5 Mar 2012 [Seattle, WA] — Early Music America (EMA), the North American service organization for the field of early music, will present its second Young Performers Festival in June 2012, following the successful launch of this new initiative last June in Boston. The EMA Young Performers Festival will take place June 6-8, 2012, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley, CA, as part of the Berkeley Festival.
The Young Performers Festival will consist of 6 concerts by university-based early music ensembles, and will also offer special coaching and networking events to the participating students. Concerts will be held at 11am and 2:30pm each day (June 6-8) at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. Concerts will be open to the public for a $10 suggested donation at the door; no tickets will be sold in advance. The schedule and programming is listed below:
June 6, 11am
San Francisco Conservatory of Music Baroque Ensemble, co-directed by Corey Jamason and Elisabeth Reed
From Renaissance to Baroque
The SF Conservatory program will include music for viols and voice by Byrd, Morley, Holborne, and Gibbons, as well as virtuoso chamber music by Castello, Marini and Vivaldi.
June 6, 2:30pm
University of California at Berkeley Baroque Chamber Ensemble, directed by Davitt Moroney
An Exploration of Baroque Music Across Europe
The UC Berkeley program will include music for cello by Domenico Gabrielli, music for recorder by Georg Philipp Telemann and George Frideric Handel, soprano arias from 17th-century Italian and French operas and cantatas, and music for harpsichord by Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Jacob Froberger, and Louis Couperin.
June 7, 11am
University of North Texas Collegium Singers, directed by Richard Sparks
Victoria Requiem
The UNT program will feature the Requiem Mass of Tomas Luis de Victoria, published in1605. In common with other settings of the time, Victoria did not confine his setting to the Mass alone, but also included items from the Office of the Dead and the Great Absolution. The four-part Taedet animam meam comes from the Offices of Lauds and Matins. The setting of the Mass is scored for six-part choir.
June 7, 2:30pm
Stanford University Baroque Ensemble, directed by Marie-Louise Catsalis
Alessandro Scarlatti and his circle: cantatas and serenatas
The Stanford program includes works newly edited by the students from primary sources (manuscripts in Munich, Montecassino, and Berkeley). Cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti; Serenata by Severo de Luca; duet by Innocenzo Fede.
June 8, 11am
Case Western Reserve University Baroque Ensemble and Collegium Musicum, coached by Julie Andrijeski and Debra Nagy
Milk and Honey: Sumptuous Music of the Seventeenth Century
The Case Collegium and Baroque Ensemble present sensuous love songs, erotic sacred texts and twisted lullabies full of quixotic blends of sweetness, anxiety, optimism, and even violence—what could be more enticing? Both well-known and newly rediscovered works for instruments and voices from the seventeenth century by Tarquinio Merula, Heinrich Biber, Giovanni Sances, Claudio Monteverdi, and more.
June 8, 2:30pm
University of Southern California Thornton Baroque Sinfonia, directed by Adam Gilbert
Ars longa, vita brevis or Only the Good Die Young: Music from the Thirty Years War
The USC program features works by composers affected by the disastrous circumstances surrounding the Thirty Years War. It includes compositions by Johannes Vierdanck, Giovanni Antonio Rigatti, and Dario Castello, whose lives were cut short by fever during the mid-seventeenth century. Performers include eight singers, continuo, three violins and winds. As interludes, instruments will perform improvisations on grounds in seventeenth-century style.
Four of these university-based early music ensembles have been awarded College-Level Ensemble Grants by EMA to help underwrite their travel expenses for the Young Performers Festival. The grant-winning ensembles are:
- Case Western Reserve University Baroque Ensemble
- Stanford University Baroque Ensemble
- University of North Texas Collegium Singers
- University of Southern California Thornton Baroque Sinfonia
Early Music America will also present the Exhibition at the Berkeley Festival. The Exhibition is a music marketplace featuring about 40 vendors, including instrument makers, music publishers, bookstores, early music workshops and service organizations. The Exhibition dates are June 7-9, 2012; it will take place at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 address. It is FREE and open to the public. Hours are: Thursday, June 7, 12 noon -6pm; Friday, June 8, 10am-6pm; Saturday, June 9, 10am-5pm.
The 2012 Berkeley Festival & Exhibition is presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society, Cal Performances, and Early Music America in association with American Bach Soloists, Agave Baroque, Chanticleer, Magnificat, New Esterházy Quartet, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Voices Of Music. A complete listing of concerts and other events may be found at www.bfx.berkeley.edu.
About Early Music America
Early Music America serves and strengthens the early music community in North America and raises public awareness of early music. EMA provides its 3,000 members with publications, advocacy, and technical support. Individual and organizational members hail from all over the U.S. and Canada and from at least 16 other countries. EMA publishes the quarterly magazine Early Music America. For more information, see www.earlymusic.org.
Contact: Patrick Nugent, Director of Public Relations (206) 720-6270 or 888-SACKBUT [email protected]; www.earlymusic.org
