Lecture: David Gariff – Concert: Vivaldi Project
CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT
Lecture: 6:00 pm – Auditorium
Concert: 7:00 pm – Atrium
DOORS OPEN FOR CONCERT UNTIL 7 PM
As part of A Celebration of Italian Art, Music and Film, jointly presented by the Italian Cultural Institute and the National Gallery of Art, tonight’s program features a lecture by David Gariff on the Italian masterpieces of the Baroque and Rococo at the National Gallery of Art as well as a performance by the Vivaldi Project of Italian chamber music from the 17th and 18th century.
PROGRAM
Biagio Marini (1594-1663)
From Il Zontino, in Affetti Musicali:
Sonata sopra “la Monica” (1617)
Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690)
Sonata “La Raspona”, op. 2 in G major (1655)
Allegro – Adagio
Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)
Sonate a tre Stromenti op. 1, no. 3 in E minor (1686)
Grave – Presto – Adagio – Allegro
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
Sonata op. 3, no. 6 in G major (1689)
Vivace – Grave – Allegro – Allegro
Antonio Caldara (1670-1736)
Sonata a tre op. 1, no. 5 in E minor (1693)
Grave – Vivace – Adagio – Vivace
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Sonata op. 1, no. 2 in E minor (1705)
Grave – Corrente Allegro – Giga Allegro – Gavotta Allegro
Intermission
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1700-1775)
Sonata op. 5, no. 1 in A major (1756)
Affettuoso – Minuet
Andrea Caporale (before 1735-1757)
Sonata no. 3 in D major for Violoncello (1746)
Adagio – Allegro – Cantabile
Francesco Maria Veracini (1690-1768)
From the 12 Sonate Accademiche op. 2,
Sonata no. 7 in E minor for Violin Solo e Basso (1744)
Allegro – Largo, e staccato – Giga
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Sonata op. 1, no. 12 RV 63 “La Folia” (1705)
RSVP
Please click on “Make a Reservation” by October 10, 2012 at 2 PM
The Reservation System will allow you to register until we reach
capacity or by the event’s date at 2:00 PM (whichever comes
first.)
RESERVATION IS REQUIRED FOR OUR EVENTS FOR SECURITY REASONS. A RESERVATION IS NOT A GUARANTEE OF A SEAT. OUR VENUE HAS LIMITED SEATING AND WE WILL ACCOMODATE GUESTS ON A FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVED BASIS.
DOORS OPEN AT 5:15 AND CLOSE AT 7:00PM PROMPTLY
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LOCATION:
Embassy of Italy/Italian Cultural Institute
3000 Whitehaven st Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
THE VIVALDI PROJECT
Elizabeth Field and Allison Edberg, violins
Stephanie Vial, cello
Deborah Fox, theorbo
Leon Schelhase, harpsichord
The Vivaldi Project is a premier period instrument ensemble dedicated to presenting 17th- and 18th-century string repertoire. Their name refers not only to the group’s core repertoire, the extraordinary works of the virtuoso violinist and composer, Antonio Vivaldi ? but also to the project of probing into the roots of Vivaldi’s distinctive musical style. Vivaldi’s innovative contributions to string writing, the concerto genre, and programmatic orchestral music place him as a pivotal figure between earlier baroque and later classical composers. The Vivaldi Project explores this link through both chamber and orchestral works (those well-known and beloved as well as those rarely heard) from Stradella, Legrenzi, and Corelli, to J.S. Bach and his sons, and ultimately to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
The Vivaldi Project, under the leadership of violinist Elizabeth Field and cellist Stephanie Vial, has been gaining critical acclaim for its brilliant and expressive string playing, as well as its innovative programming which combines scholarship and performance to both educate and delight audiences. The members and guest artists of The Vivaldi Project include leading soloists, concertmasters, teachers, and musical scholars in the Washington, DC area and around the country. Since it was founded by Field in 2006, the Vivaldi Project has performed throughout the DC area, and for the Washington and Boston Early Music Festivals. In 2010, the ensemble toured the Piedmont region of North Carolina with an unprecedented performance of all six of C.P.E. Bach’s String Sinfonias, W. 182, under guest conductor John Hsu.
