2009 - 2010 Series

Midtown Concerts: 
September 2009  | October 2009  |  November 2009   |  December 2009  |  January 2010
February 2010   |  March 2010  |  April 2010   |  May 2010

September 2009

September 9
Daniel Pincus, tenor
To the Distant Beloved

Ludwig van Beethoven's song cycle for tenor An die ferne Geliebte is the featured work on the program. Other songs to be performed include Fruehlingsglaube, Wandrers Nachtlied, Im Abendrot, and An Sylvia of Franz Schubert. Mr. Pincus will be accompanied by Gwendolyn Toth on the fortepiano.

The American tenor, Daniel Pincus, studied at Columbia College and the Manhattan School of Music, with additional study in Bach and German Lieder under the Swiss tenor Ernst Haefliger. He has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, and Symphony Space. His repertoire extends from Baroque works to 19th and 20th century songs.


September 16
Bacchanalia
Bach's Boys and English Friends

Laura Thompson, Sang Joon Park, baroque flutes, and Michael Eisenberg, harpsichord, perform flute music by J.S. Bach's sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel, and their childhood friend Carl Friedrich Abel.

Since their debut at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2002, Bacchanalia Baroque has been giving spirited performances of baroque and early classical music on period instruments. They received their first public grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2007, for the performance of rare and reconstructed early American music. Bacchanalia has been heard in New York at The Saint Andrew Music Society at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, Christ Chapel Chamber Series at Riverside Church, Midtown Concerts, Saint Peter's Lutheran Church Classical Concert Series, Our Saviour's Atonement MOSA Series, Sundays on the Island, and Trinity Church's Music for the Spirit in New York City.



September 23
Ensemble Viscera
Crime and Punishment

An exploration of the jácara in its various guises, and other songs and pieces associated with the criminal element of Golden Age Spain.

Ensemble Viscera, formed in 2002 as a plucked-string ensemble of lutes, early guitars, theorbo, bandora and cittern, forges an alloy of sounds and colors unique in the world of early music.  Mining the manuscript and printed sources of Renaissance and baroque music for lute and guitar ensemble, Ensemble Viscera's luscious, effervescent sonorities shine forth in pieces from surviving sources, the unwritten Renaissance and baroque traditions of improvisation, as well as arrangements of their own devising.


September 30
Anima
From the Vatican to Versailles

Following the coronation of Matteo Barberini as Pope Urban VIII in 1623, the arts in Rome flourished and spread throughout Europe. The Pope and his nephews Francesco, Taddeo and Antonio Barberini surrounded themselves with illustrious thinkers, artists, musicians and poets. With their penchant for opera and chamber music, the extended papal family mounted lavish theatrical productions, outdoor pageants, and sponsored private music. This program will evoke the spirit of the Barberini era by exploring works of some of their favorite musicians, including Stefano Landi and Girolamo Frescobaldi. We will also look at Roman music in France, especially works by composers such as Luigi Rossi who were brought to the French Court by Cardinal Mazarin.

Anima's performances of Baroque music are fresh and joyous, sincere and powerful. Since 2005 they have soothed and delighted audiences with programs that bring the music and culture of the Seventeenth Century into focus for today's lilsteners. The group's imaginative and engaging concerts are both intimate and authentic, blending music and poetry with exemplary musicianship. Anima features soprano Beth Anne Hatton, Baroque violinist Vita Wallace, viola da gambist Motomi Igarashi, and harpist Christa Patton, and often incorporates other kindred spirits such as Keri Mikkelson. As individuals, these artists have performed and recorded with period instrument ensembles throughout the eastern US and nationwide. Anima makes virtuosity approachable - playful, higly expressive and provocative. Visit the group at www.animabaroque.com.