A Music exchange & Concert project of the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra Het CONSORT and the Providence Mandolin Orchestra from the US. Videos of the outcome of this project of cooperation include among other compositions the 'Variations on a Basque Melody' composed by the Greek-American composer Victor Kioulaphides. The 'Variations on a Basque Melody' was originally composed for one mandolin and it is as such that it can be found here on YouTube premièred by the young mandolinist and member of Het CONSORT, Ferdinand Binnendijk. Later the composition was orchestrated by the American composer John Craton and performed by Het CONSORT conducted by Alex Timmerman. It was also the work that brought together Victor Kioulaphides and John Craton, two established contemporary composers who have written for mandolin in various settings. Kioulaphides' 'Variations on a Basque Melody' are based on a folk chant from the Basque region of France and unfold in the traditional Mediterranean manner of various figurations around an underlying melody. Another fine work originally composed for mandolin orchestra is Victor Kioulaphides' 'Concerto per orchestra a pizzico'. It can be found elsewhere here on YouTube performed by Het CONSORT, was composed for and dedicated to Het CONSORT and received its world premiere in 2005 in Groningen (Netherlands), in the presence of the composer (1st movement - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XigdUTi8lcU and 2nd & 3rd movements - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jkucgyiskQ8). Both compositions are recorded on the CD 'Music for Mandolin Orchestra' by Het CONSORT. For more information about the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra Het CONSORT, Victor Kioulaphides and John Craton, please visit their Websites: http://www.mandolineorkest.nl/samples/ensamples.htm Victor Kioulaphides: http://home.earthlink.net/~vkioulaphides/ And for the John Craton Website, click here: http://www.craton.net/ This concert was organized for the Providence Mandolin Orchestra and Het CONSORT as a joint-concert in which both orchestras each performed a program part of their own and a last program part together. It took place in the Zuiderkerk in Zwolle (Netherlands) on evening of the Saturday the 5th of July 2008. It was organized by the Dutch hosts and collegue Orchestra the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra Het CONSORT. This Music and Concert exchange project was supported by a.o. The Providence Mandolin Orchestra, D'Addario Foundation, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds geeft cultuur een kans, Nederlands Fonds voor Podiumkunsten and The Mandolin Chamber Orchestra HET CONSORT. Video made by Mr.Ulderink - © HET CONSORT, Zwolle, Netherlands, 2008.