Renowned harpsichordist coming to Rehoboth

Coming to Rehoboth: a musical experience straight out of Venice.

Alberto Busettini, a renowned harpsichordist from Venice, Italy, is coming to Rehoboth to perform at CAMP Rehoboth on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m. He will be performing harpsichord music from Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean Philippe Rameau, Joseph Pancrace Royer and Francois Couperin.

Busettini is coming to Rehoboth with the assistance of Aberfoyle Baroque, a Washington, D.C. group aimed at promoting harpsichord education and appreciation, and James Hauger, a Rehoboth resident who appreciates the instrument and wants to introduce it to the area as well as provide world class entertainment.

"It's something we don't get that often out here that we can go to something that is not that far away," Hauger said.  "You can go to it for the afternoon and then return home. So instead of traveling to Washington, Philadelphia or Baltimore to get to a concert. Here's somebody coming out here to give you that opportunity to go to that late afternoon concert."

Busettini will be performing in Washington, D.C. for two shows before coming to Rehoboth says Carolyn Winter, a co-founder of Aberfoyle Baroque.

"We usually don't do concerts out of D.C. but James (Hauger) reached out to us and he is helping to do the organizing for the Rehoboth side," Winter said. "We thought a more diverse program would work in Rehoboth, so there's a lot of French baroque dance music in the program."

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Hauger said he is excited that the concert is being held at CAMP Rehoboth.

"The acoustics are really quite good," Hauger said. "I think the instrument will carry very well. It's a combination of the artist and the instrument and I'm hoping we have a good crowd."

Winter is also excited about the prospect of playing at CAMP Rehoboth.

"You can't really get to appreciate the harpsichord because it has a light sound and it tends to get drowned out by other instruments," Winter said. "It's rare in the D.C. metro area and in Rehoboth to listen to a harpsichord playing music written for the harpsichord with such a high level musician."

Busettini is the official harpsichordist for the Venice Opera House and his first performance in Washington, D.C. will be his debut performance in the United States, Winter said.

Busettini will be performing on Hauger's own harpsichord.

"I sent an email out to Carolyn (Winter) and said 'here's a picture of my harpsichord. I have done concerts before with other people if you would like to ever consider a concert out in Rehoboth, a harpsichord concert specifically, I would be glad to lend my instrument,'" Hauger said. "She wrote back shortly after and said this was quite opportune because of the harpsichordist coming to perform and she would see what we could do and if I could do some preliminary searching of facilities, things of that nature and see if a concert might be possible around here."

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Ticket sales are going well, Winter said, and they are expecting to have 60 to 70 people at the concert.

"Tickets are $30 and you can get them in two ways. One is to visit our website, aberfoylebaroque.org, and people can get them at the door. But, at the rate tickets are selling, I recommend people get them beforehand on our website."

rghughes@dmg.gannett.com

On Twitter: @hughesg19