Photo courtesy of Lafayette College
“Thank you very much for coming to our Super Bowl party,” Newman said jokingly in the Williams Center crowd’s applause to a piece written specifically for the duo.
On Sunday, February 2, Laura Oltman and Michael Newman accompanied by violinist Tim Fain, played a combination of guitar arrangements.
The glint of the guitar neck casted a shadow on the dimly lit walls as Oltman bobbed her head to the music she permeated.
The duo performed pieces with only two instruments, a guitar and a violin. The affect this simplicity had on the Duo’s audience was quite evident. Their facial expressions read tranquility, intrigue, and anticipation for upcoming pieces.
The melodies rang through the theater with simple, haunting, storytelling melodies that then switched to quick-paced racing notes. Oltman and Newman, cleanly dressed in suits, glanced back and forth to each other throughout the performance, creating a notion of unity and unspoken communication while engaging in their respective instruments. The program featured a combination of violin and guitar arrangements such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Pablo Sarasate, Manuel de Falla and Philip Glass solo music.