Civitas/Gipsy Way Ensemble - Alla Zingarese

The Civitas Ensemble, an enterprising chamber group founded by Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians, teams up with Czech violin virtuoso Pavel �porcl and his wildly popular Gipsy Way Ensemble for a groundbreaking collaboration at the crossroads of Western classical and Romani musical traditions. Alla Zingarese ('in the Gypsy way') embraces the past with new arrangements of well-loved, Gypsy-infused works by Brahms, Enescu, Hubay, and Sarasate, while celebrating the present with new music by noted Czech composer Luk� Sommer, written for the combined forces of Civitas�s violin, clarinet, cello, and piano and Gipsy Way�s violin, viola, string bass, and cymbalom (hammered dulcimer), plus a Sommer piece dedicated exclusively to Civitas. All the arrangements and Sommer�s two original compositions are world-premiere recordings. Highlights include �porcl�s new version of his own Gipsy Fire, the title track from an earlier, best-selling Gipsy Way album.