2019 EARLY MUSIC ALBERTA FESTIVAL
May 3, 4 and 5, 2019
First Presbyterian Church – 10025 105 Street, Edmonton
From the Artistic Director:
Early Music Alberta is proud to present a fantastic line-up of stellar musicians and a festival full of widely varied programs for our 9th annual early music festival, which will be taking place on May 3, 4 and 5, 2019. The wonderful, historic First Presbyterian Church will be our home for the festival again.
With four spectacular feature concerts, we offer more performances than ever this year, including (free) pre-concert talks to get you informed and in the mood. We present a wonderful concert featuring four community early music ensembles, and our two free events are the annual renaissance reading session and, new this year, a baroque dance workshop.
Individual concert tickets and festival passes are below or at the door.
I look forward to seeing you there!
Josephine van Lier, artistic director
Friday, May 3, 2019 – 8:00 PM
7:00 PM – Pre-Concert Talk by Marnie Giesbrecht & Joachim Segger
Arthur Newcombe Room (Free)
First Presbyterian Church
10025 105 Street, Edmonton
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Soler Power!
Featuring the Seis Conciertos de dos Organos Obligados Compuestos (Six Concertos for Two Keyboards) of Antonio Soler (1729-1783).
Music that is sunshine for the soul, and will brighten moods and lift spirits, the six double keyboard concertos by Padre Antonio Soler are some of the most sumptuous, irresistible music one can hear or imagine. The slow movements are tuneful and gorgeous, lyrical and contemplative. The faster movements are toe-tapping and quill-plucking dance-inspired music of the Catalonian late Baroque and early Classical styles. Often recorded on two like instruments, this Edmonton premiere performance of the Six Concertos will be performed on a calliope of colourful keyboard instruments: virginals, harpsichords and positive organs. Dueling keyboards may have originated with these concertos, and Duo Majoya will spar, cajole, harmonize and woo each other and the audience with this fascinating music.
Musicians
Duo Majoya: Marnie Giesbrecht & Joachim Segger, harpsichord, virginal, positive Organ
Program:
Antonio Soler (1729-1783) – Seis Conciertos de dos Organos Obligados Compuestos (Six Concertos for Two Keyboards)
Saturday, May 4, 2019 – 9:30AM
Participation and auditing FREE
First Presbyterian Church
Arthur Newcombe Room
10025 105 Street, Edmonton
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Renaissance Reading Session
Instrumentalists of all ages and abilities can join these two hours of music making.
Recorders, oboes, sackbuts, viola da gambas, vielles, violins, cellos, etc.: All levels are welcome for a morning of playing. Ability to sight read some simple music required. For any 440 instrument that can read treble or bass clef at concert pitch.
Interested auditors also welcome.
Bill Damur, Session Leader
Saturday, May 4, 2019 – NOON
Participation and auditing FREE
First Presbyterian Church
Arthur Newcombe Room
10025 105 Street, Edmonton
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Baroque Dance
Try out baroque court dance. You’ve seen pictures of dancers. You’ve heard the music. Now combine the two and experience French court dance as they would have done it.
Suzanne Wagner, workshop leader
Saturday, May 4, 2019 – 3:00PM
2:00 PM Pre-Concert Talk by Elinor Frey
Arthur Newcombe Room (Free)
First Presbyterian Church
10025 105 Street, Edmonton
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Italian Cellists in London
Indulge in the lush sound of two cellos with baroque cello superstar Elinor Frey from Montreal and Early Music Alberta’s own Josephine van Lier. They will perform cello duos and sonatas by 17th and 18th century Italian cellists/composers who worked in London and who were instrumental in establishing the cello as a solo instrument. Several of the works were recently discovered and subsequently published by Elinor. The audience is in for a treat: some of these pieces have not been performed in many centuries!
A concert not soon to be forgotten.
