Past concerts:

Concerto Grosso!

Friday April 12, 2024
7:30 pm

Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Avenue, Rochester

Saturday April 13, 2024
4:00 pm

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
21 Clara Barton St., Dansville

Violin: Patricia Ahern, Boel Gidholm, Anthony Marini, Molly McDonald, Mary Riccardi, Cynthia Roberts
Viola: James Marshall, Joshua Newburger
Cello: Christopher Haritatos, Beiliang Zhu
Violone: Michelle Wenderlich
Harpsichord: Dongsok Shin
Theorbo: Deborah Fox

We closed our season with the rich sound of the Publick Musick string orchestra in a virtuosic and varied program of concertos for strings. In this fun concert, everyone is a soloist!

PROGRAM

Concerto Grosso Op 6 No. 9 Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto RV 321 Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto Grosso HWV 322 George Frideric Handel
Concerto Op. 2 No. 11 Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco
Concerto RV 273 Vivaldi
Concerto Grosso Op. 7 No. 3 Pietro Antonio Locatelli

The Dansville concert was made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Rodney Hatch Family Fund at the Rochester Area Community Foundation

Echoes of the Renaissance

Thursday February 15, 2024
7:30 pm

Memorial Art Gallery Fountain Court
500 University Avenue, Rochester

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
James Marshall, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, organ
Deborah Fox, theorbo

The use of double choirs—two (or more) ensembles of instruments or voices trading musical material antiphonally—was popular in northern Italy in the late 1500s and early 1600s. In this program the Eastman School of Music’s magnificent Italian Baroque Organ was itself one of the choirs, juxtaposed with a string ensemble, letting the audience hear, separately and in combination, two very different yet complementary sonic expressions of Italian music around 1600. In addition to these rich sounds of the late Renaissance, the program also featured sonatas for strings and basso continuo by groundbreaking composers active around the same time, who created the music that ushered in a new era, the Baroque.

On the series of Third Thursday Concerts with Eastman’s Italian Baroque Organ

A Companionable Afternoon

Saturday October 7, 2023
4:00 pm

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
21 Clara Barton St., Dansville

Sunday October 8, 2023
2:00 pm

Episcopal Church of St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene
(Two Saints Church)
17 S. Fitzhugh St., Rochester

Jeffrey Thompson, tenor
Boel Gidholm & Mary Ricccardi, baroque violin
Beiliang Zhu, viola da gamba
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord

A cheerful celebration of music for violins and viola da gamba—two families of instruments that didn't always get to play together, but whom we heard companionably sharing the stage in this concert. We will perform music from Germany and France, neighbors sharing a border, if not a musical style. Tenor Jeffrey Thompson joined us for songs by Erlebach, a gorgeous cantata by Montéclair with viola da gamba solo, and a comic mini-opera by Grandval, allowing Jeffrey to portray 5 different characters within 15 minutes! 

Bach Cantatas!

Sunday August 6, 2023
7:00 pm

Christ Episcopal Church
141 East Avenue, Rochester

Laura Heimes, soprano
Nicholas Garza, countertenor
Caroline Giassi, baroque oboe
Michael Unger, organ
Boel Gidholm, Patricia Ahern, Lydia Becker, Mary Riccardi, Aika Ito, James Marshall, baroque violin
Alissa Smith, Joshua Newburger, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque violoncello
Beiliang Zhu, baroque violoncello and violoncello piccolo
Michelle Wenderlich, violone

We were thrilled to return to the beautiful and newly renovated sanctuary of Christ Church Rochester to perform a wonderful program of (mostly) Bach cantatas! There we had the privilege of performing with the glorious Craighead-Saunders organ, one of the few examples in the Western Hemisphere of a full-size organ in the style of 18th-century Germany. The organ was featured in Bach's cantata Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenslust (BWV 170), for alto solo, obbligato organ, oboe d'amore, and strings, for which we welcomed back Nicholas Garza as alto soloist. We also welcomed Rochester favorite Laura Heimes as the soprano soloist in Bach's dramatic cantata Mein Herze schwimmt in Blut (BWV 199), which also features expressive solos for the oboe. Rounding out the program was a cheerful duo cantata by Christoph Graupner, an extremely prolific contemporary of Bach's who turned down the job offer to be Thomaskantor in Leipzig before it was offered to Bach.

