Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 8 pm

    Watson Chamber Music Hall

    University of North Carolina School of the Arts

    (1533 S. Main St, Winston-Salem, NC)

 

   Featuring John Gibbons, harpsichord; Lily Francis,  

   Ida Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Arnaud Sussmann, 

   violins; Beth Guterman, Paul Neubauer, violas; 

   Priscilla Lee, Fred Sherry, cellos; Kurt Muroki double
   bass; Tara Helen O’Connor, Carol Wincenc, flutes

 

   “A crackling force field permeated Alice Tully Hall… 

   thickening throughout the evening so that by the 

   end, you could almost feel your skin tingling.” – 

   Newsday, New York, NY 

Photo by Tristan Cook.  High resolution photos available upon request

 

“The Chamber Music Society … reminded us of why the ensemble is considered a jewel in this nation’s musical crown.” -Lawrence Journal-World, Lawrence, KS

 

Program: Handel: Concerto in B-flat major for Harpsichord and Ensemble, Op. 4, No. 6 (1738); Corelli: Concerto Grosso in G minor for Two Violins, Cello, Strings, and Continuo, Op. 6, No. 8, "Christmas Concerto" (published 1714); Vivaldi: Concerto in D major for Flute, Strings, and Continuo, RV 428, "The Goldfinch" (c. 1728); Vivaldi: Concerto in B minor for Four Violins, Strings, and Continuo, Op. 3, No. 10, R. 580 (published 1712); J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 (1720); J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049 (1720)

 

Tickets: $12 | $10 Students and Seniors

Available at: 336.721.1945 and www.uncarts.edu 
 

 

At 8 pm on Sunday, December 7, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) will present The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) in a concert entitled Baroque Inspirations at Watson Chamber Music Hall on the campus at 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem, NC. The program brings selections from CMS’s annual Baroque Festival in New York to Winston-Salem, and showcases the ornate ornamentation, contrapuntal complexity, and dazzling virtuosity of the music of Handel, Corelli, Vivaldi, and Bach. From Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto,” to Vivaldi’s imitation of birdcalls in “The Goldfinch,” to Bach’s seminal masterworks, Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4 and 5, this is a program of Baroque gems not to be missed. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s annual performance of the Brandenburg Concertos in New York sells out each year, and has become a treasured holiday tradition.

 

CMS’s twelve acclaimed performers for this concert are harpsichordist John Gibbons; violinists Lily Francis, Ida Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, and Arnaud Sussmann; violists Beth Guterman and Paul Neubauer; cellists Priscilla Lee and Fred Sherry; double bassist Kurt Muroki; and flutists Tara Helen O’Connor and Carol Wincenc. Although he is not performing during this tour, flutist Ransom Wilson has been a member of the Chamber Music Society since 1991, and was recently named the director of the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra and an artist teacher of conducting in the School of Music. He is also an alumnus of the School.

 

This performance is part of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 2008-2009 season tour, which features four different concert programs and stops in cities including Davis and San Francisco, California; Middletown, Connecticut; Sarasota, Florida; Manhattan and Salina, Kansas; Kansas City and Poplar Bluff, Missouri; Edmund, Oklahoma; Easton and University Park, Pennsylvania; Crossville and Huntingdon, Tennessee; Houston, Georgetown and Temple, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Montréal, Canada.

 

At UNCSA, Baroque Inspirations begins with George Frideric Handel’s Concerto in B-flat major for Harpsichord and Ensemble, Op. 4, No. 6. Published in 1738, the piece is an essay in light and shade, with the delicate luminosity of the opening movement created by delightful flute and string pizzicato textures, a continuously high keyboard register, and sparse but elegant counterpoint. Next on the program is Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G minor for Two Violins, Cello, Strings, and Continuo, Op. 6, No. 8, published in 1714. Nicknamed the “Christmas Concerto,” it concludes with a Pastorale featuring gentle, swaying rhythms and a sweet melody that recall the shepherds who entered the Italian cities at Christmastime to play rustic pipes before manger scenes set up at churches and other public places.

 

The first half of the concert concludes with two pieces by Antonio Vivaldi – Concerto in D major for Flute, Strings, and Continuo, RV 428, "The Goldfinch," and Concerto in B minor for Four Violins, Strings, and Continuo, Op. 3, No. 10, R. 580.  “The Goldfinch,” composed around 1728, is influenced by the 18^th century’s admiration for idealized nature, exemplified in the formal gardens of Hampton Court and Versailles. In it, the solo flute imitates (or satirizes) a canary’s birdsong. The Concerto in B minor for Four Violins is one of Vivaldi’s most elaborate contrapuntal creations. In addition to the four named solo parts, there are also occasional obbligato lines for two violas and for cello, producing a full seven-voice texture in some sections of the piece.

 

After intermission, the Chamber Music Society musicians will perform J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 and his Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049.  Johann Sebastian Bach met Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, in 1719, during Bach’s tenure as music director at the court of Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. Ludwig was so taken with Bach’s music that he asked him to send some of his compositions for his library. However, Bach lost an infant son a few months later, and in 1720 his wife died, so it was more than two years before he fulfilled Ludwig’s request. In 1721, in the hopes of gaining employment with the Margrave, Bach picked six of the finest concertos he had written at Cöthen and sent them to him with a flowery dedication in French – but to no avail. No job materialized at Brandenburg, and in 1723, Bach moved to Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, where he remained for the rest of his life. It is possible that the Margrave of Brandenburg never heard any of the magnificent works that immortalized his name. The Concertos apparently lay untouched in his library until he died thirteen years after Bach had presented them to him, when they were inventoried at a value of four groschen each – only a few cents. Fortunately the music was preserved by one of Bach’s students, and came eventually into the collection of the Royal Library in Berlin. The concertos were brought to light during the 19th-century Bach revival, published in 1850, and have since come to be recognized as the supreme examples of Baroque instrumental music.

 

Artists’ bios can be found online at www.ChamberMusicSociety.org in the “Press and Touring” section.

 

About The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS), founded in 1969, is one of twelve constituents of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the largest performing arts complex in the world. Along with other constituents such as the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center Theater, and The Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Music Society has its home at Lincoln Center, in Alice Tully Hall. Through its performance, education, and recording/broadcast activities, CMS draws more people to chamber music than any other organization of its kind.

 

CMS presents annual series of concerts and educational events for listeners ranging from connoisseurs to chamber music newcomers of all ages. Performing repertoire from over three centuries, and numerous premieres by living composers, CMS offers programs curated to provide listeners a comprehensive perspective on the art of chamber music. The performing artists of the Chamber Music Society, a multi-generational selection of expert chamber musicians, constitute an evolving repertory company capable of presenting chamber music of every instrumentation, style, and historical period. Its annual activities include a full season of concerts, national and international tours, nationally televised broadcasts on Live From Lincoln Center, a radio show broadcast nationwide, and regular appearances on American Public Media’s Performance Today.

 

The Chamber Music Society recently launched its first ever in-house recording label, CMS Studio Recordings. Its mission is to capture selected CMS performances under optimal recording conditions using the latest audiophile technology, offering recordings of the highest possible quality. In the short time the label has been in existence, it has released three titles to critical acclaim. CMS also has recordings on the Deutsche Grammophon, SONY Classical, Telarc, Musical Heritage Society, MusicMasters, Omega Record Classics, Arabesque, and Delos labels.

 

In 2004, CMS appointed cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han artistic directors. They succeed founding director Charles Wadsworth (1969-89), Fred Sherry (1989-93), and David Shifrin (1993-2004).

 

Visit the Chamber Music Society online at www.ChamberMusicSociety.org.

 

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