Music Before 1800

Join us 5/23 for Aya Hamada's program, "Portraits et Caractères: Couperin, Rameau, Duphly." The virtual program will be followed by a live Q&A on Zoom, and will remain available on demand until July 15.

Save the date for our 2021 SPRING VIRTUAL BENEFIT honoring Scott Metcalfe & Blue Heron (Vocal Ensemble). Tune in for music, tributes, quizzes, auction, and more! Live on Zoom Wednesday, June 2, 2021, 6 p.m. ET

Aya Hamada - Portraits et Caractères: Couperin, Rameau, Duphly Sunday, May 23, 2021, 4 p.m. ET Online... Acrobatic finesse describes Aya Hamada’s performances, whether in solo, concerto, or chamber pieces. She has assembled works by the great keyboard masters d’Agincourt, Couperin, Rameau, Duphly, and Forqueray. The music conjures up an evening worthy of an 18th-century Parisian salon: effervescent portraits and character pieces, flights of fancy that bring to mind traits of the dedicatee, usually a patron or colleague of the composer. Tenderness and virtuosity are presented here in equal measure Aya Hamada’s playing is not only technically immaculate, but musically very stimulating indeed. You can hear Hamada’s touch with those ‘exquisite ornamentations,’ also creating a magically mythical atmospheric aura of sound.MusicWeb International Estimated run time: 60 minutes. The virtual program will be followed by a live Q&A on Zoom, and will remain available on demand until July 15. Tickets & more information: https://bit.ly/3vES6PI

We wrap up Ars Lyrica Houston's European Grand Tour playlist highlights with J.S. Bach's Gesegnete Christen duet from Erwünschtes Freudenlicht. "For our 2020 holiday program titled Comfort & Joy, we found a repertoire that was perfectly suited to the voices of Cecilia Duarte and Camille Ortiz. The festive program included seasonal favorites alongside seldom-heard gems of the Baroque era, all with abundant vocal and instrumental display. The Gesegnete Christen duet, written in the spirit of a rustic dance, was a stunning cap to our final concert of 2020."

Listen to another highlight from Ars Lyrica Houston's European Grand Tour playlist: Bel piacere from Handel's Agrippina. "An instant sensation at its premiere in Venice in 1709, Agrippina established the young Handel’s reputation as a theatrical genius. Its tuneful score, abundant humor, and classic Roman intrigue make for a delightful evening at the opera. This famous aria and recitative features countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and soprano Camille Ortiz. Our production of Agrippina was Camille’s Ars Lyrica debút, and we fell in love with her supple voice and effervescent personality. Ever since her fabulous performance in Agrippina, we’ve been looking for ways to bring her back, and this season, we were able to."

Join us March 7 at 4pm for Tina Chancey's "Machaut Meets Fairbanks: Making Early Music Scores for Silent Films." Tina explains how she chooses the music, tailors it to the film, and how the group improvises and coordinates film and music in performance.

Last month we shared our first Artist Curated YouTube Playlist, Martin Bernstein's "La Famille Couperin..." Take a listen!

Tina Chancey - Machaut Meets Fairbanks: Making Early Music Scores for Silent Films Sunday, March 7, 2021, 4 p.m. Online Event ... Hesperus’s first live score to Robin Hood debuted in 2003 followed by The Mark of Zorro and three other similarly accompanied films. The current project, Nosferatu, mixes German medieval and renaissance music, Balkan flutes and Romani fiddling, and electronic sounds. Tina Chancey explains how she chooses the music, tailors it to the film, and how the group improvises and coordinates film and music in performance. Estimated run time: 30 minutes, followed by a Q&A. Please RSVP by March 7 at noon. Capacity is limited. A ZOOM invitation will be sent to those who complete and submit the form. RSVP: https://bit.ly/3s2EhZT

Join us on Valentine’s Day for a special event around love for early music! RSVP closes on February 14 at noon EST. Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far. We will send the ZOOM invitation via email prior to the event.

Thanks to Diderot String Quartet for putting together such a wonderful Hayden playlist for our YouTube channel. We wrap up our playlist highlights with "In braccio a mille furie" from "Semiramide riconosciuta" by Nicola Porpora. "During his early freelance days in Vienna, one of Haydn's side hustles was as an attendant to the famous Nicola Porpora. Haydn later remarked that he owed his understanding of "the true fundamentals of composition" to Porpora."