Program:

Allabreve in D major, BWV 589 Johann Sebastian Bach
Mein Herze Schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199 Johann Sebastian Bach
Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170 Johann Sebastian Bach
Weg, verdammtes Sündenleben! GWV 1147/20 Christoph Graupner

The Classical Clarinet

Friday April 28, 2023
7:00 pm

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
21 Clara Barton St., Dansville

Saturday April 29, 2023
7:30 pm

Episcopal Church of St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene
(Two Saints Church)
17 S. Fitzhugh St., Rochester

Sunday April 30, 2023
2:30 pm

Castile United Church of Christ
4 Washington St., Castile

Program:

Quartet in C Minor for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 4 Bernhard Henrik Crusell
String Quartet in C Major, Op. 1, No. 5 Joseph Martin Kraus
Quintet in A Major for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Dominic Giardino, clarinet
Cynthia Roberts, violin
Boel Gidholm, violin
Julie Andrijeski, viola
Christopher Haritatos, cello

Mozart's friendship with the clarinetist Anton Stadler led him to compose his beautiful Clarinet Quintet K. 581, one of the most beloved of Mozart's late chamber works, and the most mature of his chamber compositions for strings with a wind instrument. Also attracted by the lustrous blend of clarinet and strings was the Swedish-Finnish clarinetist and composer B. H. Crusell, whose clarinet quartets may have been inspired by Mozart's quintet. A highly original composer whose works were praised by Haydn, J. M. Kraus was a contemporary of Mozart who was active in Stockholm; his C major String Quartet is full of delightful wit and elegance.

What is the Classical clarinet? While most modern clarinets have 17 keys and are made from dense woods like grenadilla, classical clarinets are simple-system instruments with only 5 keys and are made from much lighter boxwood—similar to baroque oboes and flutes! Just like today, clarinets in the 18th century were tuned in a variety of keys (A, Bb, and C being the most common) to simplify playing in diverse tonalities. The instruments used on this program, classical clarinets in A and Bb, are representative of the clarinets that were played throughout Europe during the late 18th century through the first decade of the 19th century.

Publick Musick at the MAG

With Kiri Tollaksen, cornetto

January 19, 2023
7:30 pm

Memorial Art Gallery Fountain Court
500 University Avenue, Rochester, NY

Kiri Tollaksen, cornetto
Boel Gidholm & Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Ben David Aronson, sackbut
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, organ
Deborah Fox, theorbo

On the series of Third Thursday Concerts with Eastman’s Italian Baroque Organ

PROGRAM

Canzon a 5 Gioseppe Guami

La Luchesina Guami

Canzona Gallicam Samuel Scheidt

Sonata sopra Fuggi Dolente Core Biagio Marini

Sonata Decima terza, Book 2 Dario Castello

Sonata Prima a 3, Book 6 Giovanni Battista Buonamente

Ancor che col partire Giovanni Bassano

Capriccio sopra Roggiero Girolamo Frescobaldi

Canzon Quinta a 4, Book 1 Frescobaldi

Sonata 21 a 5, Book 6 Buonamente

Ach! Wie flüchtig

Saturday November 12, 2022
7:30 pm

Episcopal Church of St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene
(Two Saints Church)
17 S. Fitzhugh St., Rochester

Melanie Russell, soprano
Nicholas Garza, alto
Jeffrey Thompson, tenor
Jason Rober, bass
Boel Gidholm & Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Christel Thielmann & Beiliang Zhu, viola da gamba
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, organ
Deborah Fox, theorbo

This program showcased works by some of the greatest composers of 17th-century Germany. In Lübeck, the magnificent Marienkirche was the musical home of Franz Tunder and his successor Dietrich Buxtehude; we performed exquisite cantatas by both composers for solo voices with a richly scored string ensemble of violins, violas da gamba, and violone, as well as a lovely Buxtehude sonata for violin, viola da gamba, and continuo. A highlight of the program was two stunning four-voice cantatas of Nicholas Bruhns. Johann Pachelbel, the most familiar name on the program, was represented by a heartfelt musical tribute to his beloved father.

Viva Vivaldi!

Sunday October 2, 2022, 4:00 pm

Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Ave., Rochester, NY

Cynthia Roberts, Boel Gidholm, Mary Riccardi, Aika Ito, Molly McDonald, James Marshall, baroque violin
Theresa Salomon, Joshua Newburger, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Dara Bloom, violone
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord

There's so much more to Antonio Vivaldi than the Four Seasons! We hope you will join us for this sampling of a few of his short and sparkling concertos for string orchestra, as well as a concerto for four violins, cello, and strings from his immensely influential collection l'Estro Armonico. Opening our program will be a concerto grosso by Arcangelo Corelli, whose influence on later composers, including Vivaldi, can hardly be overestimated. Johann Georg Pisendel, a German virtuoso violinist, was a student and friend of Vivaldi and a dedicatee of several of his works. Telemann, although not known to have traveled to Italy, was well versed in the Vivaldian style, and wrote a number of pieces signed Signor Melante (his Italianate alter ego), such as the lovely concerto for strings on our program.

