Adagios and other movements
Classical adagios from Carl Friedrich Abel (London) plus new string quartets from Dan Becker (San Francisco) and Marc Mellits (New York). The Galax Quartet is an ensemble of two violins, gamba and cello, based on late 18th century practice.
Sunday, June 4, 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant
Tickets: $10
Information: galaxquartet@mac.com, 510-601-1370
Forqueray at 11
Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey, viols
The Complete Published Works of Forqueray, one suite each morning for five days. This music, published in 1747, is the pinnacle of the French Baroque repertoire for the viol.
Antoine Forqueray was born in 1672. A child prodigy, he was appointed viol player to the court of Louis XIV at the age of 10. He became as famous for the intensity of his music as for his uncertain temper. His wife divorced him on account of his cruelty to her, and he had his son imprisoned for several years, reputedly because he was jealous of his son’s ability on the viol. He retired in 1742 and died in 1745.
The son, Jean-Baptiste Forqueray, was born in 1699 and died in 1782. When his father retired, Jean-Baptiste succeeded him as court violist. In 1747, two years after this father’s death, Jean-Baptiste published the collection of 5 extraordinary suites, which he mostly attributed to his father, taking credit himself for only a few of the pieces. The 5 suites are almost all the music that survives by either Forqueray.
Modern scholars are quite divided as to whether the music was actually written by the father or by the son. It appears likely that the son’s publication of the music and attribution to the father was motivated more by revenge or greed than by filial piety, because the elder Forqueray apparently never allowed his music to be published during his license, although he held the potentially lucrative license to publish. The full story is clearly yet to be told. What we do know is that these 5 suites are by far the richest and most intense of all the French music for the viol. They unsurpassed in the repertoire of the instrument.
Monday, June 5, 11:00 - 11:45 am: Suite 1 in d.
Tuesday, June 6, 11:00 - 11:45 am: Suite 2 in G.
Wednesday, June 7, 11:00 - 11:45 am: Suite 3 in D.
Thursday, June 8, 11:00 - 11:45 am: Suite 4 in G.
Friday, June 9, 11:00 - 11:45 am: Suite 5 in C.
Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant
Tickets: $10/$7 (series: $35/$25)
Information: forquerayrules@earthlink.net, 510-220-1195
Letitia Berlin, recorders, ukelele, voice; Frances Blaker, recorders; Shira Kammen, vielle, violin, accordion, voice
While residents at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Oregon in 2006, Berlin, Blaker, and Kammen collaborated on new compositions and prepared works from the 14th and 15th centuries. This concert includes music by Landini, Jacopo da Bologna, Dufay, Ciconia, Blaker, Kammen, and others.
Monday, June 5, 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana (at Durant) Berkeley
Tickets: $15
Information: tishberlin@sbcglobal.net, 510-559-4670
Master works by the great French composer, Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, for soprano and two harpsichords.
Monday, June 5, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Avenue, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$10
Information: francesconoverfitch.com, 978-853-2700
"Pièces pour Luth par J.S. Bach": Lute Suite in g-minor, BWV 995; Partita in d-minor, BWV 1004.
On the program is Bach's own arrangement of his Fifth Cello Suite as Lute Suite in g-minor, BWV 995, and the Partita in d-minor, BWV 1004, with its famous Chaconne. Franklin Lei, one of the first to perform in the Bay Area on historically accurate lutes, studied with Michael Schäffer at the Cologne Musikhochschule and with Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He will play this program on a Baroque lute after the Frei lute at the Warwickshire County Museum, built by one of the finest lute makers of our time, Michael Lowe of Oxford, who also restored the "Warwickshire Frei."
Monday, June 5, 5:00 - 6:10 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana (at Durant) Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: trinitychamberconcerts.com, 415-641-8695
Ars Nova Festival in Three Concerts
I: Monday, June 5, 5:30-6:30, Loper Chapel. What is a Motet? Learn with your ears as we sample works from the ars antiqua of the 13th C. through Josquin in the 16th, including works by Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut, Johannes Ciconia, Gullaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem and Loyset Compere, displaying 14th C. music in its historical context.
II: Wednesday, June 7, 5:30-6:30, Berkeley City Club. The Llibre Vermell de Montserrat. Ars nova notandi, the new art of notation, enlivens pilgrim songs and dances from Catalonia ca. 1375, including the original Dance of Death. Dancers led by Claudine Naganuma collaborate.
III: Thursday, June 8, 5:30-6:30, Berkeley City Club. Guillaume de Machaut's Remede de Fortune (A Cure for Bad Luck). Love poem, musical comedy, graphic novel, music history lesson. Actors read the poetic text while we perform the seven musical compsitions in context, illustrated with slides of the 34 miniature paintings and seven music pages from Manuscript C, dated 1356.
