Christ Church Cathedral
Figments & Fragments: Marenzio to Mozart
Artists: Abraham Ross, organ and fortepiano, with Simon Poirier, natural horn
Runtime: 60 minutes, no intermission
Oftentimes, there are only figments and fragments of a composer’s work that survive. Join Abraham Ross and Simon Poirier as they dive into unfinished works from early-baroque practices of contrapuntal improvisation.
The programme begins in the early baroque with a demonstration on the methods used by Gabrieli, Frescobaldi, and virtually every organist of the time: the instantaneous improvisation of imitative polyphony over chant melodies during to accompany the liturgy. Using original research on two Italian treatises, Abraham will perform several organ improvisations according to historical practice.
Simon and Abraham will perform Mozart’s unfinished horn concerto as recently completed by Canadian pianist Anders Muskens, alongside Franz Xavier Süßmayr’s own Sonata for Horn and Pianoforte.
This concert is generously sponsored by Agnes Hohn.
PROGRAMME
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), arranged by A. Ross and S. Poirier
Quintet for Horn and Strings K. 407
Abraham Ross
Contrapuntal organ improvisations on a cantus firmus
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599), arr. Ross
Dolorosi martiri, fieri tormenti à 6 (Intabulation)
Mozart, completed by Anders Muskens
Horn Concerto K. 494a
Maria Hester Park (1760-1813)
Keyboard Concerto in E-flat op. 6
Franz Xaver Süßmayr (1766-1803), completed by Herman Jeurissen
Sonata for Horn and Piano
Abraham Ross, organ and fortepiano
Abraham Ross enjoys an active career as a concert organist and harpsichordist, presenting imaginative programmes informed by the most recent research on performance practice, technology, and musicological context.
His diverse research interests inspire detailed studies in a range of topics, from American organ music of the nineteenth century to his recent doctoral thesis on contrapuntal organ improvisation in early modern Italy. In addition to solo concerts throughout North America, Abraham recently featured in concerts with Musica Angelica (Los Angeles) and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal lead by Masaaki Suzuki. He will appear as a semi-finalist in the 2024 Canadian international Organ Competition in Montreal, QC.
Simon Poirier, natural horn
First prize winner of the International Horn Society's natural horn competition in Ghent, Belgium, hornist Simon Poirier enjoys an active career on the early music scene both in Europe and North America. He regularly collaborates with ensembles such as Europa Galante and Il Pomo d'Oro (Italy); Das Freiburger Barockorchester and Balthasar Neumann (Germany); Les Siècles and Les Musiciens du Louvre (France); Concerto Copenhagen (Denmark); The Orchestra of the 18th Century (Netherlands); Arion Orchestre Baroque, Caprice Ensemble and Pacific Baroque Orchestra (Canada). Recently, Simon joined John Eliot Gardiner's Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique on its European tour of Berlioz's Les Troyens. He also brilliantly took on the solo horn part in the most recent production of Mozart's Mitridate at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin with Marc Minkowski's Musiciens du Louvre. Being equally at ease on modern instruments, Simon regularly collaborates with ensembles such as Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Violons du Roy, I Musici and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. The 25-26 season will see his debut with the Belgian group Collegium Vocale Ghent, in a South Korean tour of Bach’s B minor mass.
