Dotoratos And Hammond In Concert

Pianist Gary Hammond and violinist Ray Dotoratos gave a beautiful concert at the Martin County Auditorium last night.




As usual the great volunteers from the Martin County Arts Council and the Bertie County Arts Council were there early, setting up and preparing the concession stand. The ladies in the picture above are Michele Early, Judy Overton, Marie Robertson and Christine Farrior. The concession stand pictured below was staffed by the Relay for Life Team from Aulander.




The Bertie County and Martin County Arts Councils joined forces to bring these two musicians of international renown to our area for a local concert of a quality we rarely see. Even the New York Times, noted for its excellent coverage of the arts, has raved about the performances of these two musical artists.



Marie Robertson, Christine Farrior and Betty Constable introduced the concert and the two musicians.

As part of this visit to our area, the two musicians presented a concert for students at Southwestern Middle School in Windsor the same morning. These talented musicians have performed in New York, Washington, DC, where they performed at the White House, and countries all across the globe.



For this evenings performance they opened with a Handel Sonata, and also covered works by Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Still and Chopin.

During intermission, local patrons caught up with friends and talked about the music.

At the end of the concert the artists covered some more contemporary music from Gershwin, Bernstein and Copland. The skill of the two musicians was well displayed and it was a great evening of music that we rarely get to hear.

This was the first joint venture between Bertie and Martin Counties. Hopefully it will not be the last. A special thanks to both groups for a great evening of music.