Monday, June 5, 5:30 - 6:30 pm: What is a Motet?
Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant
Wednesday, June 7, 5:30 - 6:30 pm: Llibre Vermell de Montserrat + dancers
Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue
Thursday, June 8, 5:30 - 6:30 pm: Machaut's Remede de Fortune, music, poetry, miniature paintings
Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue
Tickets: $12 (series: $30)
Information: 510-843-0450
The History of Western Music
Intelligently designed by Phebe Craig, Shira Kammen, Susan Rode Morris, Katherine Westine, and David Morris
La Foolia reveals and unravels the mysteries underlying Music's Grand Evolution.
Monday, June 5, 7:30 - 9:00 pm
Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste Street
Tickets: $15
Information: kwestine@earthlink.net, 510-601-9631
Songs of Dowland, Sances, Monteverdi & Caccini
Alex Jenne, Lute and Theorbo; Kimberly Miller, Soprano
From the sublime sensitivity of Dowland to the love-struck intensity of Monteverdi, Alex and Kimberly perform this collection of songs that view love in its glory and pain.
Monday, June 5, 8:00 - 9:30 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$10
Information: delamuse@gmail.com, 831-566-3207
666 (The Mark of the Beast): Music of the Apocalypse
Artists’ Vocal Ensemble (AVE), the critically-acclaimed San Francisco-based vocal ensemble directed by Jonathan Dimmock, presents a unique program in conjunction with the 2006 Berkeley Early Music Festival and Exhibition Fringe Series entitled: "666 (The Mark of the Beast): Music of the Apocalypse." The concert date (6/6/06) became the inspiration for an interesting collaboration of art media, Renaissance choral music and a 14th century illuminated manuscript. Using the famous "Cloisters Apocalypse," an illuminated manuscript owned by the Metropolitan Museum in New York, numerous folios from this collection will be paired with corresponding music. The collection is an illumination of the book of Revelation (known as the Apocalypse). As the book of Revelation, and the "end times" in general, were popular preoccupations of people during the medieval and Renaissance periods, there exist many important and beautiful motets to correspond with the book of Revelation. The program promises to be unique in concept and design (with an in-depth program booklet with manuscript plates to correspond with the music); truly a once-in-a lifetime endeavor (and the only time we will all live for a 6/6/06 date in our calendar).
AVE is a professional ensemble comprised of 12 to 16 singers of both local and national renown. Artists appearing in this program are; Susan Judy, Andrea Fullington, Allison Zelles Lloyd, Carol Kessler, Celeste Winant, Christen Herman, Jesse Antin, Kevin Baum, Ed Betts, Michael Azevedo, Sam Smith, Tom Hart, Donald Ziff, Jeff Fields, and under the direction of founder Jonathan Dimmock. Founded on St. Cecilia's Day 2004, AVE attempts to bring many of the lost masterworks from the Renaissance and Tudor periods to life, using informed performance style and highly trained singers. While presenting programs of scholarly interest, AVE strives to create experiences that are emotional, and spiritual, and contemplative. The concerts have a strong impact on audiences, where many describe feelings of being transformed and uplifted. AVE's intention is not to limit its audience to early and liturgical music devotees, but to offer this seldom-heard material for an audience of all ages, tastes, and sensibilities.
Tuesday, June 6, 5:30 - 6:45 pm
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Tickets: $20/$10
Information: 510-717-9422, askave@yahoo.com
Music across the Alps: from Italy to the German-Speaking Lands
Boel Gidholm, violin; Chris Haritatos, cello; Katherine Heater, harpsichord and organ
A program of music by Castello, Biber, and others.
Trio Cerumina (pronounced se-RU-mi-na) specializes in the virtuosic violin and cello repertoire of the seventeenth century. Violinist Boel Gidholm, cellist Chris Haritatos, and harpsichordist Katherine Heater have worked together since 1996 when all three were living in northern Europe, studying early music at the Amsterdam and Bremen conservatories. In this program, Cerumina presents the richly ornamented string music of the early Italian and German baroque.
Tuesday, June 6, 8:00 - 9:00 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Avenue, Berkeley
Tickets: Donations appreciated
Information: 510-459-1582
Viaggio: a Musical Tour of Renaissance Italy
Vocal and instrumental music from Medieval and Renaissance Italy, featuring works of both the northern European "oltremontani" and the native composers of subsequent generations.
Alta Sonora, an alta cappella ("high choir") ensemble playing shawms, slide trumpet and sackbut, will join with WAVE (Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble, directed by Cindy Beitmen) to present a broad spectrum of Italian Renaissance vocal and instrumental music. The alta band was the most prestigious instrumental combination of the Renaissance, considered necessary by every court to display its magnificence to the world. Glorious music was written for these ensembles, while word painting in vocal music reached new heights during this time .
