionist painting; like little postcards to favorite influences from all over music, art, literature, and life.” Folk music is the connection to another work on the program, Bela Bartók’s rustic Duos, whose evocative titles include “Whirling Dance,” “Bagpipes,” “Harvest Song,” and “Mosquito Dance.”
And the world of ballet provides common ground with the other composer on the docket, Sergei Prokofiev, whose Sonata for Two Violins (from 1932) is a window on the modernist neoclassicism made famous in works like Romeo and Juliet (1935), Lieutenant Kijé (1934) and Peter and the Wolf (1936).
“The intimacy, beauty, and lush acoustics of the Village Church are an ideal place to play music like this,” said Moore. “There’s something fascinating about the idea of a violin duo. It’s transparent, elemental: there’s the fire, sonorous beauty, and all the other qualities we associate with the violin, writ double, amid the dynamic of an ensemble of two—at once duel, duet, dance. . . . We’re excited to play this program of rare delights.”
A reception will follow the concert.
Annisquam Village Church, Gloucester | $25 suggested
