On Sunday evening, Cate School freshman Natalia Gutierrez-Jones, 14, performed Bach’s Concerto in G Minor for Violin at the Trinity Episcopal Church to celebrate the work of James Wimmer, a world-class violin maker in Santa Barbara.
Gutierrez-Jones has played the violin for seven years. She is entering her third year in the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, and plays in the chamber orchestra.
The classical concert featured an all-Wimmer string orchestra and special guests Gilles Apap and Phil Ficsor on the violin, Nona Pyron on the cello, contralto Adrien Ranier and Adrian Spence as conductor and master of ceremonies.
Wimmer is working on the Hubert Schwyzer Quartet, a unique ensemble of instruments commissioned by Westmont College in honor of a former UCSB philosophy professor and cellist.
Gutierrez-Jones has been studying with Claude-lise Lafranque, who teaches at Westmont College and Montessori Center School, since she was 5.
Although playing at numerous recitals and performing with the the Granada Music and Arts Conservatory, Sunday was her first serious performance with an all-star cast.
Don Orth is Cate School‘s communications director.