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CELEBRATION:THE FIRST ROCHESTER EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL |
Air de Cour
Founded in Rochester in 1994 by Bonnie Choi, Air de Cour specializes in the performance of music from the 17th and 18th centuries, and occasionally programs 20th-century music. The ensemble has expanded in accordance with need and now has twelve permanent members -- each a distinguished soloist, chamber musician, or both, having toured nationally and in some cases, internationally as well. The ensemble's name is taken from a French secular vocal music form that was very popular in the last quarter of the 16th and the first half of the 17th centuries; the name literally means "court air." Air de Cour is currently funded by the New York State Council of the Arts. The ensemble has performed at "Live from Hochstein," Syracuse University, Utica College, Nazareth College, Keuka College, Saint Anne Church of Rochester and the Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester. Director Bonnie Choi is the winner of numerous honors and prizes, including competitions in Brugge, Belgium and the National Association of Young Performers Competition. She concertizes widely in North America and Asia, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and Vietnam, and currently teaches harpsichord and piano at Nazareth College and Syracuse University.Cantar e Sonar
Deborah Fox and Colleen Liggett formed Cantar e Sonar in 1984 to explore the wide variety of music for voice and lute. The name Cantar e Sonar means to sing and to play; sonar literally means to sound, as in sounding the strings of the lute. They have performed on the Genesee Early Music Series, Live from Hochstein, and in many churches and galleries. They perform both as a duo and in collaboration with many other artists, in thematic programs of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. Deborah Fox, theorbo, performs music from the 14th to the 18th centuries on many types of lutes. She performs widely as both soloist and continuo player, with special interest in chamber music and baroque opera. This past summer she was a resident musician at the Carmel Bach Festival in California. She has performed with New York Collegium, Concert Royal, the Orquestra Barroca Catalana (Spain), Music of the Baroque (Chicago) and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She has also played with Oriana: Music for Viols; NYS Baroque and The Publick Musick; and Artek Ensemble. Colleen Liggett, soprano, performs a wide variety of music. She sings early repertoires with Cantar e Sonar and directs Musica Transatlantica, a vocal trio, and Schola Feminarum, a women's chant ensemble. She also presents song recitals with pianist Caroline Norwood and sings and plays traditional American and International folk music with Mitzie Collins; she is active in the revival of the Shaker spiritual. She cantors at Saint Anne Church and, having taught at the Hochstein Music School for 16 years, continues to teach singing and coach vocal and instrumental early music ensembles in her private studio.Eastman Collegium Musicuum
Eastman's Collegium Musicum is a virtuoso ensemble for the performance of music composed before 1700. Based at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, the group is directed by Paul O'Dette, Associate Professor of Conducting and Ensembles, and Christel Thielmann, Assistant Professor of Conducting and Ensembles. Recent performances include Purcell's King Arthur and Faerie Queen and Luigi Rossi's Orfeo.Thomas Folan
Thomas Folan is known to Rochester audiences as musical director of the Rochester Bach Festival and The Publick Musick. He holds degrees in German Studies and Music History from Oberlin College and Conservatory as well as a Masters in Choral Conducting from Ithaca College. He is currently completing a Doctorate in Conducting at the Eastman School of Music. He has served on the faculties of Ithaca College, Skidmore College, Cornell University and the University of Rochester. In addition to his duties as a freelance conductor, he is the President and CEO of Sonabilis, a recording company which is located in the Lennox Technology Center in Henrietta. He also serves as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts.The Genesee Consort
The Genesee Early Music Society (GEMS) will be represented by one of its performing components, the Genesee Consort. The Consort is comprised of Helen Valenza, baroque flute, Boel Gidholm, baroque violin, Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello, and James E. Bobb, harpsichord. Founded in 1985, GEMS fosters interest in and support for early music, from Medieval to early Romantic periods. Its musicians use authentic instruments and adhere to historically correct performing practices. GEMS also provides performing opportunities for aspiring early music professionals. James Bobb is GEMS' Artistic Director, and Charles Valenza is its President.Patrick Macey
Patrick Macey, Professor of Musicology and currently Acting Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the Eastman School of Music, is a specialist in Renaissance music, in particular the music of Josquin des Prez. At Eastman since 1985, he spent a year in Florence at the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in 1987-88, where he carried out research on the religious and political functions of music during the time of Lorenzo de' Medici and Girolamo Savonarola. His book, Bonfire Songs: Savonarola's Musical Legacy (Oxford, 1998), was recently awarded the Gordan Prize by the Renaissance Society of America. The book comes with a compact disk that includes Florentine carnival songs, Italian laudas, and Latin motets performed by the Eastman Capella Antiqua, which Macey directs.Musica Spei
Musica Spei (Music of Hope) was formed in the summer of 1995 to explore the vast but largely unperformed repertoire of sacred, unaccompanied choral masterworks of the 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries. Nonsectarian and comprised of non-professional Rochester singers, Musica Spei performs without a conductor and gives several concerts each season at various locations in the Greater Rochester, Buffalo and Canandaigua communities. For the last 7 years, Musica Spei has sponsored Renaissance Summer Sings at Saint Anne Church for the community. Musica Spei's repertoire spans five centuries of music from Gregorian chant and medieval music to the complex polyphony of the early 17th century. Musica Spei is a member of the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium and has received generous support of the parish community of Saint Anne Church.Musica Transatlantica
