MOUNTAINSIDE BAROQUE WELCOMES SPRING ON MARCH 26 WITH “AMOR ROMA”

“Amor Roma: Love Songs from the Eternal City,” Mountainside Baroque’s fifth concert of the 2022-2023 season, is scheduled for Sunday, March 26, at 4:00 PM in the Shrine of Ss. Peter and Paul, 125 Fayette Street, in Cumberland, Maryland. Tickets are now available for purchase online or at the door on the day of the concert.

Audience members are invited to come early to hear the pre-concert talk designed to put the music in context, beginning around 3:30 p.m.

Featured in this performance of the sumptuous music created for a variety of patrons in 17^th century Rome will be sopranos Rebecca Beasley and Jendi Tarde, along with a favorite from November’s “Gather Ye Rosebuds” concert, Italian Baroque harpist Paula Fagerberg. A special experience in the concert will be excerpts from Luigi Rossi’s rendition of the Orfeo and Euridice story–one of the greatest stories of star-crossed love in history. The women of the Scholars of St. Cecilia will be also be singing, accompanied by theorbo, viol, harpsichord and Baroque violins.

Frequent Mountainside Baroque soloist Beasley, who specializes in repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque, has been praised by the Dallas Morning News for her “effortless brilliance” and “beautifully expressive interpretation.” She has sung with such notable groups as Catherine Turocy’s New York Baroque Dance Company, Dallas Bach Society, American Baroque Opera Company and others. An accomplished stage director, Rebecca has directed many productions for American Baroque Opera Company. While performing throughout the country, she has also taught masterclasses in Baroque ornamentation, gesture, stagecraft, and vocal technique.

After years of working in New York City theater, soprano Tarde, a newcomer to Mountainside Baroque performances, has found a new a passion for early music that draws on her roots as a trained classical singer. Known for her sense of humor and outlandish onstage persona, she has sung everything from Candide’s Cunegonde to Almirena in Handel’s Rinaldo. Since moving to Texas from New York, Ms. Tarde has stage directed and performed frequently with several North Texas-based companies. Her outside-the-box direction and attention to historically informed stagecraft have helped make American Baroque Opera Company a press and media darling. Notable projects include her pastiche opera, La Pastorela, a zarzuela-style work featuring the works of early Latin American composers.

According to Mountainside Artistic Co-Director Lyle Nordstrom, “we’re delighted to welcome the addition of these two expressive/talented singers to this beautiful program.”

Consult the website at www.mountainsidebaroque.org/roma for additional performance details and updated program information, as well as an early look at a pdf of the printed program.