LE ROY — Andrew Flory will be returning to Le Roy to perform at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church as part of the 2023 free concert series “Music at St. Mark’s.”
Flory, who is a classical guitarist doctoral student at the Eastman School of Music, will be playing a theorbo during the first half of the concert. A theorbo is a member of the lute family and was invented at the very beginning of the 17th century as an accompaniment instrument for voice and opera.
“They make smaller ones now, but the theorbo are traditionally very large,” he said. “Mine is about two meters long. It has 14 strings, seven which are threaded and you can play them like threads on the guitar ... Then there are seven strings that are bass note strings, and are tuned to a certain pitch. They stay at that pitch until you tune them to a different pitch.”
Flory said the theorbo is something he’s been studying more. He’s beginning to implement the instrument more into his solo concerts.
There are two distinct styles of theorbo music.
One stems from the first half of the 17th century Italian style. It’s more reminiscent of the Renaissance-style music but evolving.
The second is from the later second half of the 17th century, proceeding into 18th century French theorbo style.
“Unfortunately there isn’t much surviving music for the instrument, as it was used for accompanying everything,” Flory said. “When you have that you are kind of reading in a style we call ‘basso continuo playing’. That’s just reading from a bass line, and harmonizing that bass line just from the one line of notes.”
Flory will be performing pieces from Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, an Austrian-Italian virtuoso performer and composer of the early Baroque period.
He will also be playing pieces by Robert de Visée — a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, who was also a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar.
Flory will be playing classical guitar works during the second half of his concert.
“So that’s a little more traditional for what people have heard, and what I did last year,” he said.
Flory first got interested in playing the theorbo about 10 years ago. He saw someone playing it on YouTube.
When Flory was studying for his masters in 2018 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he was able to start taking lute lessons there because someone else had the school’s theorbo. During his second year masters studies, he was able to get the theorbo from the school, and was able to take lessons on that until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Flory then attended Eastman School of Music for his doctorate — besides the guitar program being great, he said the lute program was good with Paul O’Dette teaching.
For first year of his doctorate studies, Flory didn’t have an instrument to be able to study with O’Dette and had to get a theorbo built. Daniel Yost Luthier, based out of Buffalo, built his instrument so for the last two years Flory has been able to study with O’Dette.
Despite the highbrow music Flory now plays, he said what got him into music in the first place was heavy metal.
“I love Metallica and listening to them,” he said. “They’re my favorite band. I also love listening to all sorts of metal. I played in a metal band for a long time, and actually took time off between my undergrad and masters to pursue that more.”
Flory said what drew him into the classical world was that when you decide to play guitar for a bachelor’s degree, you have to choose between jazz and classical.
A lot of classical students start out playing rock and metal. They choose classical because musically there are a lot of similarities between the two styles in how the music is written and the complexities in them.
“I think all musicians who find themselves pursuing (music) as a career, there is a degree of fulfillment they find when they play the music and be able to create the sound and be able to put their own emotions into the music,” he said. “Play music that moves them emotionally whether it is performing it or writing it themselves. I think there is something about that is more fulfilling than what they will find in anything else.”
Flory said music is a universal language. A musical score can be read by different people across the world. He said it’s something which speaks to people on a different level, and language and cultural boundaries between people don’t matter.
The concert will be held 7 p.m. Feb. 16.
Other performances which will be part of Music at St. Mark’s include:
n Genesee Chorale will perform a program called “Pathways” on Thursday, March 16. Director Ric Jones says this performance will focus on the paths we take in life. The music will focus on relationships that we have with one another, with our world, and in our faith. Music will be varied from recognizable songs, to contemporary choral selections, to gospel and spirituals. The group will be made up of approximately 24 select members of the Chorale.
n On Thursday, April 20, the lively jazz duo of Laura Dubin and Antonio Guerrero will entertain the audience with Laura’s jazz arrangements of show tunes, popular classical pieces, ragtime and her own compositions. This couple — Laura on piano and Antonio on percussion — has just finished touring aboard a cruise ship, they have appeared multiple times at the Rochester Jazz Festival, and they are popular performers at venues around the Rochester area.
n The Batavia Swing Band will perform at the last concert in the series on Thursday, May 18. This group has a 50 year history in the area. They are under the direction of Dan Klinczar and have 18 members in a full traditional big band lineup. Their concert will include classic swing, jazz, and new tunes.
Each concert is about one hour long. More information is available at stmarksleroy.org or by e-mailing stmarksleroy@gmail.com.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is located at 1 E. Main St. in Le Roy.
The concert series is made possible in part through the state Community Regrant Program of the state Council on the Arts that is administered locally by GO ART!