PROGRAM

Concerto grosso, Op. 6, #4 Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Madrigalesco, RV 129 Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto a 4, RV 157 Vivaldi
Concerto, Op. 12, #3 (RV 124) Vivaldi
Concerto, Op. 3, #7 Vivaldi
Sonata in C Minor Johann Georg Pisendel
Concerto a 4, TWV 43: a4 Georg Philipp Telemann
Concerto a 4, RV 114 Vivaldi

Bach Family Reunion

Friday April 1, 2022, 7:30 pm

Episcopal Church of St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene
(Two Saints Church)
17 S. Fitzhugh St., Rochester

Saturday April 2, 2022, 4:00 pm

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
21 Clara Barton St., Dansville

We were happy to welcome internationally renowned violinist Cynthia Roberts back to lead the Publick Musick chamber orchestra in a program of string symphonies and concerti by Johann Sebastian Bach and his sons Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian. Ms. Roberts and her student Lydia Becker also performed as soloists in Johann Sebastian's beloved Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor (the “Bach Double” concerto). Malcolm Matthews, a virtuoso on multiple keyboard instruments who was recently awarded the prestigious Artist's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, made his debut with Publick Musick as soloist in Johan Christian's keyboard concerto Op. 1, Nr. 4. This program, expanding Publick Musick into a chamber orchestra for the first time in over 10 years, brought into focus the contrast between the well-known high baroque music of J. S. Bach and the very different musical personalities of his four composer sons, from the intense moods of the string symphonies of Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel, to the breezily cheerful Galant music of Johann Christian.

This program was postponed from April 2020, and we think it was well worth the wait!

Performers

Cynthia Roberts, Lydia Becker, Aika Ito, Molly McDonald, and Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Boel Gidholm, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Sue Yelanjian, violone
Malcolm Matthews, lautenwerck

What is the lautenwerck?

The lautenwerck (or “lute-harpsichord”) is basically a harpsichord strung with gut, instead of metal strings, in order to imitate (somewhat) the sound of the lute. It was primarily cultivated in Germany during the lifetime of J. S. Bach, who in fact owned two such instruments, one of which he had built according to his own design. Though much less common than the normal wire-strung harpsichord, the lautenwerck would have been familiar to all in J. S. Bach’s family and musical circle. We are thrilled that Malcolm Matthews will be performing this concert with us on his lautenwerck, giving audiences the rare treat of hearing it as both a solo instrument in the J. C. Bach concerto, and as a part of the ensemble in the rest of the program!

The Dansville performance is supported in part by a generous grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation.

Magnificat!

Baroque Music for Advent and Christmas

Saturday December 4, 2021, 7:30 pm
Christ Episcopal Church, 141 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

Sunday December 5, 4:00 pm
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 21 Clara Barton Street, Dansville, NY

Shari Alise Wilson, soprano
Tracy Cowart, mezzo-soprano
Wei En Chan, countertenor
Jeffrey Thompson, tenor
Paul Max Tipton, bass-baritone
Boel Gidholm, Gesa Kordes, & Aika Ito, baroque violin and viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, organ
Deborah Fox, theorbo

A joyful program of rarely-heard gems for the holiday season, ranging from gorgeous vocal chamber music of Schein, Schütz, and Tarditi, to the high baroque Magnificat of Franceso Durante, in its original 5-voice version with strings. Also on the program was music for organ of Scheidt, and for strings of Schein, Torelli and Dall’Abaco.

These concerts were made possible in part by a Restart NY Live Performance Grant from the NY State Council on the Arts.

The Dansville performance was supported in part by a generous grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation.

Publick Musick at St. Mary’s

Friday November 5, 2021, 7:30 pm

St Mary’s Catholic Church
15 St. Mary’s Place, Rochester, NY 14607

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord
Deborah Fox, theorbo

This November, Publick Musick was featured on First Fridays at St. Mary’s, a monthly series of free 1-hour concerts in the beautiful historic sanctuary of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in downtown Rochester, across from Washington Square Park.

Program

Canzon à 2, Canto e Basso detta la Nicolina Girolamo Frescobaldi

Sonata Quarta à Violino Solo Giovanni Battista Fontana

Canzona per Basso solo detta l'Ambitiosa Frescobaldi

Sonata Ottava a 2, Libro Primo Dario Castello

Sonata for Violoncello, Op. 1, No. 1 Salvatore Lanzetti

Sonata a Violino solo, e Basso, Op. 1, No. 2 Francesco Maria Veracini

Pop-Up Cello-bration!

Friday October 1, 2021
5:30 pm
First Baptist Church of Penfield (parking lot)
1862 Penfield Rd.

Saturday October 2
5:30 pm
255 Sandringham Rd. (front yard)

Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Beiliang Zhu, baroque cello
Joëlla Becker, baroque cello
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin

Our final Pop-Up program of 2021 featured the baroque cello in music for two and three cellos, by composers who were famous 18th-century cello virtuosos. The program will also include an exquisite sonata by the famous and eccentric violinist Francesco Maria Veracini.

