Elizabeth
Blumenstock
YuEun
Kim
Hélène
Brunet
The Early Baroque era of Italian music brought a zenith of dramatic and technical display in the hands of new generations of virtuoso singers and instrumentalists. Composers and performers united in their course of revealing new depths of expression, color, and theatrical effects through music that is immediately gripping and captivating. An ensemble of evocative ABS artists bring this passionate music to light in this program featuring vocal and violinistic fireworks.
Claudio Monteverdi: Magnificat à 6 & Beatus vir (Primo)
Giovanni Gabrieli: Sonata XXI con tre violini
Giovanni Battista Fontana: Sonata XVI à tre violini
Biagio Marini: Sonata in Ecco con tre violini from Opus 8
Claudio Monteverdi: Hor che’l ciel e la terra e ‘l vento tace
Claudio Monteverdi: Altri canti di Marte & Lamento della ninfa
Claudio Monteverdi: Si dolce e’l tormento & Zefiro torna
Elizabeth Blumenstock & YuEun Kim, violins
Hélène Brunet & Julie Bosworth, sopranos
Steven Brennfleck, Matthew Hill, & Jacob Perry Jr. (debut), tenors
Matt Boehler (debut), bass
Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
Friday January 29 2021 8:00 p.m.
St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere
Saturday January 30 2021 7:00 p.m.
First Congregational Church, Berkeley
Sunday January 31 2021 4:00 p.m.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Monday February 1 2021 7:00 p.m.
Davis Community Church, Davis
The main work on this program of soulful and moving compositions by three of the German Baroque’s most masterful composers is a setting of the Passion story in a truly hypnotic and almost trance-inducing version by Johann Theile. From its first movement to its last, Theile’s music mesmerizes the listener and holds that attention to the final note. ABS performed this unique composition once before, and it has been remembered by those who heard it with crystal-clear realism. Bach’s delicate and heavenly cantata for Palm Sunday is paired with an exquisite setting of the famous “Jesu, meine Freude” chorale composed by Bach's favorite composer, Dieterich Buxtehude.
Johann Theile: Saint Matthew Passion
Johann Sebastian Bach: Himmelskönig sei willkommen, BWV 182
Dieterich Buxtehude: Jesu meine Freude, BuxWV 60
Elijah McCormack (debut) & Nola Richardson, sopranos
Jay Carter, countertenor
Guy Cutting, tenor (Evangelist)
Curtis Streetman, bass
Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
Friday March 19 2021 8:00 p.m.
St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere
Saturday March 20 2021 7:00 p.m.
First Congregational Church, Berkeley
Sunday March 21 2021 4:00 p.m.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Monday March 22 2021 7:00 p.m.
Davis Community Church, Davis
The inaugural recipient in 2014 of the Jeffrey Thomas Award, British tenor Guy Cutting was praised by San Francisco Classical Voice for his most recent appearance with ABS in Bach's Saint Matthew Passion in March 2019: "the absolute gem of this performance ... Cutting’s subtle delivery and clear diction were a joy and a delight."
"Guy Cutting sang with remarkable vocal elasticity ... As Evangelist, Cutting’s performance was strong and sustained, and must be commended for his exceptional depth of feeling" (Bach St John Passion) – Seen and Heard International
The subscription season finale presents a first performance by ABS of Bach’s solo cantata “I am content in myself” which is a poignant moral commentary on humility and self-contentment in the face of economic inequities. Historians have uncovered no explanation for why or for what occasion Bach composed it, but its timeliness in being relevant to our own cultural and societal challenges is dramatically palpable. Paired with Bach’s work is a one-act allegorical chamber opera by Parisian composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, rarely performed but with a very familiar title, “Les arts florissants” or “The Flourishing Arts.” Like the Bach cantata on this program, its purpose and even the circumstances of its first performance are unknown, but over the course of five scenes characters representing Music, Poetry, Painting, and Architecture enter into a dispute between Peace and Discord. Jupiter intervenes, Discord is chased away, and Peace takes hold. ABS presents their premiere performances of this work.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Ich bin in mir vergnügt, BWV 204
Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Les arts florissants
Mary Wilson, soprano
Jesse Blumberg, baritone
Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
Friday April 23 2021 8:00 p.m.
St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere
Saturday April 24 2021 7:00 p.m.
First Congregational Church, Berkeley
Sunday April 25 2021 4:00 p.m.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
Monday April 26 2021 7:00 p.m.
Davis Community Church, Davis
P.O. Box 421986
San Francisco CA 94142
Email: info@americanbach.org
Tickets: +1 (800) 595-4849
Phone: +1 (415) 621 7900
Fax: +1 (415) 621 7920
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