Early Music America's Young Performers Festival

11:00am
Tufts Early Music Ensemble directed by Jane Hershey assisted by members of the Brandeis Early Music Ensemble directed by Sarah Mead
Dir. by Sarah Mead (Brandeis) with Jane Hershey (Tufts)
Program details: Theatrum Instrumentorum. The program will focus on early 17th century works from a variety of composers: Dowland, DuCaurroy, Tomkins, Demantius, Frescobaldi and others.  The ensemble will include viols, solo singers, cornetto, sackbut and harpsichord.

Biography (PDF file) 

4:00pm
The Longy School of Music of Bard College; Longy Dufay Ensemble, directed by Laurie Monahan; Longy Lassus Consort, directed by Jane Hershey; Longy Bach Cantata Project, directed by Dana Maiben
Program details: Masters degree candidates of the Early Music Program at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, joined by advanced students from other departments of the School and alumni, present a sampler  program of  music from their Spring 2013 performance classes. Three distinct ensembles perform French chansons and Italian cantilenas by Guillaume Dufay,  directed by Laurie Monahan; works by Orlando di Lasso for voices and viols, directed by Jane Hershey; and Cantata 4,  an elaborate setting of the the Lutheran chorale  “Christ lag in Todesbanden” by Johann Sebastian Bach, directed by Dana Maiben.

Biography (PDF file) 

10:30am
Juilliard415
Anthony Albrecht, Michael Unterman, Kevin Payne, Elliot Figg
Program details: A well-oiled continuo team is a mighty force, able to wield and shape the harmonic language of composers from the late 16th right up to the early 19th centuries using only a bass line and some figures in order to give direction, context, and atmosphere to the melodious incantations of all manner of instruments. However, continuo players are not limited to the role of accompaniment, with a wealth of repertoire from composers from all corners of Europe exploring the rich colors of the bass spectrum. ‘Low Strung’ is a concert featuring solos for cello, theorbo, and keyboards including music by Vivaldi, Geminiani, Forqueray, de Visée, and others.   

Biography (PDF file) 

12:30pm
The Peabody Consort
Directed by Mark Cudek
Program details: "In the Circle of Henry VII" features music by Henry and his court and from the courts of his daughter Elizabeth, his great grand-nephew James I, and his in-laws Ferdinand and Isabella (parents of his first wife Katherine of Aragon).  The Peabody Consort will also include a set of Sephardic Romances.  This is traditional music of the Sephardim expelled from Spain in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella.  Some of these Sephardim relocated to England and some musicians possibly even worked at Henry's court.  

Biography (PDF file) 

3:30pm
University of North Texas Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers
Directed by Paul Leenhouts and Richard Sparks
Program details: ‘Musica Bohemia’ features vocal & instrumental master works by Czech Baroque Composers. In addition to artful vocal and instrumental works by Jan Dismas Zelenka, the program contains recently discovered musical treasures from the library of the Kroměříž Castle and the Düben collection of the Uppsala University Library. 

Biography (PDF file) 

11:00am
Florida State Early Music Ensemble
Directed by Jeffery Kite-Powell
Program details: The Florida State University Early Music Program is featuring two of its premiere ensembles on this concert: the Sackbut Choir (ATTTB), joined by men from Cantores Musicæ Antiquæ, performing several works by Heinrich Schütz for solo, duo, and trio voices, and one each by Daniel Speer and Hieronymus Praetorius; and the B’roq’n Reed Consort, consisting of two oboes, tenor oboe, baritone oboe, and two bassoons, performing Suites by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer and Jean-Baptiste Lully, and concluding with a stately pavan by James Paisible and an upbeat arrangement thereof. 

Biography (PDF file) 

4:00pm
University of Southern California Thornton Baroque Sinfonia
Directed by Adam Gilbert
Program details: La Pellegrina 1589: Music for a Magnificent Florentine Wedding. In 1589, Italy’s finest poets, composers, and performers came together to create a magnificent wedding celebration for Grand Duke Ferdinand de Medici and Princess Christine of Lorraine. More famous than the play La Pellegrina, its six intermedii allegorized the Gods smiling and demons trembling at the glorious nuptials, which resonated with the Harmony of the Spheres. It also gave musicians the chance to compete in deadly earnest through compositional craft, vocal virtuosity and breathtaking diminutions. Join the Thornton Baroque Sinfonia in selected scenes from these dazzling allegories of art and nobility.

Biography (PDF file) 

11:00am
The Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Collegium Musicum
Directed by Debra Nagy
Program details: The Collegium Musicum from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH) presents “Hélas Amour,” featuring chansons and dance music from the Codex Canonici by Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and Hugo de Lantins performed by solo singers and an ensemble of multi-instrumentalists including vielles, gothic harp, plectrum lute, douçaines, and recorders. As one of the most important manuscripts from the fifteenth century, this codex bears witness to tremendous changes in musical style from the Ars Nova to Ars Subtilior and the influential Contenance Angloise.  

Biography (PDF file) 

3:00pm
Oberlin Baroque Ensemble
Directed by David Breitman
Program details:  The program features works for two harpsichords, three gambas, and four violins, and concludes with a set of dances for a large ensemble including flute and recorder. We have a focus on French music: you will hear duo harpsichord pieces by François Couperin and works for three viols by Marin Marais, as well as the suite of Couperin dances.  The violinists will round out the program in contrasting styles, playing together in a concerto by Telemann for four violins, and two at a time in a pair of trio sonatas by Corelli.   

Biography (PDF file) 

11:00am
McGill University Baroque Orchestra
Directed by Hank Knox
Program details: Les goûts réunis. Debate raged in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries over whose music was superior, the French or the Italian. The French preferred a refined, often complex style, while the Italians favored lighter, more melodious compositions. This program explores Les gouts réunis, or the Union of Styles. It demonstrates the galvanizing effect of Italian writing, such as that of Corelli, on native French taste, as in the air de cour. The combination of these two styles culminates in wonderfully hybrid works such as Couperin’s La Paranasse and Clérambault’s Orphée.

Biography (PDF file) 

3:00pm
The Sebastians (Daniel S. Lee and Alexander Woods, violin; Ezra Seltzer, cello; Jeffrey Grossman, harpsichord)
EMA presents its Baroque Competition Audience Prize Winner.
Program details: This program represents the core repertoire of the Sebastians featuring trio sonatas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These selections will showcase the ensemble’s musical passion and elegance (Castello and Corelli) and technical virtuosity and prowess (Colombi and Handel). The program will close with the Sebastians' signature rendition of Vivaldi's Follia.

Biography (PDF file)