The program begins with the music of northern "oltremontani" composers Ciconia, Dufay, Obrecht, and Isaac, who were hired by Italian courts in the early years of the Renaissance. The early 16th century is represented by native composers Tromboncino and Pesenti as well as the northerner Verdelot, and the later 16th century by Italian composers Merulo, A. Gabrieli, and Croce. Selections include motets and mass movements; secular pieces from noted Italian publications of the day such as Petrucci's Odhecaton and Canti C; and lively frottole, sweet madrigals and instrumental canzone which typified the Italian national style.
Tuesday, June 6, 8:00 - 9:45 pm
International House, Bancroft and Piedmont, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: Alta Sonora, 510-233-0868
Henry I. Goldberg International Young Artists Competition: Semi-Finals
Featuring six semi-finalists from around the globe, this year's competition focuses on the voice and has been renamed in honor of Dr. Henry I. Goldberg, who served as Board President of ABS from 2002 to 2005.
Wednesday, June 7, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $16/$14/$8
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
Memory Eternal: Music for the dead from Bach to Byzantine Chant
The Josquin Singers, a 12-member a capella choral ensemble, will perform J.S. Bach’s Jesu Meine Freude and select pieces from the Eastern Orthodox funeral service, including compositions by St. John of Damascus (7th century) and Vasily Titov (Russian baroque era), in honor of the Saturday of Souls, an Eastern Orthodox holiday. While exhibiting the widely treasured choral music of J.S. Bach, Bay Area Classical Harmonies’ program will expose the general classical music audience to Eastern Orthodox music, while giving the Eastern Orthodox community the opportunity to hear repertoire from its own musical heritage performed by a professional ensemble.
Called by some "the most versatile group in the Bay Area," BACH's impressive range of repertoire has included cantatas, symphonies and masses. The Opera division, incorporating stage professionals and up-and-comers, first performed at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, presenting a concert version of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" in December 2000. Since its inception in 1998 by graduate and undergraduate students of the Music Department of UC Berkeley, BACH has cultivated young musical talent through the performance of great classical works for audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. The group attained non-profit status in May 2002, promoting professionalism and providing tax benefits to its donors.
Wednesday, June 7, 6:00 - 7:30 pm
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Tickets: $18/$15/$12
Information: www.bayareabach.org, 510-868-0695
Gate of the Morning: Sacred music of Guillaume Dufay
The pre-eminent composer of the 15th century, Guillaume Dufay did more than any other to usher in the Renaissance in music. Vox Populi presents Dufay's epochal Nuper rosarum flores, motets in praise of the Virgin Mary, and the incomparable Missa Ave Regina coelorum.
Wednesday, June 7, 6:00 - 7:30 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Avenue, Berkeley
Tickets: $12/$10
Information: www.vox-pop.org, 510-843-3608
Michel Richard de Lalande: Tenebrae
Vincent Dumestre, director & theorbo; Camille Poule, soprano; Bruno Le Levreur, countertenor; Serge Goubioud, tenor; Bernard Arrieta, baritone; Martin Bauer, bass viol; Frederic Michel, organ & harpsichord
This award-winning French ensemble of superb solo musicians and vocalists was founded by Vincent Dumestre to promote the authenticity and—as the group’s name suggests—poetic eloquence of the works of innovative 17th- century composers. In its West Coast debut, Le Poème Harmonique performs a program devoted to the works of Michel Richard de Lalande, the most influential and talented composer of sacred music working in the 17th and 18th century Versailles court. At a time when the male voice was considered the ideal instrument for performing spiritual music, Lalande had the foresight to write for the female voice and his own wife and daughters often performed his compositions. The program includes Lalande’s Leçons de Ténèbres and Miserere, works that display the technical mastery and eloquent expression of this maverick composer.
Wednesday, June 7, 8:00 - 10:00 pm
First Congregational Church: 2345 Channing Way (at Dana)
Tickets: $36/$34/$18
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
Seventeenth century Italian chamber music by Vitali, Leonarda, and Merula
Frances Blaker, recorders; Barbara Blaker Krumdieck, cello; Brent Wissick, viola da gamba; Katherine Heater, harpsichord
Thursday, June 8, Noon - 1:00 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $15
Information: francesblaker@sbcglobal.net, 510-559-4670
"The Golden Age of Spain"
Karol Steadman, soprano; Jennifer Sayre, arpa de dos ordenes
"The Golden Age of Spain" is drawn entirely from works in the incredible library holdings of the Hispanic Society of America. The collection was assembled by Archer Milton Huntington, son of the California railroad baron Collis Huntington and cousin to fellow-rare books collector Henry Huntington. The music, in original handwritten manuscript and first edition publications dated approximately 1547 to 1680, captures the richness and sonority of Spain's 16th and 17th courtly music. The compositions are by some of the most celebrated Spanish composers of secular music of the period, including Juan Hidalgo, Cristobal Galán, Enrique Valderrabanos and Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz. Almost certainly some works have not been performed for over 300 years.