Our 2021 Pop-Up Concerts are supported in part by a generous grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation, and by a Restart NY Live Performance Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Sonatas and such

à 1, 2, 3, 4 Stromenti d’Arco & Altri

Wednesday Sept. 8, 2021, 6:30 pm
The Church on the Green (lawn)
1 N. Academy St., Wyoming, NY

Thursday Sept. 9, 6:30 pm
First Baptist Church of Penfield (indoors due to weather; masks required)
1862 Penfield Rd., Penfield, NY

Friday Sept. 10, 6:30 pm
Greece Baptist Church (parking lot)
1230 Long Pond Rd., Greece, NY

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin and viola
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Molly Werts McDonald, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord

Next in our series of 2021 outdoor Pop-Up concerts we are exploring the early development of repertoire for the violin family. In the 1600s the practice of publishing collections of chamber music for “1, 2, 3, 4, etc. instruments of various kinds” was common, giving modern day performers a rich and varied source of repertoire, most of which is rarely heard in concert. Within these collections we find some of the earliest published solo compositions specifically for the violin, composed by violin virtuosi such as Biagio Marini, Giovanni Battista Fontana, and Marco Uccellini. These solo sonatas are complemented by chamber works for 2, 3 or more instruments: sonatas, canzonas, arias, and many common dances of the time.

Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco

Sunday August 22, 2021, 7:00 pm
255 Sandringham Rd. (front yard)

Monday August 23, 7:00 pm
First Baptist Church of Penfield (parking lot)
1862 Penfield Rd.

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Elizabeth Sommers, baroque violin and viola
Ela Kodzas, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Deborah Fox, theorbo

PROGRAM

Concerto à 4 da Chiesa, Op. 2 No. 1

Sonata da Camera à 3, Op. 3 No. 11

Sonata da Camera a Violino é Violoncello, Op. 1 No. 4

Sonata da Camera à 3, Op. 3 No. 3

Concerto à 4 da Chiesa, Op. 2 No. 7

Next in our series of 2021 outdoor Pop-Up concerts is a program dedicated to one of our favorite composers, Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco (1675-1742), an unjustly neglected master of the Italian Baroque. His finely crafted Op. 1 and Op. 4 duos are a delight to play and to listen to, and in this program you’ll also be able to enjoy highlights from his beautiful Op. 2 chamber concertos and Op. 3 trio sonatas!

Spring Quartets

June 23, 2021, 7:30 pm
First Baptist Church of Penfield (parking lot)
1862 Penfield Rd.

Lydia Becker and Aika Ito, baroque violin
Boel Gidholm, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello

PROGRAM

String quartet in Bb Major, Op. 1 No. 5 Karl von Ordonez

String quartet in C Minor, Op. 1 No. 1 Luigi Boccherini

String quartet in C Major, VB 186 Joseph Martin Kraus

We opened our series of 2021 outdoor Pop-Up concerts with a program of delightful and rarely performed string quartets from the second half of the 18th century (written and/or published between 1761 and 1782), when the string quartet as we know it was just beginning to gain popularity. Ordonez, in Vienna, and Kraus, in Stockholm, both took inspiration from Joseph Haydn’s groundbreaking quartet publications (Kraus in particular honed in on the humorous aspect), while Boccherini was already developing his distinctive compositional voice in his first publication of chamber music.

Our 2021 Pop-Up Concerts are supported in part by a generous grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation.

Autumnal Pop-Up

Friday Oct. 23, 2020, 3:00 pm & 5:00 pm

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Deborah Fox, theorbo and baroque guitar

Another concert in our series of 2020 pandemic pop-ups! This short (about an hour) outdoor program included music of Fontana, Castello, Kapsberger, Dall’Abaco, Cattaneo, and Jacquet de la Guerre.

Quarantine Quadros

Saturday Sept. 5, 2020, 6:00 pm
Sunday Sept. 6, 2020, 6:00 pm

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Aika Ito and Lydia Becker, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello

This short outdoor program included music of 17th-century composers Johann Staden, Carlo Farina, Johann Schmelzer, and Heinrich Biber. Their music brings out the juicy inner-voice richness that only comes with multiple violas. This type of ensemble was popular in central Europe in the 1600s, and for good reason!

Quarantrios

Wednesday Aug. 19, 2020, 6:00 pm
Thursday Aug 20, 2020, 6:00 pm

Boel Gidholm and Mary Riccardi, baroque violins
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello

This short (about an hour) outdoor program included music of Johann Stadlmayr, Johann Staden, Giovanni Battista Buonamente, Arcangelo Corelli and Gaetano Franceschini.

Publick Musick at the MAG

Thursday Feb. 20, 2020, 7:30 pm
Memorial Art Gallery Fountain Court
500 University Avenue, Rochester

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Ben David Aronson, sackbut
Naomi Gregory, organ

Our 8th annual concert with Eastman's Italian Baroque Organ! Join us in the beautiful Fountain Court for a program of early 17th-century chamber music for violin, sackbut, cello, and organ.

