OKLAHOMA—The pure sound of baroque-era violins, violas, cellos, bass and harpsichord poured from the stage of Armstrong Auditorium March 17 in a celebration of the 300th anniversary of Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” performed by the French ensemble Les Arts Florrisants. Five hundred and eighty-three patrons attended this second-to-last concert of the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation’s 2024-2025 season.

Théotime Langlois de Swarte, who performed at the auditorium last season as part of the ensemble Le Consort, returned as solo violinist for this concert featuring Vivaldi’s works and other music which, as de Swarte said, “Vivaldi would have heard growing up in Venice.”

Before they began Vivaldi’s “iconic masterpiece” that in de Swarte’s words had been used in so many advertisements and movies and elevators, he encouraged the audience to hear it anew.

In an interview about the program, de Swarte said “The Four Seasons” are “perhaps victims of their own success and a little stripped of their original flavor.” He said he wanted to play them “to let the audience hear a version that tries to convey Vivaldi’s original ideas, in a fairly raw way, without any aesthetic filter, as if we were discovering ‘The Four Seasons’ for the very first time.”

The 2024-2025 season will conclude next Thursday with a likely sell-out performance by the a cappella group Voctave.