Concert to feature Beaufort Symphony Orchestra and Velvet Caravan

Even seemingly different things can sometimes go together.

Like dark chocolate and sea salt or gin and grapejuice, the resulting combination can be quite extraordinary.

That’s how Beaufort Symphony Orchestra Maestro Frederick Devyatkin sees an upcoming program which will mix the sounds of the full symphony orchestra with that of the popular Savannah-based band Velvet Caravan.

“Variety is the spice of life,” said Devyatkin, describing the thinking that went in to “Slavic Swing.”

It’s a program, he said, that’s been more than a year in the planning with ‘Caravan’ members Ricardo Ochoa and Jesse Monkman. The two have been friends of the orchestra for many years, often performing with the group.

As Devyatkin explains, Ochoa and Monkman, who both have a background in symphonic music, began playing with the idea of mixing that “big, classical music sound” with what they do — a blend of gypsy, honky tonk, swing and latin the group fondly calls “European redneck music.”

“So they started doing these arrangements and came up with a repertoire that worked,” Devyatkin said.

Bringing the program to the orchestra and to Beaufort County audiences is something the maestro said he’s excited to do, going back to the idea that variety is the spice of life.

“I never want our orchestra to lose that focus of providing symphonic musical performances,” he said. “On the other hand I don’t want to be stuck doing the same thing all the same time.”

Devyatkin said that willingness to shake things up a bit has also been well received with their audience.

In addition to selections from the band, the concert will feature the music of Django Reinhardt, creator of the 1940s “hot” jazz guitar music, as well as selections from Dvorak and Tchaikovsky based on Eastern European folk music. And, there will be some surprises as well, Devyatkin said.

“We’ll let our hair down and not take ourselves too seriously,” he said.

The concert will close out the orchestra’s 30th season in a way that not only makes sense for what they’ve been doing, he said, but will foreshadow things to come, such as working with up and coming artists as well as those, like Velvet Caravan, who are on the verge of going big time.

The band recently signed with the national booking agency Kosson Talent.

“I would say we’re trying to make a point of making that symphonic, big time classical program more accessible,” he said.

This story was originally published May 5, 2016 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Concert to feature Beaufort Symphony Orchestra and Velvet Caravan."