Dido in France and Italy

Sunday Oct. 27, 2019, 3:00 pm
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Avenue, Rochester

Madeline Healey, soprano
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord
Deborah Fox, theorbo

Virgil's tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas inspired many baroque artists, writers, and composers. In this program we will perform two canatas for soprano and strings by Montéclair and Pasquini, showcasing the French and Italian musical styles of this era. Although the musical language differs, the story line is the same: Dido, the queen of Carthage, has just been abandoned by her lover Aeneas, hero of the Trojan war, and, in the throes of despair, she sings heart-rending dramatic monologues full of passion and pathos, from the top of her own funeral pyre.

The tragic subject of these vocal pieces will be balanced by lighter instrumental fare, including a delightfully inventive trio sonata by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre; a quirky and wonderful cello sonata by Francesco Geminiani; a selection from François Couperin's Apothéose de Lulli (where Lully and Corelli meet in the glorious hereafter and play together in harmony, gently blending French and Italian musical elements) and a trio by the famous Arcangelo Corelli, who served as an inspiration to them all.

De profundis

Thursday April 18, 2019, 7:30 pm
Memorial Art Gallery Fountain Court
500 University Avenue, Rochester, NY

Mischa Bouvier, baritone
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, organ
Deborah Fox, theorbo

Music of Bruhns, Schein, Schütz, Reincken, and more.

This performance was a part of the Third Thursday Concert Series at the Memorial Art Gallery.  

Neapolitan Delights

Thursday March 28, 2019, 7:30 pm
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 21 Clara Barton St., Dansville
Presented in partnership with St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dansville

Friday March 29, 2019, 7:30 pm
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 28 Lincoln St., Pittsford

Saturday March 30, 7:30 pm
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, 597 East Ave., Rochester

Sunday March 31, 2:00 pm
Trinity Episcopal Church, 62 Buffalo St., Warsaw
Presented in partnership with the Arts Council for Wyoming County.

Yetzabel Arias Fernández, soprano
Eloy Cortinez, recorder
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Leon Schelhase, harpsichord

"Neapolitan Delights" was supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.  To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

Cello-bration!

Beiliang Zhu, baroque cello
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord

Baroque cello sensation Beiliang Zhu joins Publick Musick Co-Director Christopher Haritatos in a concert showcasing the richness and variety of the cello repertoire in the 17th and 18th centuries. The program will include two canzonas by Frescobaldi, a sonata and a canon for two cellos by the 17th-century cellist Domenico Gabrielli, a duet by the French cellist Jean-Baptiste Masse, sonatas by Geminiani and Antoniotti, and a lighthearted trio by the late 18th-century cellist Jean-Baptiste Bréval.

Friday October 12, 2018, 7:30 pm
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
28 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsford, NY

Saturday October 13, 2018, 7:30 pm
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 

Bach Cantatas in Christ Church

Wednesday August 15, 2018, 7:30 pm
Christ Episcopal Church
141 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

PROGRAM
Bach: Cantata 54, Widerstehe doch der Sünde
Telemann: Trio sonata for oboe, viola, and basso continuo, TWV 42: c5
Telemann: Concerto for three oboes and three violins, TWV 44:43
Kuhnau: Toccata in A
Bach: Cantata 35, Geist und Seele wird verwirret

Clifton Massey, countertenor
Michael Unger, organ
Caroline Giassi, baroque oboe
Priscilla Herreid, baroque oboe
Fiona Last, baroque oboe
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin and viola
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Molly Werts McDonald, baroque violin
Daniel Elyar, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Joëlle Morton, violone

Returning to the beautiful sanctuary of Christ Church Rochester, Publick Musick will perform the magnificent cantata "Geist und Seele sind verwirret" (BWV 35) by J. S. Bach, featuring countertenor Clifton Massey as the soloist. This two-part cantata for alto, obbligato organ, oboes, and strings incorporates music drawn from an earlier (lost) concerto, including two large-scale instrumental sinfonias. The virtuosic organ solos will be performed by internationally renowned organist Michael Unger. 

Also on the program is the beautiful cantata "Widerstehe doch der Sünde" (BWV 54) for alto and strings, and the joyous concerto TWV 44:43 for three oboes and three violins by G. P. Telemann.

This concert will take place in Christ Church Rochester in order to incorporate the glorious sounds of the Craighead-Saunders organ, an exact copy of a Bach-era instrument. The concert will be a rare opportunity to hear Bach's sacred works performed with a full-size baroque organ alongside strings and oboes of the era.

Mozart String Quintets

Publick Musick performs two of Mozart's greatest masterpieces for chamber ensemble, the Quintet in C Major K. 515, and the Quintet in Eb Major K. 614.