Colleen Liggett created Musica Transatlantica in the 1980s to fulfill her love of singing Medieval and Renaissance vocal music. Since then, music historians have come to accept the idea of all-vocal performances of fifteenth-century songs as the norm. Musica Transatlantica brings medieval vocal music to life. Like Liggett, tenors Jeff Harp and Eric Lobenstine have sung choral music since they were young, have often been chosen for solos and small ensembles, and have a mutual love of earlier repertories. Harp and Liggett have been singing together for over a decade and Harp has been a member of Musica Transatlantica since its creation; Lobenstine joined the ensemble in 1997.Pegasus
Pegasus, formed in 2001, combines the virtuosity, experience, and scholarship of five seasoned musicians. We make music in the baroque way: with dynamic flair, stylish improvisation and a confident sense of ensemble. The combination of baroque strings, complemented by various members of the lute family (such as theorbo and archlute) and baroque guitar, gives us our unique sound and expressive flexibility. We take as inspiration for our name the wise and magic winged horse from Greek mythology, from whose hoofprint flowed the spring held sacred by the Muses. Our members have studied and performed all over the globe, as soloists and members of ensembles such as Fiori Musicali-Barockorchester Bremen, The Harp Consort, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Concert Royal, The Carmel Bach Festival, the New York Collegium, Tragicommedia, and Sequentia. We met while performing with Rochester's Publick Musick. Our official full-length concert debut is planned for Spring 2002 in Rochester and throughout New York State.The Publick Musick
The Publick Musick was formed in 1995 by directors Steven Zohn and Thomas Folan to perform music of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries in an historically-aware manner, using period instruments and performing techniques. Deriving its name from The Private Musick, the ensemble of instrumentalists and vocalists employed by King James II of England during the late seventeenth century, The Publick Musick appears as an orchestra, professional chorus, and chamber ensemble. The ensemble's members are also noted soloists and have performed and recorded with many leading North American and European early music ensembles. The Publick Musick's appearances at festivals, concert series, and museums across the Northeastern United States reflect the ensemble members' interest in interdisciplinary and collaborative projects. In recent years, the ensemble performed as part of the Brooklyn Museum's "Music of the Mexican Baroque" exhibit, at the 1997 Boston Early Music Festival on WGBH radio's live "Classical Performances" program, and as the featured ensemble at Cornell University's 1998 C.P.E. Bach Conference. The Publick Musick presents a concert series in Rochester, New York, where it has also collaborated with the Rochester Bach Festival on performances of Bach's St. John Passion, Mass in B minor, and Lutheran masses. Recent programs have included Christmas music from Monteverdi's Venice, orchestral masterpieces from the Dresden court, domestic music from Handel's London, and symphonies and concertos by Mozart and Haydn.The Rochester Bach Festival
Since 1956, the annual Rochester Bach Festival has enriched our community's cultural scene with fine performances of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his Baroque contemporaries. Founded by its long-term conductor Theodore Hollenbach, and continuing under the baton of Thomas Folan, the festival has presented all of the major works of J.S. Bach and many of his cantatas, motets, and orchestral pieces. Added to these have been compositions by Handel, Schütz, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach's own talented sons and many other Baroque masters. Throughout its history, the festival has endeavored to provide audiences with definitive professional-level performances of both familiar and less well-known works of the Baroque period. Anchoring the festival is a chorus of highly-trained amateur singers from many walks of life who are united in their love of great music and the dedication to achieving excellence in their interpretation of it.Schola Feminarum
Schola Feminarum is an ensemble of women who sing chant from the Liber Usualis, a compilation of liturgical chant used in the church for 1000 years. Colleen Liggett, director, created this ensemble in 1999 as a community of women from a cross section of society. Their debut took place on the Feast of Assumption 2000 during a Mass at St. Anne Church. Membership is open to all women who wish to sing chant. In her many years of performing, Ms Liggett has observed chant's pervasive influence on Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. She has studied chant on her own and with Father Gerard Farrell at Westminster Choir College. Schola Feminarum offers the community an opportunity to become familiar with one of the oldest musical traditions.Schola Cantorum of Christ Church
Founded by Director Stephen Kennedy in 1998 for the purpose of performing the weekly Office of Compline at Christ Church, Rochester. The Schola Cantorum specializes in the performance of Gregorian Chant and early music. The group is comprised of local musicians, including students and faculty from the Eastman School. Compline is sung by the Schola Cantorum at Christ Church Sunday evenings from October through April at 9:00 p.m.SONUM
SONUM (Latin for "sound") is one of the area's most vibrant musical ensembles, and devotes its efforts to creating "sound" for the modern age through the performance of original compositions, and by fusing ancient and contemporary music within a web of improvisation. Inspired by the "spirit" of ancient music, SONUM aspires to enter new musical territory with its original forms of vocal and instrumental improvisation. SONUM, based at Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary, is directed by Stephen Kennedy. For any Comments or Problems regarding the web site,
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