Musicians:
Elinor Frey, baroque cello
Josephine van Lier, baroque cello
Program:
Cirri (1724-1808) – Sonata for two cellos #1 in D Major
Dall’Abaco (1675-1742) – Duo Sonata in F major
Cervetto (1682-1783) – Divertimento for two cellos in g minor
Anon – Sonata for two cellos
Dall’Abaco (1675-1742) – Cello Sonata
Geminiani (1687-1762) – Cello Sonata opus 5 #2
Dall’Abaco (1675-1742) – Capriccio Secondo, Capriccio Ottavo
Saturday, May 4, 2019 – 8:00PM
7:00 PM Pre-Concert Talk
Arthur Newcombe Room (Free)
First Presbyterian Church
10025 105 Street, Edmonton
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Boccherini and Friends
“If God wanted to speak to men through music, He would do it with the works of Haydn, but if He wanted to listen to music, He would choose Boccherini.” Patron saint of musicians St. Cecilia sings her heart out to heaven above with this program of quintets by Boccherini, scored for a team of local Alberta musicians.
This concert includes the three quintets that Boccherini wrote in 1787 for a patroness in Berlin. Unusual is the prominent role the double bass plays in these very attractive works!
In addition to these quintets, the performance will also feature 3 trios – one for violin, cello and bass by Leopold Mozart, and two for viola, cello and bass by Michael Haydn and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, all contemporaries of Boccherini.
These spectacular works are virtually unknown and will be sure to surprise and delight the audience.
Musicians:
Laura Veeze, baroque violin
Gabriele Thielmann-Vriend, baroque violin
Ronelle Schaufele, baroque viola
Josephine van Lier, baroque cello
James Mallet, baroque bass
Program:
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) – Quintets G. 337-339, Op. 39 #1-3
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809) – Divertimento in F
Michael Haydn (1737-1806) – Divertimento in E flat
Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) – “Frosch Partia” in C
Sunday, May 5, 2019 – 3:00PM
First Presbyterian Church
10025 105 Street, Edmonton
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Community ensembles
Edmonton has a rich community of ensembles working on early music. Some play on historic instruments and set-ups, while others enjoy the endless choice of repertoire on modern instruments. Early Music Alberta is excited to provide a performance platform for these adult amateur musicians and aspiring music students who dedicate their time to playing and interpreting early music.
This concert will feature the following groups:
Musicians:
Dorothy Beyer, recorder and Judy Loewen, harpsichord
Baroque ’n’ Hearts
Divertimento Chamber Ensemble
Convivencia Canadá
Program:
Dorothy Beyer, recorders, Judy Loewen, harpsichord:
Giovanni Paolo Cima (1570-1630) – Sonata prima (1610)
Nicolas Chédeville (1705-1782) – Il pastor fido, op. 13, no. 6
Dario Castello (1602-1631) – Sonata seconda
Convivencia Canadá:
Kapsperger (1580-1651) – Avrilla Mia
Ortiz (1510-1570) – Recercada Primera
Praetorius (1571-1621) – La Bourée
Monteverdi (1567-1643) – Pur ti miro, from L’Incoronazione di Poppea
Divertimento Chamber Ensemble
GF Handel (1685-1759) – Concerto for Organ in d minor, HWV 309 – Adagio
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) – Concerto for Organ and Violin in d minor, RV 541 – Allegro
GP Telemann (1681-1767) – Concerto for Trumpet and Violin in D major, TWV 53:D5
Baroque ’n’ Hearts
Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) – Sonata for Oboe, Recorder, Violin and Continuo, FaWV N:B1
Sunday, May 5, 2019 – 8:00PM
7:00 PM Pre-Concert Talk by Roderick Bryce
Arthur Newcombe Room (Free)
First Presbyterian Church
10025 105 Street, Edmonton
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Baroque Cantatas & Motets
This concert features one of the greatest masterworks of 17th-century music: Dieterich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, an intense and expressive cycle of cantatas on the wounds of Christ, combining vivid texts with intensely expressive music. At the heart of the cycle of cantatas is the most tender and intimate “Ad cor”. Here, Buxtehude requests a dramatic instrumentation change to the delicate, shimmering timbre of an ensemble of five viols.
Also on the program are several Motets y Schein and Buxtehude.