Theresa Salomon, violin
Boel Gidholm, violin
Daniel Elyar, viola
Alissa Smith, viola
Christopher Haritatos, cello

Thursday April 26, 7:00pm
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
21 Clara Barton St.
Dansville, NY
Presented in partnership with St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Dansville. 

Friday April 27, 2018, 7:30 pm
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

Saturday April 28, 2018, 7:30 pm
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
28 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsford, NY

Sunday April 29, 2:00pm
First Presbyterian Church
5 North Academy St.
Wyoming, NY
Presented in partnership with the Arts Council for Wyoming County.

These concerts were supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.  To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

Though not as common as the string quartet, the string quintet did see a burst of popularity in 1780s Vienna.  By the time Mozart wrote his C Major string quintet K. 515 in 1787, at least 50 quintets by other composers had been composed, published, or circulated in Vienna since Mozart's arrival in 1781.  Why Mozart turned to this genre at this time is not known; no patron commissioned the works, and they do not seem to have been composed for a particular performance.  It is possible that Mozart, having finished his "Haydn" quartets in 1785 after "long and laborious toil," as he himself reported, wished to explore the possibilities of a 5-voice texture.  That he chose an ensemble with 2 violas is not surprising, since this had been standard among Viennese string quintets since about 1785. Also, the viola was Mozart's favorite string instrument to play himself.  It is not hard to imagine that these quintets were for Mozart a vehicle for compositional exploration and for personal expression in an almost Romantic sense. In any case, Mozart shows himself to be an absolute master of the genre.  Whether composing an operatic duet between first violin and first viola, a contrast of trios between the upper three and lower three voices, or 5-part counterpoint, he set a standard for the string quintet that has never been surpassed.

Scordatura Violin

Boel Gidholm and Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Michael Unger, organ
Deborah Fox, theorbo

"Scordatura" (literally "mis-tuned" or "de-tuned") refers to any tuning of a stringed instrument other than the normal or established one. This practice was not uncommonly used in the baroque era, especially in violin music, for special acoustic effects, to give the instrument more resonance in a particular key, and sometimes in order to allow the performance of chords that would otherwise be unplayable. (In classical music it is today no longer in common use, but it remains in some folk music traditions.) This practice flourished especially in the southern German and Austrian lands in the 17th century, and its foremost exponent was H. I. F. Biber (1644-1704).

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern began life as Heinrich Biber; he added the middle names as a tribute to two of the founders of the Jesuit order, Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, and the "von Bibern" when in 1690 he was knighted for his artistry by Emperor Leopold I of Austria. At that time he was Kapellmeister at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, where he had 75 - 80 singers and instrumentalists to work with, and was writing large-scale sacred works such as the famous 53-voice Missa Salisburgensis. His rise to fame began as a violinist in Kroměříž (in Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic), and he is considered to have been the greatest violin virtuoso of the 17th century. He is perhaps best known for a collection of extraordinary violin sonatas known today as the Mystery (or Rosary) Sonatas, where the strings of the violin need to be tuned differently for each piece. In our program Scordatura Violin we will perform two of these sonatas (one of which requires the two middle strings of the violin to be crossed behind the bridge and the nut, resulting in the tuning g-g'-d'-d"), accompanied by the glorious Italian Baroque organ in the Fountain Court of the MAG.

Also on the program will be a sonata by Biber for two scordatura violins; music by Viennese composer Johann Schmelzer (ca. 1620-1680), one of the finest violinists of the generation before Biber; and a scordatura violin sonata by Johann Erasmus Kindermann (1618-1655), a well-respected organist, violinist and composer from Nürnberg. Special guest organist Michael Unger,  Assistant Professor of Organ and Harpsichord at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, will perform two solo organ works of Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667)

Thursday March 15, 2018, 7:30 pm
Memorial Art Gallery Fountain Court
500 University Avenue, Rochester, NY

Rejoice!

Italian baroque music for Advent and Christmas

Ekaterina Gorlova, soprano
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Aika Ito, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord
Deborah Fox, theorbo

Friday December 8, 2017, 7:30 pm
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

Saturday December 9, 7:30 pm
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
28 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsford, NY

Italian music and musicians dominated European musical life in the 17th and 18th centuries, but many of the leading Italian composers of vocal music had very few works published. Countless treasures have remained only in manuscript until recently, and are now beginning to be made available to the public. In our concert "Rejoice!" we will feature music for Christmas by some of the foremost Italian composers of the Baroque, whose music deserves to be heard anew today.

Bernardo Pasquini was the leading composer of opera in Rome in the 1680s, and our program will include the Rochester premiere of his Christmas cantata S'apriro i cieli for soprano and strings, performed by soprano Ekaterina Gorlova, making her debut with Publick Musick. Pasquini's younger colleague Alessandro Scarlatti is well known for his brilliant and very virtuosic vocal music, and will be featured on our program with the beautiful Cantata pastorale per la nascità di Nostro Signore. Also on the program is Tarquinio Merula's Canzonetta Spirituale sopra alla nanna, one of the most extraordinary and beautiful songs of the early 17th century, a surprisingly dark lullaby sung by Mary to her newborn child.

