|
 Enjoy a Viennese New Year’s Day tradition, when The Musicians
In Ordinary present A New Year’s Day Concert: Viennese
Baroque Music.
Soprano Hallie Fishel and John Edwards, theorbo and archlute,
perform music from 18th century Vienna, Thursday, January
1, 2009, 2 p.m. at the Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave. (north
of Scollard Street in Yorkville; Bay St. subway). Joining them as
guests are baroque violinist Christopher Verrette and harpsichordist
Sara Anne Churchill.
Tickets are $20, $15 seniors and students, and may be purchased
at the door.
For information, call 416-535-9956, e-mail
musinord@sympatico.ca
or visit
www.musiciansinordinary.ca.
The music comes from Vienna of 1700-1750, a time when much of the
music was written by Italian composers. It includes cantatas and
sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and cantatas by Antonio Caldara
(1670-1738), both of whom were born in the Republic of Venice and
died in Vienna. There are also keyboard works by Austrian composer
Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741), and an unusual Sinfonia à Solo
di Arciliuto for archlute and harpsichord by an anonymous composer
– a rarity for an instrument that is usually featured in solo music
or as an obbligato instrument in opera, as well as a continuo.
John Edwards points out, "Vivald is better known as an instrumental
composer today, but his vocal music is spectacular. Maybe he was
inspired by the two sisters who were singers, with whom he toured
for a while. Rumour was rife about his relationship with them, especially
given that he was a priest!"
Soprano Hallie Fishel, is one of North America’s leading interpreters
of early music. She is in demand as a coach and lecturer on performance
practice and the place of music in early modern culture at universities
and colleges across North America. Institutions at which she has
recently performed and lectured include University of Toronto, York
University, Lafayette College, University of Syracuse, City University
of New York, Trent University, as well as the Bata Shoe Museum and
the Center for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. As well as performing
in historically informed concerts, she maintains a busy studio of
vocal students studying everything from plainchant to opera to jazz,
and is the Music Director for Trinity Anglican Church, Port Credit.
JOHN EDWARDS specializes in playing numerous historical plucked
string instruments, from the medieval lute to the theorbo to the
nineteenth century guitar. Though he plays continuo lutes with orchestras,
Mr. Edwards has always had a love of song and is in high demand
as an accompanist and coach. He is a Fellow of the Centre for Reformation
and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto and has given
lectures and demonstrations throughout North America.
Harpsichordist Sara-Anne Churchill, who received the 2007 Montreal
Baroque Prize for her audaciousness and musicality, is an active
chamber musician and soloist based in Toronto. Together with Ian
Robertson, she forms the harpsichord-fortepiano duo Pluck ‘n’ Hammered,
which performs late 18th century music for two keyboards.
With cellist Kerri McGonigle, she also co-founded the baroque duo
Suite & Psaltry. Ms. Churchill has presented concerts at the Southeast
Historical Keyboard Society Conclave, the London Early Music Festival,
The University of Toronto Art Centre Series, TEMC’s Musically Speaking
series, and the Concerts at Cronyn series. She has recently worked
with I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble and the Classical Music Consort.
One of the first graduates of the new Advanced Certificate in Performance-Baroque
Option, jointly offered by the University of Toronto and Tafelmusik
Baroque Orchestra, Ms. Churchill holds a Master of Arts in Musicology
from the University of Western Ontario. She is currently a candidate
for the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Harpsichord Performance at
the University of Toronto.
Baroque violinist Christopher Verrette is in his 16th
season as a member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, with which he
is a frequent soloist and concert master both in Canada and abroad.
He is a graduate of Indiana University, where he was awarded the
first-ever Performer’s Certificate for accomplishment on the Baroque
violin and was a student of Stanley Ritchie. Since that time, he
has been committed to the growth of Early Music in the American
Midwest as a founding member of Ensemble Voltaire (Indianapolis)
and the Chicago Baroque Ensemble and has collaborated with numerous
period instrument ensembles around North America. In recent seasons
he has played music from six centuries on violins, vielle, rebec,
viola and viola d’amore. His recordings range from old favorites
like Beethoven and Mozart symphonies and Pachelbel’s Canon, to hitherto
unrecorded sonatas by Bertali and other 17th century
composers, new arrangements of Playford tunes on Throw the House
out of the Window for Marquis records, John Welsman’s score
for the independent Canadian film The Limb Salesman, and
the soundtrack of Touchstone Pictures’ Casanova.
|
|