Thursday, June 8, 1:00 - 2:00 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: jsayre_1@charter.net, 805-773-1057
Ferrara!
Music making in Ferrara in the 1580s and '90s. Madrigals and works for lute, cornetto and keyboard.
Thursday, June 8, 1:00 - 2:00 pm
St. Mark's Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 2300 Bancroft Way
Tickets: $15/$10
Information: 940-453-9672
Solo Harpsichord Works of J.S. Bach and Francois Couperin Le Grand
Boston-based early keyboard specialist Mahan Esfahani presents a recital of solo works for harpsichord, including Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier (II) and the Fourth Partita (BWV 828) of Johann Sebastian Bach and selections from the 9eme Ordre of Francois Couperin.
Thursday, June 8, 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant
Tickets: $20/$15/$10
Information: Mahan Esfahani, 240-418-9585
“Abracadabra”—Music of Frescobaldi, Castello, Bovicelli, and others
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Sonja Gruys, recorder; Rebekah Ahrendt, gamba; Alex Jenne, lute; Xavier Arreola, organ
Dutch recorder virtuosa Sonja Gruys makes a very special appearance for this concert. Disperata was founded by Sonja and gambist Rebekah Ahrendt in The Netherlands in 2000, where they studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. This special reunion concert features magical diminutions, canzone, and sonate by Frescobaldi, Castello, Bovicelli, and others. Joined by organist Xavier Arreola and lutenist Alex Jenne, Disperata will perform a little “abracadabra” on your ears with this most “artificial” music of late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy.
Thursday, June 8, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant
Tickets:
Information:
"The Lyre of Orpheus"
Renaissance and baroque solo lute music, including pretty musical treasures for Spanish "vihuela de mano." More information.
This experienced performer will recreate some of the most beautiful gems from Spanish and Italian Renaissance, emanated from the sonority of the eleven strings of his “vihuela de mano.” More information. According to Miguel de Fuenllana (1554), the mythical Orpheus “who made Pluto´s ministers stop his justice with the softness of his vihuela” personifies the idea of the classical Greek-Roman ideal that vihuela players carried out in Iberia in the XV and XVI centuries.
Works from composers such as Luys Milán, Luys de Narváez, Alonso Mudarra, and Vincenzo Capirola, as well as improvisations according to the style of the period, will make up the repertoire of the first part of the concert. The concert will be completed with a second part devoted to the king of early plucked instruments, the baroque lute, with transcriptions and original works for it, which was considered to be “The French national instrument”.This second part will begin with a work by Francoise Couperin original for keyboard, followed by some sacred repertoire, like the one composed for the violin by the Austrian Heinrich Ignaz Franz Von Biber to describe the Rosario mysteries of the catholic liturgy. The concert will finish with music of the German Sylvious Leopold Weiss, a contemporary composer with J.S. Bach who knew how to extract all its expressive capacity from the baroque lute with moments which have no reason to be envious of the style of the “Singer of Leipzig.”
Pedro Jesús Gómez, a guitar player with a brilliant international career, has specialized in the performing and style of Spanish Renaissance music and has performed in countries such as England, Brazil, Greece, Holland, Italy, and Argentina, broadcasting for radio and television in Europe and America. Winner of several international competitions, his recordings cover different fields: from chamber music to the soloist repertoire, with early and contemporary music.
Thursday, June 8, 5:00 - 6:00 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: www.webpedrojesus.com, 510-549-3864, 415-641-8695
Great Concertos and Cantatas
Directors Jonathan Salzedo harpsichord, Marion Rubinstein recorder; David Wilson, violin; Christa Pfeiffer soprano; Greer Ellison, flute.
Bach Cantata 82; Vivaldi La Notte; Telemann Triple Violin Concerto; Heinichen Concerto for four recorders.
Thursday, June 8, 6:15 - 7:45 pm
University Lutheran Chapel, 2425 College at Haste
Tickets: $15
Information: 408-773-0375 or www.albanyconsort.com
Low Sounds Only
Sally Blaker, cello; John Conry, bass; Dawn Kooyumjian, harpsichord and organ; Julie Morrisett, viola da gamba; Richard Stumpf, baritone; others
Compositions for the sonorities of low voices and instruments, including bass and baritone voices, violoncello, viola da gamba, harpsichord and organ. Music for these combinations is rare, but wondrous. Included in the program will be works by Heinrich Schütz, Johann Sebastian Bach, François Couperin, Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Bartolomé de Selma, Giovanni Francesco Anerio and Sisto Reina. Some of the combinations presented are bass voice and cello obbligato(s), two bass voices with basso continuo and a cappella, combinations of cellos and gamba and perhaps a sinister keyboard piece. Come experience “only the lowly” sensations, and join in exploring the fabulous bottom octaves.