The program will also include instrumental music by Arcangelo Corelli and other illustrious composers of the Italian Baroque.

To read a review of this performance in the Rochester City Newspaper, click here.

Paris Salon

Steven Zohn, traverso
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
James E. Bobb, harpsichord

Friday May 5, 2017, 7:30 pm
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
28 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsford, NY

Saturday May 6, 8:00 pm
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

Eighteenth-century Paris was one of the great centers of European arts and culture, and a hotbed of intellectual and social ferment. The ideas of the philosophes and the latest literary and artistic achievements were discussed in the many salons hosted by cosmopolitan and intellectually curious (and wealthy) Parisians. The musical salon was no exception, and the latest music from all over Europe could be heard there. According to a traveler's report from 1723 providing a list of concerts in private homes (some of which hosted performances as often as once a week), one could hear a concert every day in Paris. The many publishing houses, some with close links to publishers in other European cities, assured a steady supply of musical prints for these concerts.

These musical salons hosted local as well as visiting musicians, composers as well as performers. Georg Philipp Telemann, the most famous German composer of his lifetime, held a lifelong admiration for French music, and it appears that his only travel outside of the German-speaking lands was a visit to Paris in 1737, at the invitation of several renowned Parisian musicians. When Telemann wrote his Nouveaux Quatuors en Six Suites (now known as the "Paris Quartets"), famously premiered in Paris to great acclaim by the finest musicians of the day, with Telemann himself in attendance, his music was already known and loved in the city.

You will hear one of these Paris Quartets of Telemann in these concerts, as well as other musique de chambre written or published in 18th-century Paris. The program will include a cello sonata by the French virtuoso Jean Barrière, a sonata for keyboard and violin by the Afro-French violinist, composer and fencing master le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and music by Vivaldi, Rameau, and more!

Virtuoso trumpet!

Brian Shaw, baroque trumpet
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Aika Ito, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord

Friday March 31, 2017, 7:30 pm
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
28 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsford, NY

Saturday April 1, 8:00 pm
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word
597 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

Brian Shaw, baroque trumpet, recognized as one of the foremost virtuosos on his instrument (and a favorite of Rochester audiences), will join Publick Musick for a delightful evening of chamber music and concertos for strings and trumpet, including works of Biber, Telemann, Fux, Dall'Abaco, and more! 

O Anima Mea

In this concert, Publick Musick brings to life vocal and instrumental music by the most prolific female composer of the 17th century, Isabella Leonarda, an Ursuline nun. Recognized as a master of the solo motet, Leonarda was also a superb composer of instrumental music, and we will feature two of her trio sonatas in this program, as well as her beautiful and harmonically daring violin sonata, the first composed by a woman. You will hear both vocal fireworks and tender melodies in the works for soprano, performed by special guest artist Shari Alise Wilson, with the gorgeous Italian Baroque Organ in the beautiful and resonant Fountain Court of the Memorial Art Gallery.

Thursday January 19, 2017, 7:30 pm
Memorial Art Gallery Fountain Court
500 University Avenue, Rochester, NY

Shari Alise Wilson, soprano
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Deborah Fox, theorbo
Naomi Gregory, organ

Of Earth and Heaven

 Sunday November 13, 2016, 4:00 pm
Christ Church Rochester, 141 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the birth of the great North German organist and composer Matthias Weckmann (ca. 1616 - 1674), we are happy to present this special program featuring soprano Laura Heimes, baritone Mischa Bouvier, and an ensemble of violins, viols, and organ.  The program will include Weckmann's searingly beautiful cantata "Wie liegt die Stadt so wüste," as well as music by  his teacher Heinrich Schütz (1615 - 1672), his friends Christoph Bernhard (1628 - 1692) and Franz Tunder (1614 - 1667), and others. 

"Wie liegt die Stadt so wüste" was composed in 1663, in response to a devastating outbreak of the plague that year which killed a significant portion of the population, especially in port cities such as Hamburg, where Weckmann was organist at the Jakobikirche. "How desolate lies the city" cries the soprano, urged by the composer to stand at a distance from the bass singer, to further underscore the loneliness and isolation felt by survivors. Then, as now, many turned to music to help express and process feelings of anguish and grief, and in this composition Weckmann created one of the seventeenth century's most beautifully expressive and moving  cantatas.

This powerful work will be balanced on our program by music that can convey a message of consolation, solace, hope, and faith in a better world to come.  Weckmann and his contemporaries have left us many wonderful compositions expressing  these sentiments as well. 

Weckmann was an outstanding organist, and this program will include some of his organ works performed on the glorious Craighead-Saunders organ, a close copy of a German Baroque organ, and the only such instrument outside of Europe. Also on the program will be music for strings by Weckmann and others.

