VOICES OF MUSIC
Laura Heimes, soprano; Louise Carslake, traverso, recorder; Katherine Kyme and Carla Moore, baroque violin; Lisa Grodin, baroque viola; William Skeen, baroque cello; David Tayler, archlute, theorbo; Hanneke van Proosdij, organ, recorder
Luxuriate in this special performance of Bach’s finest music. Highlights include the cantata “Ich habe genug” and a selection of chamber music. Famous for his fugues, Bach also showed remarkable powers of invention for the freer forms of arias, sonatas, and preludes—music for spirit, heart, and mind.
Friday, September 26, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, September 27, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, September 28, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 4:00
ENSEMBLE LA ROTA
Sarah Barnes, soprano; Tobie Miller, recorder, hurdy gurdy, soprano; Émilie Brûlé, vielle; Esteban La Rotta, harp, lute, tenor
Winner of the 2006 Early Music America Medieval/Renaissance Competition, Montreal-based Ensemble La Rota presents a program of music from the time of Philip IV of France (1268–1314). Heu Fortuna is a panorama of secular music contained in manuscripts copied during Philip’s lifetime and in the crisis years following his death, presenting a broad spectrum of both contemporary and older compositions still popular at the time.
Friday, October 10, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, October 11, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, October 12, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 4:00
MUSICA PACIFICA
Judith Linsenberg, recorder; Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin; David Morris, cello, viola da gamba; Charles Sherman, harpsichord; with guests Robert Mealy, violin, and Peter Maund, percussion
The world’s first public concert-series—produced by coal-seller Thomas Britton—was presented in London in 1678, where audiences heard spectacular improvised divisions on popular dance-tunes, favorite hits from the theater, and new exotic music from Italy. Inspired by Playford’s collections, “The Division Violin” and “The Division Flute,” this performance will turn the concert-hall into a Restoration jazz club, with fresh improvisations, spicy sonatas by Matteis, brilliant gamba fantasias, and heart-wrenching sonatas from Purcell and his Italian contemporaries.
Friday, October 31, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, November 1, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, November 2, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 4:00
THE BOSTON SHAWM & SACKBUT ENSEMBLE, AND FRIENDS
Marilyn Boenau, shawm, dulcian, recorder; Douglas Kirk, cornetto, shawm, recorder; Mack Ramsey, sackbut, recorder; Daniel Stillman, shawm, dulcian, sackbut, recorder; Steve Escher, cornetto; Erik Schmalz, sackbut; Cheryl Ann Fulton, Spanish double harp; Ruth Escher, soprano; Paul Flight, countertenor; Daniel Hutchings, tenor; Kevin Baum, tenor, Jeffrey Fields, bass
The all-powerful first minister of Spain, the Duke of Lerma, staged elaborate entertainments for royalty and foreign dignitaries at his natal village in northern Castille, including dramas, bull fights, processions, and liturgies with glorious music, in the newly rebuilt church of San Pedro. This program offers a rare opportunity for well-known masters Victoria, Lobo, and Guerrero to rub shoulders with such unjustly neglected composers as Vivanco, Navarro, Mogavero, Límido, and Ruimonte.
Friday, November 7, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, November 8, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, November 9, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 4:00
ARTISTS' VOCAL ENSEMBLE
Directed by Jonathan Dimmock
The Saints’ Days that lie between Christmas and Epiphany are at the heart of the religious calendar of Europe. In this program of both sacred and secular music, the relationship will be explored between the religious holidays and the winter solstice/New Year, as found in the great tradition of Renaissance choral music.
Friday, December 12, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, December 13, First Congregational Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, December 14, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 4:00
ENSEMBLE MIRABLE
Jay White, countertenor; Elizabeth Blumenstock and Katherine Kyme, violins; Joanna Blendulf, cello, viola da gamba; JungHae Kim, harpsichord
Join us for a unique exploration of the exquisite inventions of Vivaldi, Bononcini, Rosenmüller, and Erlebach. From Bologna to Thuringia, the passionate and beautiful music of Italy influenced German style in the 17th and 18th centuries, giving birth to compositions of unprecedented virile lyricism.
Friday, January 23, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, January 24, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, January 25, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 5:00
MAHAN ESFAHANI
Harpsichord
Renowned in his own day for his legendary improvisatory skills as a keyboard virtuoso, Johann Sebastian Bach gave his imagination free rein in the little-known Seven Toccatas (BWV 910-916), written when he was in his early twenties. In these multi-movement works of boundless variety and invention, Bach achieved the pinnacle of the “stylus phantasticus,” itself a magical combination of Mediterranean flashiness with northern seriousness, and imbued it with his own complex synthesis of abstract perfectionism and earthy intensity.
Friday, February 20, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, February 21, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, February 22, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 4:00
THE CATACOUSTIC CONSORT
Annalisa Pappano, artistic director, pardessus de viole; Joanna Blendulf, pardessus de viole; Daniel Zuluaga, theorbo;Youngmi Kim, soprano
Discover the intimate and clever music of the French Baroque for the rare pardessus de viole, a hybrid that blends violin and viola da gamba. While the viola da gamba first appeared around 1480 in Italy, the pardessus did not appear until the early 1700s in France, when it became a feature of the glory days of Versailles. Music that has not been heard since the time of Marie Antoinette will showcase the unique sonority of the pardessus.
Friday, April 17, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto, 8:00
Saturday, April 18, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, 7:30
Sunday, April 19, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, 4:00