Hypnotic Charm

It’s unlikely that Ventura City Hall has ever before hosted anything like what transpired in its foyer last Friday, when experimental cellist Frances-Marie Uitti made her local debut. It’s also unlikely that it will hear anything like it again, unless she makes a return engagement.

That would be well-advised, because part of the strange, hypnotic charm of last Friday’s performance was the keen symbiotic relationship of performer and venue.

There she was, coaxing an undulant swirl of chords and overtones with her trademark two-bow technique, the sound enhanced by the reverberant space of the City Hall foyer. One might even be tempted to delve further into the mysterious air of the setting, its ascending marble staircase behind the cellist and the chandeliers overhead suggesting something related to the classic dreamlike film “Last Year at Marienbad.”

Compelling ambience aside, the musical element of Uitti’s brief but complete--and memorable--set was something fascinating to behold. She has mastered the unorthodox double-bow technique, in which a bow is placed both atop the strings and below, to the point where she summons up lush chords and multiple tones.

A thickness of texture was evident even when she used just one bow in a traditional manner. At one point, she applied a mute to the cello and produced airy, wind-like sounds, out of which tiny glints of harmonics would arise.

Although essentially an experimentalist with improvisation on the brain, Uitti also conveys touches of a contemporary romanticism. What emerged from the City Hall performance was a sense that Uitti is an innate explorer of sound who has wisely exploited both the sonic and the poetic potential of the cello.

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BALLET OPPORTUNITY: Ballet is one of those art forms that doesn’t get enough play in Ventura County, but the Channel Islands Ballet is doing its part. This weekend and next, the ballet will put on its spring showcase at Ventura College and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, with works choreographed by artistic director Yves de Boutellier, George Balanchine and others. The programs include such classics as “Clair de Lune,” “Peter and the Wolf” and Balanchine’s “Valse Fantasie.”

DETAILS

Channel Islands Ballet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Ventura College Auditorium, 4667 Telegraph Road in Ventura; and at 7:30 p.m. March 31 and 2:30 p.m. April 1 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd. Tickets are $20 for adults, $12 for students and seniors. Call 449-ARTS or call up https://www.CIBallet.com.

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IT’S ALIVE!: The New West Symphony’s annual celebration of contemporary and world music known as Musics Alive! invariably offers a good blast of offbeat artistic energy this time of year.

This year’s series, really a micro-festival with an Indonesian theme, runs from March 30 to April 1, highlighted by a return visit by composer Lou Harrison at City Hall the afternoon of April 1. That performance will feature music by composers who have artistic debts to Indonesian music, including Harrison, John Cage and Terry Riley, whose proto-minimalist classic “In C” will get a rare local performance.

Other events include: the exotic “Dances of Fire!” dance/concert (exclamation points come with the Musics Alive! territory) at the Pierpont Inn on March 30; a night performance by members of the New West Symphony and the east-meets-west group Bali and Beyond on March 31 at the Mission; and a free family concert by the Cal Arts Gamelan the morning of April 1 at the Mission.

DETAILS

Musics Alive!, March 30-April 1 in Ventura; (800) 639-9378.

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BAROQUE REPORT: Aficionados of Baroque music performed with an ear for authenticity take note. This Sunday at the Unitarian Society in Santa Barbara, Ralph Allen will perform unaccompanied works for violin by Bach, on baroque violin. It’s part of the Camarata Pacifica Baroque, programmed by accomplished harpsichordist and Baroque-phile Corey Jamason.

DETAILS

Unaccompanied Bach for Baroque Violin, Ralph Allen performing at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Society, 1535 Santa Barbara St. in Santa Barbara. Tickets are $20; 961-0571.