Thursday, June 8, 7:00 - 8:00 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant
Tickets: $10
Information: 510-459-7462 or richardfs@yahoo.com
Solo Lute Works of England and Italy
Pieces by Joanambrosio Dalza, Francesco da Milano, William Byrd, Peter Phillips, and John Dowland.
Thursday, June 8, 8:00 - 9:30 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: trinitychamberconcerts.com
Baroque Cabaret -- masks, candles, fear, and rapture!
Sheli Nan, Andrew Fouts, Ayelet Cohen, and Mark Teicholz
premieres and world premieres
the velvet virgin on the virtuous virginals
Johann's hidden hollow - baroque violin
selections from the new opera "SAGA"
no host bar
The Baroque Cabaret is an evening of all original music that will feature the premiere of the first act of Sheli Nan's new opera, “SAGA – Portrait of a 21st Century Child”. The opera will be sung by these Bay Area luminaries, who are all graduates of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music: Jo Vincent Parks, Ayelet Cohen, and Katy Daniel.
SAGA is about a typically dysfunctional family whose child, untypically, becomes an inadvertent murderer. Ms. Nan’s baroque sensibilities bring to her the influence of Bach and the stylings of Weill. In SAGA, the two coalesce to create a modern opera that is poignant and powerful. Ms. Nan gives voice to the voiceless in her moving libretto. The “tactus” -- the underlying texture of the words and music -- creates a tension between the cynicisms of modern day life and the hopeful beauty of musical yearning. It is comparable to a modern day “Three Penny Opera” -- a fable for our time.
The evening will also present a premiere of Ms. Nan's "Johann’s Hidden Hollow, a Fairy Tale," performed, in Baroque masks, by Andrew Fouts on Baroque violin with text read by Jo Vincent Parks. This piece in three movements is comparable to the dark side of “Peter and the Wolf.”
About the performers...
With his moving and profound voice, Mr. Jo Vincent Parks has performed all around the Bay Area. Some of his recent appearances include leading roles in Macbeth and Falstaff with the Berkeley Opera, and an upcoming leading role in "X -The Life and Times of Malcolm X" with the Oakland Opera. Ayelet Cohen is an award winning soprano. She has performed with the Berkeley Opera, the Oakland Opera and the Capitol Opera of Sacramento. Her most recently performed roles have been Susanna from Le Nozze de Figaro, Lauretta in Gianni Schicci, and Orazia from "The Indian Queen". The mezzo soprano Katy Daniel has sung with the Golden gate opera and the Berkeley Opera. Her latest roles comprise Mrs. Splinters in "The Tender Land", Zita in Gianni Schicchi and Madame Flora in "The Medium".
Thursday, June 8, 8:00 - 10:00 pm
Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue
Tickets: $25/$20
Information: (510) 919-4493 or www.shelinan.com
Events at the Berkeley Festival
Friday, June 9, 12:30 - 3:30 pm: Master Class with Marion Verbruggen
Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley
Tickets: $75 for solo participants; $40 per person for groups; $10 for auditors
Information: 510-559-4670 or www.americanrecorder.org
Saturday, June 10, 10:00 am - Noon: Recorder Relay. Short concerts by established and emerging recorder performers from the US and Canada
Trinity Chapel 2320 Dana (at Durant) Berkeley
Tickets: Free
Information: 510-559-4670 or www.americanrecorder.org
Saturday, June 10, 1:00 - 2:00 pm: Play-In for all recorder players. Bring instruments and stand
St. Mark's Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Tickets: Free
Information: 510-559-4670 or www.americanrecorder.org
Saturday, June 10, 2:00 - 3:00 pm: ARS Town Hall meeting. All ARS members welcome. Meet board members, talk about ARS concerns
St. Mark's Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Tickets: Free
Information: 510-559-4670 or www.americanrecorder.org
Saturday, June 10, 3:15 - 4:15 pm: ARS Round Table. Open to the public.
Topic: Building Concert Audiences
St. Mark's Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Tickets: Free
Information: 510-559-4670 or www.americanrecorder.org
Saturday, June 10, immediately after Musica Pacifica concert: The American Recorder Society presents its President's Special Honor Award to Connie Primus and its Distinguished Achievement Award to Marion Verbruggen. Reception to follow.
