Violinist Philippe Quint was at it again. Accompanied by the Magellan Chamber Orchestra, the program included J. S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, featuring a duet with 14-year-old prodigy Katherine Schaufenbuel, who lived up to the hype about her, and not just one or two, but all four of Vivaldi’s Seasons.

Vivaldi, himself, made an appearance to read the sonnets he had written to introduce the concertos. He might have fooled me, given his costume, wig and Italian accent, but he read the pieces in English, so I deduced that it was an actor, and a rather hammy one at that, which helped explain why, despite Quint’s urging, there were no questions for Antonio from the audience.

The evening also included an exhibit of rare, priceless instruments (actually I heard the figure 15 million dollars bandied about, though any security measures were subtle) by Chicago’s Stradivari Society.  Later, a few instruments formed the basis for Quint’s “violin tasting” (his words), wherein he successively, and successfully, played the same passage on one after the other. I couldn’t tell the difference and Quint didn’t rate them for the attendees, so I’m not sure what the point was. A wine tasting would have been more pleasing.