Violinist Joshua Peckins returns to the live concert stage, presenting an immersive solo violin recital experience, pairing beloved music by J. S. Bach with fresh works by living and upcoming geniuses from around the world and rich commentary about the composers and their music.

Toshio Hosokawa, an incredibly exciting living composer, is regularly played by major orchestras in Europe. This program spans his career, including Winter Bird, his very first piece as a student in Berlin, and Elegy, an example of his later, mature work. Hildegard von Bingen’s Ave Maria haunts us from a thousand years ago, played here beautifully on the violin, casting in a fresh light the old adage that the violin most closely resembles the human voice! Bach’s Sonata No 2 is powerful, dramatic, emotional, and riveting - a piece Peckins has performed extensively in Europe, Japan, and the United States.

“Winter Bird” belongs to the 2021-22 project “Music Speaks.” The performance will include commentary about the composers and music.

Future events in the concert series includes:

• “Winter Bird” on Thursday, December 2 at 7 pm at East Branch
• “Improvisations” on Sunday, January 23 at 2 pm at West Branch
• “Improvisations” on Thursday, February 3 at 7 pm at East Branch

You may sign up for future events on our event calendar.

Thank you to the Friends of the Somerville Public Library for funding this series.

For more information, contact Jane at jphilbrick@somervillema.gov.