THE MUSICIANS
Elizabeth Field is a sought after performer on both period and modern instruments. She is the founder and co-director of the Vivaldi Project, a period instrument chamber ensemble and a member of the Arcovoce Chamber Ensemble which performs on both modern and period instruments. She is also currently concertmaster of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and has served as concertmaster for several period instrument ensembles including The Washington Bach Consort and Opera Lafayette. Field holds a doctorate in 18th-century performance practice from Cornell University, and has coached student & professional performers throughout the U.S. She has held professorships at Sacramento State University of California, the University of California at Davis, and is currently a professor of violin at George Washington University. Along with Stephanie Vial, she is a regular guest teacher at The Curtis Institute. She and Stephanie also co-director the EMMI Institute (Early Music on Modern Instruments) held annually in Washington DC. Field’s collaborative DVD with fortepianist Malcolm Bilson, exploring the Historical performance Practice of 18th-century violin/piano repertoire was released in November of 2011. Emanuel Ax describes the DVD as “truly inspiring?a completely lucid and authoritative look at the connections between the great composers and the instruments that they worked with.” He concludes, “ In short, I am a fan!” As a modern instrument player she has performed with The Washington National Opera as well as with The Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Elizabeth has recorded chamber music for the Hungaroton, Naxos and Dorian labels. From 1982-1991, she performed and recorded extensively for Deutsche Grammophon with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. The Vivaldi Project can be heard on its recent release of CPE Bach’s Six Sinfonias W. 182 on the Centaur label.
One of the preeminent performers on baroque and modern violin, Allison Guest Edberg has been praised by The Chicago Sun Times as “impeccable, with unerring intonation and an austere beauty.” Currently the concertmaster of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, a founding member of the early music ensemble Olde Friends, and the education director for the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, she has performed throughout North America with Apollo’s Fire, Chatham Baroque, Ensemble Galilei, the foundling Baroque Orchestra, La Monica, the Washington Bach Consort, and the Vivaldi Project. Frequently featured at the Bloomington Early Music Festival and the Indianpolis Early Music Festival, Edberg has served on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp as well as those of DePauw University, Indiana State University, Lawrence University, and Ohio State University. A student of Stanley Ritchie at the Indiana University Early Music Institute, Edberg received a bachelor of music degree from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and a master of music degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Camilla Wicks.
Stephanie Vial, cellist, is the Assistant Director of the Vivaldi Project. A sought-after chamber musician and soloist, Vial has performed with many of North America’s period instrument ensembles and has recorded for the Dorian Label, Naxos, Hungaroton, and Centaur Records. Fanfare Magazine, in a review of the Naxos recording of Quantz flute sonatas, gives “a particular bow to Stephanie Vial, who manages to make each cello intervention a delight to the ear.” Vial holds a doctorate in 18th-century performance practice from Cornell University where she studied with John Hsu. Her book, The Art of Musical Phrasing in the Eighteenth Century: Punctuating the Classical “Period,” published in 2008 by the University of Rochester Press’ Eastman Studies in Music Series, was praised by Malcolm Bilson as “inspired scholarship” and “essential reading.” Vial has taught at Cornell University, Duke University, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Together with Elizabeth Field, she directs The Vivaldi Project’s Institute for Early Music on Modern Instruments and is a regular guest teacher at The Curtis Institute.
Deborah Fox is the Artistic Director and founder, in 2005, of Pegasus Early Music, Rochester’s early music concert series. She is a lutenist with a span of repertoire ranging from medieval to baroque music, as a soloist, chamber music player, and baroque opera continuo. She has performed with the major early music ensembles and festivals in North America, including the Carmel Bach Festival, Glimmerglass Opera, Les Violons du Roy (Montreal), Spoleto Festival, Opera Atelier (Toronto), Aradia (Toronto), Tafelmusik, Concert Royal, Brandywine Baroque, Music of the Baroque and Callipygian Players (Chicago), NYS Baroque (Ithaca), and others. She has made frequent trips to Australia to work with Pinchgut Opera in Sydney.
She received the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Early Music at London’s Guildhall School of Music, specializing in the improvised accompaniment practices of the seventeenth century. Her teachers have included Paul O’Dette and Nigel North. She performs as a regular member of the baroque chamber music ensemble Fioritura. She has made recordings for Naxos, Sonabilis, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Centaur. She has been a Teaching Artist for the Aesthetic Education Institute.
A native of Cape Town, South Africa, harpischordist Leon Schelhase holds a BMus (Hons) from the University of Cape Town, and a Master’s Degree in Historical Performance from Boston University, where he studied with Peter Sykes. A recipient of the American Bach Soloists’ prestigious Goldberg Prize, Leon’s solo performances have been praised as “exquisite” and filled with “virtuosity,” and his continuo playing described as revealing “clean and clear lines…always distinct within the surrounding textures.” Leon has performed with Emmanuel Music, Ensemble Florilege, the Gardener Museum Orchestra, A Far Cry, Old City Music, La Rocinante, Ars Antiqua, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Bach Festival Orchestra, New York State Baroque and Pegasus Early Music. He is a founding member of Boston-based Cambridge Concentus, participating in their epoch-making Japanese tour of the St. Matthew Passion under Joshua Rifkin in 2010. Leon is currently on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.