Maple Crest and Bluffton community residents were treated to a professional classical concert of the highest caliber by a chamber group known as "Full Sound" on Sept. 2.
It was a bit like having the "Von Trapp Family" performing as four of the five members of the group belong to one family of Austrian background (the Loritsch family).
The four Loritsch boys range in age from 16 to 22 years old, but play their instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano) like masters, and arrange much of the music themselves.
The audience was surprised to learn that the boys only began playing their respective stringed instruments within the past three to six years, with instructors from The Ohio State University and Ohio Northern University, although their mother started them on the piano in 2002.
The boys claim that their mother was as surprised by their musical talent as the listeners were on Sunday. The Loritsch family, from Zanesfield, is home-schooled, which enables them to be "on the road" throughout central Ohio for four main concerts a year, and also available for performances at weddings and other special occasions.
The non-family member of their group has varied, but for the evening at Maple Crest the second violinist was Sarah Longbrake from the Lima Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Longbrake was simply "called out of the blue" by the Loritsch family, from some referrals they had received, and she thoroughly enjoys the pieces that the young Loritsch men choose to perform.
Sunday's concert focused on selections by Bach, Weidig, and Dobrzynski, and closed with Joplin's "Maple Leaf" rag on piano (accompanied by the stringed instruments) and Zundel's hymn "Love Divine."
