By The Daily Progress Staff

Published: May 8, 2008

The Virginia Consort and Virginia Consort Youth Chorale will present “Viva Vivaldi’’ at 7 p.m. Saturday at University Baptist Church.

Judith Gary will conduct the singers in a wide variety of works. The first half of the concert will consist of Vivaldi works, including “Beatus Vir,’’ a setting of Psalm 112.

The multi-movement work was written for two choruses, each with its own orchestra.

The second half of the program will include madrigals, spirituals and folk songs from Korea, Venezuela and Ireland. There will be J.S. Bach’s “Air on a G String,’’ which has been transcribed for chorus and pizzicato double bass.

There also will be a recently discovered original version of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm’’ in Latin, a jazzy piece based on the story of Macbeth and a bawdy setting of a poem from “Much Ado About Nothing.’’

Vivaldi, best known for “The Four Seasons,’’ a popular collection of violin concertos, was respected in his lifetime for his instrumental music. His vocal music, however, lay hidden away until the 20th century, when two large stashes of his manuscripts were discovered in Turin, Italy, between 1926 and 1930.

Tickets are $20, $15 for students.

They can be purchased at Greenberry’s, New Dominion Book Shop, Market Street Wineshop locations, Ragged Mountain Running Shop and the door. For details about the concert, call 244-8444.