Hertz Hall front patio
Tickets: Free
Information: 510-559-4670 or www.americanrecorder.org
A Rose of Such Virtue: Sacred and Secular
Love in the Waning Middle Ages
Sylvia Rhyne, soprano; Eric Redlinger, tenor & lute
Winner of the 2004 Early Music America Medieval/ Renaissance competition, Asteria explores works by Dufay, Binchois, Morton, and others dedicated to devotion to The Lady, the embodiment of amour courtois (courtly love) as it was lived and practiced in the medieval courts of Northern Europe. Both a secular symbol and a sacred one as represented by the Virgin Mary, this object of chivalric desire is one of the most mysterious and intriguing elements of medieval art and the inspiration for many works of extraordinary beauty.
Friday, June 9, 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Hertz Hall, UC campus
Tickets: $26/$24
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
What's New? (In 1728!)
Hamburg was a wealthy port city with a thriving musical scene. Janine Johnson will perform on a copy of the Christian Zell harpsichord from 1728, built by Owen Daly of Salem, Oregon. Zell was a preeminent harpsichord maker in this city. Georg Telemann is one composer who made Hamburg his home, and in 1728, he published a compilation of music by himself and his colleagues, representing diverse styles, new and current at the time. The harpsichord pieces contained in this manuscript are fascinating and delightful. One hears unusual harmonies, startling even for 2006, as well as great beauty, energy and plain silliness. These rarely heard works are a must for anyone interested in musical trends and influences, as well as the keyboard repertoire. Included also in the program will be J.S. Bach's third Partita, which was published and circulating in 1728. Come be surprised and delighted!
Friday, June 9, 5:00 - 6:15 pm
Trinity Chapel; 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: 510-549-1520, www.dalyharpsichords.com
Counterpoint: Bach and The Beatles
Frances Feldon, music director/recorders; Karen Clark, contralto; Kay Stonefelt, drums; Roy Whelden, viola da gamba; Dan Reiter, violoncello; Katherine Westine, keyboards; Rob Diggins, violin
“Counterpoint” is an informal, cabaret style program of Beatle-esque music and jazz standards for a baroque “pop band” and Bach contapuncti.
Advance tickets are highly recommended, as the cabaret-style seating is limited. We also recommend arriving 10 minutes before the show, to pick up your tickets and get a good seat. Enjoy a glass of wine, an espresso drink, a delicious sandwich, or salad while you listen to music! Venue is wheelchair accessible.
Friday, June 9, 5:30 - 6:30 pm AND 6:30 - 7:30 pm
The Jazzschool, 2087 Addison (at Shattuck)
Tickets: $12/$10
Information: (510) 527-9840
Baroque Carnival
Vincent Dumestre, artistic director; Jean-Denis Monory, stage director; Cécile Roussat, choreographer
Renowned for its authentic stage productions marrying the music and arts of the 17th century, Le Poème Harmonique joins forces with the Le Centre National des Arts du Cirque (CNAC) to transport us to Rome for the extravagant revelry of the famed Carnival season, a time of raucous merrymaking prior to the austere forty days of Lent. Expressing the creative energy of the traditions so important to the Carnival celebration, hand-selected acrobats and jugglers of CNAC join musicians and singers onstage for a recreation of the atmosphere of the Feast of Fools in the Piazza Navona in Rome, including traditional processions, singing performances, gargantuan banquets, appearances by such Carnival characters as Gola (Gluttony), and the lazzi (pratfalls) of commedia dell’arte.
Friday, June 9, 8:00 - 10:00 pm
Saturday, June 10, 8:00 - 10:00 pm
Zellerbach Playhouse, UC campus
Tickets: $42 - $15
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
Henry I. Goldberg International Young Artists Competition: Finals
The finalists from Wednesday’s performance compete for the competition’s first prize, which has been named in honor of Laurette Goldberg, a leading force in the Bay Area’s early music community for many years.
Friday, June 9, 8:00 - 10:00 pm
First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant, Berkeley
Tickets: $22/$20/$11
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
O Wondrous Novelty: Masterpieces of Monastic Chant and Polyphony from the 12th Century
Helen Holder, Celeste Winant, Michael Eisenberg, Michael Woodside
The 12th century witnessed one of the most impressive cultural efflorescences ever in Europe, and nowhere was this more in evidence than in the musical arts. The St Ann Consort showcases rarely-heard sacred music of the period, presenting fluid duets from the great abbey of St. Martial of Limoges, monumental three and four part works by Perotin from Notre Dame de Paris, and visionary chants by the Abbess Hildegard of Bingen.
Formed in 2004, the St. Ann Consort features soloists from the St. Ann Chapel in Palo Alto, CA, and friends in performances of early virtuosic chamber vocal music. Past programs have included Victoria's Missa pro defunctis and selected dramatic Italian madrigals, notably Monteverdi's setting of the Sestina, performed at the 2004 Berkeley Early Music Fringe Festival.