Performing will be a stellar cast of Alberta’s finest baroque musicians:
Musicians
Dawn Bailey, soprano, tenor viola da gamba
Jolaine Kerley, soprano
Aoife Donnelly, alto
Ian Bannerman, tenor
Roderick Bryce, bass
Josephine van Lier, bass viola da gamba, violone
Marnie Giesbrecht, positive organ
Gabriele Thielmann – Vriend, baroque violin
Yue Deng, baroque violin
Jennifer Bustin, treble viola da gamba
Shaina Leonard, tenor viola da gamba
Elinor Frey, bass viola da gamba
Program:
Schein (1586-1630) – Motets:
O Herr, Ich bin Dein Knecht
Freue dich des Weibes deiner Jugend
Die mit Tränen säen
Dennoch bleibe ich stets an dir
Wende dich, Herr
Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Cantate Domino
Jesu Meine Freude
Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Membra Jesu Nostri
There will also be masterclasses by some of Canada’s finest period performers.
Past Events
Fundraising Concert
Saturday, November 24, 8:00PM (doors open at 7:30PM), 2018
First Presbyterian Church, 10025 105 St, Edmonton
Newcombe Room
$150 (Advance tickets only. Available online or send a cheque to: 617 Henderson Street, Edmonton, AB T6R 1S4)
Gabriele Thielmann-Vriend, baroque violin
Roderick Bryce, bass
Josephine van Lier, baroque cello
Marnie Giesbrecht, harpsichord
This promises to be a very special evening full of exquisite music for any combination of voice (bass), violin, cello and harpsichord.
There will be music by Clerembeault, Handel, Schobert, some never before heard English baroque music, and much more.
The program
Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759)
Sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord in C Major
Larghetto
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Aria “Komm, süßes Kreuz” from the St Mathhew Passion
Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Suite in a-minor (Pièces de Viole, Livre V)
Prelude de Soligni
Allemande La Facile
Sarabande
Gavotte
Menuet-Double
La Sincope
La Bagatelle
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault ( 1676 – 1749)
Cantata “La mort d’Hercule”
Recitativ- Air Gracieusement
Recitativ-Air
Recitativ-Viste-Air
INTERMISSION
Anon (England, ca 1780)
Sonata for cello and continuo
Adagio
Allegro
Minuetto
Johann Schobert (1720, 1735 or 1740 – 1767)
Trio for Harpsichord in F Major, Opus 16 #4
Andante
Andante Polonoise
Menuetto
Presto
Benedetto Marcello (1686 – 1739)
Sonata for cello and continuo opus 2 #6
Adagio
Allegro
Grave
Allegro
Nicholas Bruhns (1665-1697)
Cantata “Mein Herz ist Bereit”
Concerto
Adagio-Presto-Adagio-Presto
Jolaine Kerley, soprano
Katie Partridge, soprano
Josephine van Lier, viola da gamba
Marnie Giesbrecht, harpsichord
This program of French baroque music from the court of Louis XIV features Edmonton soprano Jolaine Kerley and Calgary based soprano Katie Partridge, with Josephine van Lier on viola da gamba and violone and Marnie Giesbrecht on harpsichord.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, who wrote grand pieces for large forces, François Couperin preferred to pen compositions for one or two solo voices and continuo. Out of an apparently complete set of Tenebrae lessons drawn from the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet, only three have survived, and they are presented on this concert along with a Magnificat, scored for two sopranos and continuo. Also on the program are Couperin’s Pièces de Clavecin and a suite for viola da gamba and continuo by Marin Marais. Both Couperin and Marais worked at the court of Louis XIV.
Rarely performed, the music on this program is very expressive and exposed and the musicians must make the music sound like simplicity itself.
The Program:
François Couperin: Magnificat 2 sopranos, viola da gamba and continuo
François Couperin: 3 Leçons de ténèbres for 1 and 2 sopranos, viola da gamba and continuo
Marin Marais: Suite in a minor from Livre V, for viola da gamba and continuo
François Couperin: Pièces de Clavecin
Marin Marais: Suite in a minor from Livre V, for viola da gamba and continuo
François Couperin: Pièces de Clavecin
– Passacaille (Bk II Huitième Order)
– Les Baricades Mistérieuses (Book II: Sixième Ordre)
– Les Baricades Mistérieuses (Book II: Sixième Ordre)
– Le Moucheron (Book II: Sixième Ordre)
– La Muse Victorieuse (Book IV: Vingt-Cinquième Ordre)
– La Muse Victorieuse (Book IV: Vingt-Cinquième Ordre)
