By Coral Gables Gazette staff
An intimate evening of chamber music returns to Coral Gables on Sunday, March 1, as the Alhambra Orchestra presents its annual Spring Serenade at the Coral Gables Congregational Church.
The 7:30 p.m. performance, offered free to the public with no tickets required, anchors the orchestra’s “For the Love of Music” initiative — a program designed to bring its professional musicians together with distinguished guest artists from South Florida’s musical community. The result is a curated program that favors clarity, collaboration and expressive range.
A rare glimpse of Copland in chamber form
At the heart of this year’s concert is a rarely heard original chamber version of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Scored for just 13 instruments, the piece reveals a leaner, more transparent architecture than the full orchestral suite familiar to many audiences.
In this configuration, every line carries weight. The sparseness magnifies nuance. Strings, flute, clarinet, bassoon and piano share the musical landscape, creating a performance environment that demands heightened precision and interpretive cohesion.
The chamber ensemble includes Artistic Director Daniel Andai among the violinists and pianist Ciro Fodere at the keyboard. The reduced instrumentation draws listeners closer to Copland’s open harmonies and quiet emotional shifts, offering a more intimate encounter with a cornerstone of American music.
Romanticism and reflection: Elgar in two voices
The program opens with Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, a lyrical work composed early in the British composer’s career. Its flowing phrases and warm textures allow the orchestra’s string principals to shape long melodic arcs with clarity and restraint.
The emotional register deepens with “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, presented in an arrangement for brass and organ. The piece unfolds gradually, building from quiet introspection to noble resonance. In a chamber setting, the controlled swell of sound becomes a study in patience and balance.
Together, the two Elgar selections provide contrast: one pastoral and tender, the other dignified and expansive.
Mozart’s sparkle in miniature
A lighter energy enters the program with a special arrangement of selections from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, adapted for solo flute and winds.
Principal flutist Carol Naveira Nicholson steps forward as soloist, joined by the orchestra’s wind players. The condensed format distills Mozart’s theatrical wit into chamber scale, balancing elegance with buoyancy. It offers a moment of brightness before the evening’s virtuosic finale.
A virtuosic conversation to close
The concert concludes with Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings, featuring Daniel Andai and Ciro Fodere as co-soloists.
Written in Mendelssohn’s youth yet rich with melodic sophistication, the concerto moves with rhythmic vitality and lyrical sweep. Its dialogue between violin and piano creates a true chamber conversation — agile, expressive and technically demanding.
Andai, an award-winning violinist and Dean of Music at New World School of the Arts, brings both administrative leadership and artistic authority to the podium and solo role. Fodere, praised for commanding interpretations of Romantic repertoire, adds brilliance and drive to the partnership.
Music in historic, intimate setting
The Coral Gables Congregational Church at 3010 DeSoto Blvd. provides warm acoustics and architectural intimacy well suited to chamber repertoire. The venue reinforces the evening’s design: musicians and audience sharing space within close proximity to the unfolding music.
Free admission remains central to the orchestra’s mission. The season is supported in part by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the City of Coral Gables Cultural Arts Division, underscoring a commitment to accessibility alongside artistic rigor.
For longtime patrons and first-time listeners alike, Spring Serenade offers a varied and balanced program: American modernism, British romanticism, Viennese classicism and youthful German lyricism in a single evening. It is chamber music presented not as a niche offering, but as a shared civic experience.
If you go…
What: Spring Serenade
When: Sunday, March 1, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Coral Gables Congregational Church, 3010 DeSoto Blvd., Coral Gables
Admission: Free; no tickets required
