EDMOND—The Venice Baroque Orchestra with Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital played 300-year-old music on authentic instruments to a crowd of 393 at Armstrong Auditorium on March 3.

The concertgoers heard the closest sound possible to what early 18th-century Venetians would have heard at the original premieres of Antonio Vivaldi’s compositions. The Venice Baroque Orchestra is recognized as one of the world’s foremost period instrument orchestras. Some of the pieces were among the earliest written for the mandolin, characteristic of the Baroque era.

Along with Vivaldi, the program included pieces from Italian Baroque composers Benedetto Marcello and Francesco Geminiani and Italian Classical composer Giovanni Paisiello. The first half ended with a Vivaldi concerto in which Avital and an orchestra member on a recorder engaged in a musical battle where each tried to outdo the other in flair. The scheduled program ended with a Vivaldi concerto from The Four Seasons, which paints a vivid musical picture of the summer season.

After Summer, the crowd responded with a standing ovation which brought Avital back to play a mandolin solo of a lively and rhythmic Bulgarian folk dance called Bucimis. The audience erupted in applause and another ovation and the orchestra and Avital capped off the program with another Vivaldi encore.

At the end of the concert, Avital took a novelty photo: a pseudo “selfie” of the audience from his perspective onstage. After the concert, he appeared in the grand lobby to meet concertgoers, mentioning to some his musical influences, which include “hero” mandolinist and bluegrass musician Bill Monroe.

Avital enthused that Armstrong Auditorium had “the most amazing hall ever, the most amazing staff ever, the most amazing food ever. I couldn’t believe it.”

One concertgoer who has been to concert halls around the world agreed with the general characterization, saying that the auditorium exceeds Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in beauty. He and his wife hold two sets of season tickets and bring two new people with them to every concert. Nationally acclaimed mandolinist Kenny White was also among the crowd.

The Venice Baroque Orchestra plays instruments that produce an authentic Baroque sound, including a 250-year-old cello (which dates almost back to the actual Baroque era) and reproductions of 18th-century harpsichords and lutes. The cello has catgut strings, which, despite the name, are made from intestinal fibers of sheep or goats. The harpsichord is an early “tinny” sounding keyboard instrument. The lute is an early guitar, which is plucked instead of strummed. Avital’s mandolin is part of the lute family.

The Venice Baroque Orchestra was founded in 1997 by Baroque scholar and harpsichordist Andrea Marcon. The group has toured Europe, South America, Japan, Korea and throughout North America, and has played the modern premieres of several of Vivaldi’s works.

Avi Avital started to play the mandolin at age 8 and became the first mandolinist to be nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010, winning “Best Instrumental Soloist” for his recording of Avner Dorman’s mandolin concerto.

The concert series continues with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and pianist Jeremy Denk on March 18 and wraps up with StepCrew on April 23. Details and tickets are available at ArmstrongAuditorium.org.