LITTLE SILVER: THOSE FLUTES ARE SUITE

The Festive Flutes performing the theme from the ‘Pink Panther’ films Thursday night. (Video by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)

By WIL FULTON

The Little Silver Public Library served up a some aural treats Thursday night via the Festive Flutes‘ presentation of its “Suites for the Sweets” program.

“A suite is made up of a group of short, individual pieces that have a relationship with each other and a theme that ties them together,” Marjorie Koharski, founder and director of the Festive Flutes, said, pre-program “So even though we stop playing, please hold your applause till we finish the suite.”

Under Koharski’s direction, the Festive Flutes, a light classical flute quintet – member Gwendolyn Morris was out sick – is currently in what she refers to as its “winter program,” appearing mainly at venues such as public libraries and senior citizen centers throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties.

“Every year, we choose a new theme for our program,” said Koharski a seasoned musician and music teacher from Neptune. “This year we wanted to do something a little different, so we decided on featuring some of our favorite suites.”

Karen Chang of Holmdel and Carol Wasserman of Oakhurst joined Koharski and her 16-year-old student, Stephanie Sun, from Holmdel, to play through seven suites, including selections from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker’ and Georges Bizet’s opera ‘Carmen,’ as well as work from modern composers such as Kathleen Mayne and Henry Mancini, known for his iconic “Pink Panther Theme.”

The group has been in existence for 27-years, with current group having played together for nearly four years, Koharski said.

During its ‘Children’s Suite,” the foursome showed off revamped versions of traditional children’s songs, such as ‘Oranges and Vodka’ – a riff on the ‘Oranges and Lemons’ nursery rhyme – and ‘The Teddy Bear’s Freak-Out,’ a slightly skewed rendition of ‘The Teddy Bears Picnic.’

“I loved it,” said Anita O’Brien, library director. “They came here last year and we thought it was a great success, so we were happy to have them back again. We are really trying to expose our patrons to arts and culture through events like this one. It’s a different experience to see a musical act inside a library, and we’d like to do it more.”