Saturday, June 10, 1:00 - 2:30 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant
Tickets: $15/$8
Information: http://bolo.berkeley.edu/~cwinant/stann.html, (510) 717-9422
Young musicians will demonstrate instruments used to play Renaissance and Baroque music. Participants include a gamba consort sponsored by the Viola da Gamba Society Pacifica Chapter, Junior Recorder Society students, young musicians from the Junior Bach Festival, Piedmont Bagpipe Band players, and children from the Music Discovery Workshop. Audience members will have a chance to hear, see, and touoch a variety of instruments.
Saturday, June 10, 2:00 - 3:00 pm
International House, Bancroft and Piedmont, Berkeley
Tickets: FREE
Information: 510-848-5591
Motets of Couperin le Grand, Brossard, and others
Tonia d'Amelio, Sarah Finley, soprano; Clifton Massey, haute-contre; Michael Azevedo, tenor; Tom Hart, bass-baritone; Lars Johannesson, Alan Paul, flute; Kati Kyme, Ondine Young, violin; William Skeen, gamba; Christopher Kula, organ/leader
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François Couperin, hailed as "le Grand," was at the center of the 17th-century movement to integrate the styles of the French and Italian Baroque, penning works of exquisite sweetness, directness, and of subtle complexity. On this concert we feature three multi-movement orchestral motets, as well as those of his contemporaries, Brossard, Bernier and Du Mont. |
Saturday, June 10, 3:00 - 4:40 pm
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$10
Information: www.pacificcollegium.org, 510-459-2341
Pallas Nordica: A Swedish Queen in Rome
Known as Pallas Nordica, after Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and the arts, Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626-1689), cut a colorful figure in seventeenth century European history. She abdicated her throne in 1655, converted to Catholicism, and moved to Rome, where she established herself and her two Academies. Hers was the first “secular” household in Rome that sponsored cultural activities matching the artistic patronage of the Roman cardinals, and it became a center of intellectual and artistic life. Her Academies brought together painters, poets and musicians, and others. Christina opened the first public opera house in Rome (1671), playing an influential role in the development of opera in a city where it was periodically banned by the Pope!
Although her Academies were primarily literary, promoting classical ideals, music played an important role. In her first Academy, each meeting ended with a concert, while in her second, each opened with an instrumental work and closed with vocal one. Christina’s academies contributed greatly to the development of the cantata, trio sonata, and concerto. The academies provided a venue where new compositions, in new forms, could be performed for an audience both active and critical in the development of new musical styles.
The musical lives of the composers presented on this program were intertwined; they performed with each other, belonged to the same musical institutions and even occasionally composed together. Come enjoy Lonati, Stradella, Alessandro Scarlatti, Corelli, and Pasquini!
Saturday, June 10, 3:00 - 5:00 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $10
Information: www.baroquetc.org, 510-540-8222
A Venetian Carnival
Judith Linsenberg, recorder; Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin; Gonzalo Ruiz, oboe; Michael McCraw, bassoon; David Morris, cello; Charles Sherman, harpsichord
This lively program includes music that evokes the festive Carnival season for which Venice was so renowned. Colorful chamber concertos by Vivaldi, such as La Notte and Tempesta di Mare reflect the chiaroscuro—the light and dark—of this special phenomenon. Included is incidental music from Italian carnival operas as well as the popular style of the commedia dell’arte, plus Uccellini’s La Bergamasca and chamber music by Venetian composers Legrenzi, Castello, Albinoni, and Veracini.
Saturday, June 10, 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Hertz Hall, UC campus
Tickets: $26/$24/$13
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
Ornament and Splendor: Highlights of German music in the 17th century
David Douglass, Robert Mealy, and Shira Kammen, violin, viola; David Morris, cello; Stephen Escher, cornett; Richard Hessel and Sandy Stadtfeld, sackbut; Herb Myers, curtal, viola; Mahan Esfahani, organ
The violin band The King’s Noyse and Bay Area leading early brass ensemble The Whole Noyse join forces for a program of the music 17th century German music, featuring the sacred works of Michael Praetorius. The program will feature hymns from the third book of his treatise Syntagma Musicum, as well as instrumental music, dance music, and latin motets by Praetorius and his contemporaries, including Erasmus Widmann, Heinrich Schütz, and Samuel Scheidt.
Saturday, June 10, 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Hertz Hall, UC campus
Tickets: $32/$30/$16
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
Viva Vivaldi – Concerti by Candlelight
Amidst the glow of candlelight, hear principal players of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra perform much-loved selections and rare gems from Vivaldi’s time in Venice. The program includes the incomparable Four Seasons, as well as solo concerti featuring recordist Hanneke van Proosdij, lutenist David Tayler, and cellist Tanya Tomkins.