It is a rare treat for us to be able to perform this beautiful and deeply moving music in the glorious sanctuary of Christ Church Rochester, and we are so grateful to be able to share it with you! 

Laura Heimes, soprano
Mischa Bouvier, baritone
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Christel Thielmann, viola da gamba
Rosamund Morley, viola da gamba
Cora Swenson Lee, viola da gamba
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, organ
Edoardo Bellotti, organ

Virtuoso trumpet!

Saturday March 19, 2016, at 3:30 pm
Hatch Recital Hall, Eastman School of Music, 433 E. Main St.
Free admission
Part of the 2016 Eastman Trumpet Festival

Sunday March 20, at 3:00 pm
Norton Chapel, Keuka College
411 Lake Ave., Keuka Park, NY
Free admission

Brian Shaw, baroque trumpet
Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Daniel Elyar, baroque viola
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory, harpsichord

This concert will feature baroque trumpet luminary Brian Shaw and the Publick Musick strings in a program of music from the golden age of the natural (valveless) trumpet. The trumpet has a very long history of ceremonial and military use, but in the 1600s performers on the instrument developed a new, more refined and vocal style of playing which was suitable for use indoors with other instruments. This led to an extensive repertory of very virtuosic trumpet music from the 17th and 18th centuries, and our program will present works ranging from the chamber music of the high Baroque to the virtuoso concerto of the late Baroque. The concert will also include delightful music for strings by Biber and Telemann.

Adventurous Italians!

Thursday Feb. 18, 2016, at 7:30 pm

In this concert Publick Musick returns to the Memorial Art Gallery for a performance with one of Rochester's hidden treasures: the magnificent Italian Baroque Organ, the only one of its kind in North America. The program will focus on Italian music for strings and organ from the 1600s, a time of great musical innovation that saw the birth of the ensemble sonata as one facet of the new musical style that we now call the baroque. This era also saw the development in Italy of music written specifically and idiomatically for the instruments of the violin family (at the same time as those instruments themselves were being crafted in Northern Italy by some of the finest makers in history). Violin virtuosi were exploring new techniques of expression on their instruments, spreading their ideas through travel (which was itself an adventure) and through the publication of their music. The works of two acclaimed violin virtuosos of this era, Biagio Marini and Giovanni Battista Fontana, are featured on our program, as well as those of other composers who were at the forefront of formal innovation and harmonic expression, such as Dario Castello and Giovanni Paolo Cima.
The Italian Baroque Organ will itself be featured in soli performed by eminent ESM Professor Edoardo Bellotti.

Boel Gidholm, baroque violin
Mary Riccardi, baroque violin
Molly Werts McDonald, baroque violin
Christopher Haritatos, baroque cello
Naomi Gregory and Edoardo Bellotti, organ
Deborah Fox, theorbo

On the series "Third Thursday Concerts with Eastman's Italian Baroque Organ" at the Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Avenue, Rochester, NY. These concerts are free with admission to the MAG, which is half-price starting at 5:00 pm on Thursdays, and free to MAG members and to University of Rochester students with valid ID.

Boccherini Favorites!

Sunday Nov. 1, 2015, at 4:00 pm
Incarnate Word Lutheran Church
597 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

Cynthia Roberts and Boel Gidholm, violins
Daniel Elyar, viola
Christopher Haritatos and Beiliang Zhu, violoncellos

The most celebrated cellist of his day, Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) was also a prolific and acclaimed composer, especially of chamber music.  Born in Lucca, Italy, he spent some of his formative years in the creative cauldrons of Vienna and Paris, and a large part of his productive life in Spain, where he developed his own unique style of composition. His chamber works exhibit a very refined sense of instrumental color and texture, and two of the quintets on our program also show the influence of Spanish dances (the fandango and the follia). His compositions (especially those written for his own use) also demand great virtuosity (especially for the cellists!), and we are thrilled to have some of the country's foremost baroque string players to perform them! This program will feature three of his string quintets, scored for 2 violins, 1 viola and 2 celli (an instrumentation possibly invented by Boccherini when writing for himself to perform with an existing string quartet), one of which includes "Boccherini's Celebrated Minuet" in its original form.

Program:
Quintet in D Major, G. 341
Sonata in C Major, G. 17
Quintet in A Mjor, G. 340
Quintet in E Major, G. 275
 

More Boccherini!

One more chance to hear this wonderful music:
Monday Nov. 2 at 5:00 pm
Allen Chapel in the Schmitt Interfaith Center, at the Rochester Institute of Technology
This event is free and open to the public. Free parking--check in at parking booth. Click here to see an interactive campus map.

If you missed Sunday's performance (or even if you didn't but you can't get enough Boccherini!) you can still hear much of the program in this informal, educational presentation on Boccherini and his music, followed by a brief question-and-answer session.

Summer Nights with Bach!