This preview has been provided by Baroque and Beyond.
Yes, there will be Vivaldi. However, much of Baroque & Beyond’s concert on January 24 will be music of Vivaldi’s predecessors. Some of these composers are familiar, such as Corelli. Others, not so much.
The concert explores repertoire that is a specialty of guest artist David Wilson, a baroque violinist who lives in California and works across the United States and abroad. Wilson holds a doctorate from Indiana University, where he has taught. His West Coast activities are centered in the San Francisco Bay area, where he now lives and teaches when he is not touring.
Wilson will be featured in sonatas for violin and continuo by Corelli, Dario Castello, and Isabella Leonarda, as well as in trio sonatas by Vitali and Vivaldi. Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704) was one of the most productive women composers of her time, yet she is little-known today, even among classical musicians. Sonata Duodecima is her only solo violin sonata and is one of her most renowned works – free, passionate, and unpredictable in the most Italian way.
William Simms, an outstanding player of lute, baroque guitar and theorbo, will bring the latter instrument to North Carolina for this concert. He will treat the audience to a theorbo solo by the Italian composer Alessandro Piccinini, a set of variations on “Partite variate sopra quest’ Aria francese detta l’Alemana.” He will also serve as a member of the continuo team (theorbo, harpsichord, cello).
Making a cameo appearance on this concert is soprano Molly Quinn, who took the audience by storm one year ago on Baroque & Beyond’s Pan & Syrinx concert. Ms. Quinn’s concert and recording credits grow each year. She maintains a full schedule of touring, while still appearing regularly with various ensembles in New York. She will perform “L’Amante Segreto” by Barbara Strozzi. Among the group of women baroque composers whose works have come down to us, Strozzi is one of the best-known.
The ensemble is rounded out by baroque violinist Allison Willet, baroque cellist Barbara Blaker Krumdieck, and harpsichordist Beverly Biggs, who also serves as Artistic Director of Baroque & Beyond.
Tickets ($18) are available in advance (until Jan. 22) from Preservation Chapel Hill, which sponsors the concert series: call 919-942-7818 or visit their website at http://www.preservationchapelhill.org/#!baroque-beyond/co6x. Tickets will also be available at the door.
The concert takes place at 3:00 pm Sunday afternoon, January 24, in the historic chapel at Chapel of the Cross, 304 E. Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Parking can be found in the Planetarium parking lot next door, or the Rosemary Street parking garage a short distance away.
For additional information on Baroque & Beyond, please visit www.baroqueandbeyond.org.
