October 3
Peter Kupfer, Carlene Stober, & Jan-Piet Knijff
Sonatas of Dieterich Buxtehude

In honor of the 300th anniversary of Dieterich Buxtehude’s death, Peter Kupfer (baroque violin), Carlene Stober (viola da gamba) and Jan-Piet Knijff (harpsichord) present a selection of sonatas from the North German master’s opus 1. The brilliant Fugue in C Major, perhaps the best-known of the composer's keyboard works, rounds out the program.

Johannes Voorhout's "Allegory of Friendship" (1674).
Dieterich Buxtehude is pictured second from the right.

As members of the Bach Players at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan, Jan-Piet Knijff, Peter Kupfer, and Carlene Stober collaborate regularly in highly acclaimed performance of Bach's cantatas and oratorios. As part of the worldwide Buxtehude tercentennial celebrations this year, they have performed programs with chamber music and keyboard works of the master of the North German Baroque in New York and Virginia.

October 10
Jessica Gould, soprano
Music for Soprano and String Quartet

The irresistible combination of voice and strings has sparked the imaginations of composers from Morley to Schoenberg. This program presents visions both sacred and secular, including a trip to heaven in Vivaldi’s ethereal motet, Nulla in mundo pax sincera, and a descent to Styx in Pergolesi’s turbulent and rarely heard cantata Orfeo. Soprano Jessica Gould is joined by the Dodd Quartet (Claire Jolivet, violin I; Theresa Salomon, violin II; Jessica Troy, viola; James Wilson, cello) and Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord.

Soprano Jessica Gould enjoys an active performance schedule in repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day, and appears in recital in many venues across the US and Europe. Praised in the British press for “astonishing passaggi and ornaments, executed to perfection,” she has also been noted for “crystalline sounds” and for having “reached the heart of an enraptured English audience.” Heard as a soloist on New World Records, Ms. Gould’s NYC engagements include the Guggenheim Museum Works & Process Series with the Cassatt Quartet, the NY Historical Society with the Four Nations Ensemble, the Orchestra of the New York City Ballet, and Carnegie Hall with Yo-Yo Ma.

The newly formed Dodd Quartet is named after the celebrated family of English bowmakers; performing on period instruments, the Dodd Quartet specializes in the repertoire that evolved hand in hand with the evolution in bowmaking in the latter half of the 18th century, from the Rococo through Haydn and his contemporaries, and through the turn of the 19th century. The NYC-based ensemble represents a wealth of collective musical and performing experience having been on stage with all the major period ensembles in the New York area: Concert Royal, New York Collegium, Clarion Orchestra, The Four Nations Ensemble, and Ensemble Rebel. Individual members have performed throughout the US and the world, at venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the City of London Festival, the Deutches Mozartfest in Bavaria and the Mostly Mozart Festival.

October 17
Charites
17th-Century Women on the Nature of Beauty

This program presents virtuosic music and poetry by 17th-century female composers (including Cozzolani, Strozzi, and Caccini) and writers (such as Margaret Cavendish and Katherine Philips). A musical vanitas, the concert investigates the transient nature of youth and beauty. The pieces will be staged with period gesture, calling further attention to the evanescence of the physical body.

Charites is a trio committed to performing the music of early female composers and poets with period gesture. Charites is the Greek term for “Graces,” referring to the three mythological daughters of Zeus and Eurynome. The Graces govern traits such as charm, beauty, and creativity, all of which the group aims to transmit through their performances.

October 24
Galileo's Daughters
An Italian in Vienna

Galileo's Daughters (Sarah Pillow, soprano, Jennifer Peterson, harpsichord, and Mary Anne Ballard, viola da gamba) travel to the Imperial City, where the Habsburg Empire flourished in the 17th century and maintained a thoroughly Italianized music chapel. The group will perform works by Italian composers such as Giovanni Felice Sances, who was born in Rome but spent most of his adult life serving as imperial Kapellmeister to Leopold I.

Galileo's Daughters is the creation of musicians whose individual expertise in the worlds of early music, opera, jazz, drama and musical scholarship bring freshness and immediacy to their performances. Since their debut in September of 2001, Galileo's Daughters has performed throughout the United States for such institutions as the College of Charleston; the Piccolo Spoleto Festival; the University of Notre Dame; the Mobile, Alabama Chamber Music Society and the City of New York Graduate Center. Inspired by Dava Sobel's book "Galileo's Daughter," the group brings alive through music and readings the era of Suor Maria Celeste, whose letters to her famous father make vivid the spiritual and daily life of a 17th-century woman.

October 31
ARTEK
Graveyard Music

A unique Halloween program on themes of death and despair--with a dash of macabre humor to lighten things up! 17th- and 18th-century vocal and instrumental music performed with readings of original poetry and some multi-media surprises.

Audiences love ARTEK concerts for their compelling musical settings of beautiful poetry and infectious dance rhythms that infuse the performances with vitality and spirit. Founded by director Gwendolyn Toth in 1986, ARTEK's singers and instrumentalists are all recognized virtuosos with a love for the early baroque music that is ARTEK's signature repertoire. ARTEK has been invited to perform at numerous international early music festivals and concert series, and has toured with the Mark Morris Dance Group throughout the United States and Europe. ARTEK has ventured into the theatrical realm with staged performances of early baroque operas and its own newly-devised musical theater show, "I'll Never See the Stars Again," set to music of Monteverdi, which the ensemble performed to acclaim at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. ARTEK was featured on Symphony Space's Wall-to-Wall Opera in May 2007. Visit artekearlymusic.org for more information.

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