PORT LUDLOW — It’s not often that we get to see a champion accordion player. But such will be the case as Quartetto Gelato, an ensemble featuring accordionist Alexander Sevastian, arrives for the Port Ludlow Performing Arts season finale this Saturday night.
Unleashing their diverse repertoire at the Bay Club, 120 Spinnaker Place, are Sevastian and his bandmates: tenor and violinist Peter De Sotto; oboist Colin Maier and cellist Elizabeth McLellan. The foursome travels the globe playing their particular interpretations of classical masterworks, operatic arias, tangos, Gypsy and folk songs.
Sevastian, a native of Minsk, Belarus, began studying the accordion as a boy of 7. He’s gone on to win competitions including the Oslofjord in Norway (1998), The Cup of the North in Russia (2000), the Anthony Galla-Rini Accordion Competition in the United States (2001) and The Coupe Mondiale, also in the States (2007). He and his family moved to Canada 14 years ago.
These days, Sevastian and Quartetto Gelato are regularly heard on Canadian Broadcasting 96.3 FM out of Toronto and on the NPR and Public Radio International networks. Their eight CDs have sold more than 150,000 units to date.
To hear some Quartetto Gelato music and see about tickets to Saturday’s concert, visit www.PortLudlowPerformingArts.com. General admission seats at this 7:30 p.m. show are $24 on that website and at the Bay Club.
Ticket holders may want to come as early as 6:30 p.m. to choose their seats, visit the bar and see the Port Ludlow Artists’ League show. This month’s display is “A Few of My Favorite Things and Places,” photography by Mary Lynn Laker.