Saturday, June 10, 10:30 pm - Midnight
First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant, Berkeley
Tickets: $40 - $18
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
A Musical Tapestry -- Renaissance and Traditional Music from the British Isles and Scandinavia
Susan Rode Morris, soprano; Eileen Hadidian, recorder and flute; Shira Kammen, vielle, harp, voice; Julie Jeffrey and David Morris, viola da gamba
Renaissance and traditional music from the British Isles and Scandinavia, with consort songs, Renaissance dances, and cross-over music spanning the art and folk traditions.
Our earliest repertory comes from the song collection Piae Cantiones, an important momument in the musical history of Sweden and Finland. First compiled in 1582, it includes a rich repertoire of sacared non-liturgical Latin song, many of medieval origin, that can be traced back to early sources in France, England, Germany, and Bohemia. Song topics include the major religious feasts and celebrations, the changing of the seasons, Biblical stories, and hymns.
Our journey takes us next to England, to The Tudor Songbook, a collection of court music in the early years of Henry VIII’s reign. We travel next to Scotland, where "Musicke Fyne“ was the name given to the art music of the 16th century Scottish court. Interpersed with the courtly pieces will be traditional tunes from Playford’s The English Dancing Master of 1652, lively divisions, and anonymous folk tunes that have been passed down largely through oral tradition.
Proceeds benefit Healing Muses, a non-profit organization that brings healing music to Bay Area hospitals, clinics, and convalescent homes.
Sunday, June 11, 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: (510) 549-3864 or trinitychamberconcerts.com
The Itinerant Virtuosi
Julien Martin, recorder; Josh Cheatham, viola da gamba; Skip Sempé, harpsichord
One of the foremost interpreters of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire to have emerged in decades, Capriccio Stravagante returns following its Berkeley Festival debut in 2002. Founded by charismatic American harpsichordist Skip Sempé, the ensemble is renowned for programs filled with charm, spontaneity, and daring virtuosity and for the irresistible bond that forms between performers and audience. Also featuring Julien Martin (recorder) and Josh Cheatham (viola da gamba), this lively musical tour features the “greatest hits” by such “traveling stars” as Ortiz, Caccini, Dowland, Byrd, Marais, and Louis Couperin.
Sunday, June 11, 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Hertz Hall, UC campus
Tickets: $32/$30/$16
Information: Berkeley Festival home page, 510-642-9988
Liebesmahl: Feast of Love
Sarah Eyerly, soprano; Amy Haltom and David Sego, violins; Gary Hess, theorbo and Baroque guitar; Heather Vorwerck, Baroque cello and viola da gamba; Julia Ageyeva, harpsichord.
Music of Germany, Austria, and the Moravian Tradition, featuring works by Schmeltzer and Biber and gems of Moravian vocal music.
The program celebrates the sensuality and spirituality of Moravian music of 18th century America and its kin from 17th century Germany & Austria, featuring instrumental works by Schmeltzer and Biber and vocal gems from the Moravian tradition. Formed in 2001, Galileo Project is a young ensemble dedicated to promoting their vision of the inherent accessibility of early music. The group frequently collaborates with visual and performance artists to create a stimulating new framework for early music.
Sunday, June 11, 3:00 - 4:30 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant
Tickets: $15/$10
Information: e-mail gpfiddler@yahoo.com, 510-787-9956
Junior Recorder Society Concert
The Junior Recorder Society presents a concert on all sizes of recorders with music by Bach, Corelli, Pete Rose, Thorn and more. Bring your family! The Junior Recorder Society East Bay Chapter is an affiliate of SFEMS.
Sunday, June 11, 5:00 - 6:00 pm
International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Avenue (at Bancroft)
Tickets: Free
Information: e-mail Junior Recorder Society
Sweet Hope and Bitter Despair: the Ayres of England’s Golden Age
Music from Queen Elizabeth’s court and the time of Shakespeare: love songs, laments, and dance tunes by John Dowland, Thomas Campion, William Byrd, and more.
Sunday, June 11, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel (corner of Bowditch and Durant), Berkeley
Tickets: $10/$8
Information: www.mollyguard.com/event/28693824, vdevera@sfopera.com, 415-565-3274
Cirque de Schalmey
Feats of thrilling, acrobatic daring-do for shawm band. The evening's program consists of French and German music from around 1500 and features complete, historically accurate sets of shawms and sackbut, recorders, and crumhorns. The group consists of founding director David Hogan Smith, Robert Cronin, Jim Kafka, and Alan Paul. The concert's spectacular finale, Gardell Simons's "Atlantic Zephyrs," arranged for shawms by the intrepid Mr. Smith, will indeed be performed without a net. Concert flyer.
Sunday, June 11, 8:00 - 9:30 pm
Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana Street, Berkeley
Tickets: $15/$12/$10
Information: King's Trumpetts & Shalmes, 415-665-2083 or 415-752-7290