Past Events - Early Music Vancouver

Angela Hewitt: Bach, Brahms, and Scarlatti

Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 3 p.m. The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

Please note: Tickets will also be available to purchase at the door on concert day starting 02:00 p.m.

Angela Hewitt returns to EMV with Scarlatti, Bach and Brahms. Ms. Hewitt has become one of Bach’s foremost interpreters of our time. In her own words “Bach’s music cries out for a keyboard instrument that imitates the human voice. These days, you don’t hear so much discussion (about whether to play Bach on the piano), and there are as many ways of Bach on the piano as there are pianists. What I try to do is not think of it so much as keyboard music but as music that imitates the voice or the orchestra. It’s not piano music in the way Brahms or Chopin is piano music.”

Ms. Hewitt will be playing Bach’s English Suite No. 6 in D minor, preceded by a selection of Scarlatti sonatas and followed by Brahms’ Sonata in F minor Op.5. After her recent performance at Wigmore Hall, Martin Kettle from The Guardian commented “The beautifully sustained andante, which seems to slip in and out of the harmonic world of Beethoven’s Pathétique sonata, was the highlight of the evening. Truly a woman who can play Brahms, too.”

This concert is generously supported by Eric Wyness and Mark De Silva.

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On The Breath of Angels

Friday, March 3, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: Hana Blažíková, soprano; Bruce Dickey, cornetto; the Breathtaking Collective

During the height of its popularity, from the mid-16th century into the 18th, the cornetto was frequently depicted in art as an instrument of angels. Paintings, sculptures, and engravings abound in which the cornetto takes a prominent place among the choirs of angelic musicians. The connection with angels in this program serves as a point of departure for an aural journey that ranges from 1600 to the present day, exploring the ways in which the cornetto and the human voice can interact, imitate each other, and entwine musically.

Works by illustrious 17th-century composers Francesco Cavalli and Giacomo Carissimi will be heard next to pieces from a recently discovered manuscript from around 1600 that turned up recently in an auction and then promptly disappeared again after the sale. Two new works by Ivan Moody and Julian Wachner will explore both the instrumental-vocal duality and the theme of angels. These worlds will be bridged with a wonderful chanson of Erik Satie called Les Anges. This concert is sure to bring us closer to angelic realms.

This concert is generously supported by Zelie & Vincent Tan

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Consone Quartet: BBC New Generation Artists

Friday, February 17, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: Consone Quartet – Agata Daraškaite, and Magdalena Loth-Hill, violins; Elitsa Bogdanova, viola; George Ross, cello

London’s Consone Quartet is the first period instrument quartet to be selected as ‘BBC New Generation Artists.’ Praised for their honest and expressive playing; they are fast making a name for themselves in classical and early romantic repertoire. This programme presents works by Mozart, Haydn, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and Fanny Mendelssohn.

“…instantly leaps out of the stereo at you as something special” (The Strad, 2019)

Immediately following the performance there will be a Post-Concert Talk with Suzie LeBlanc and members of the Quartet.

This concert is generously supported by Sharon Kahn and Barrie MacFadden.

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Online Concert: Concerto D’Amore: Overcoming Rivalry

Tuesday, February 14, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. | This concert was originally performed on February 12, 2022 at St. Andrew's Wesley United Church.Online

Artists: Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Alexander Weimann, dir., harpsichord

The concerto is all about bringing things together: the term derives from Latin concertare, meaning “to work together with someone,” “to agree.” That same root word, however, also means “to contend, dispute, or debate,” suggesting that the concerto brings its participants into creative tension, even friendly competition. If the Baroque concerto models a kind of relationship, it’s one in which some lively argument is productive, in the end, of a sweeter and more satisfying harmony.

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Digital Concert: The Odyssey of Kryštof Harant

Friday, January 20, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. | This concert was originally performed on December 1, 2022 at Christ Church CathedralOnline

“… the evening provided what felt like a secret portal into a vibrantly multicultural distant time,” Janet Smith, Stir Vancouver

This concert was originally recorded on December 1, 2022.

Artists: Ensemble Cappella Mariana directed by Vojtěch Semerád, Constantinople directed by Kiya Tabassian, and narrator Bill Richardson

The life journey of the Czech nobleman, traveller, humanist, soldier, writer and composer Kryštof Harant from Polžice and Bezdružice ended prematurely on the Old Town Square in Prague on June 21, 1621, when he was executed for participating in the Protestant Bohemian Revolt. The goal of this project of Ensemble Cappella Mariana is to present his surviving compositions and introduce listeners to his literary legacy – his record of a unique trip to the Middle East which he chronicled in his book Journey from Bohemia to the Holy Land, by way of Venice and the Sea published in 1608. During the 16^th and 17^th centuries the vibrancy of music – and art in general – founded on Eastern traditions from Persia to the Eastern Mediterranean, contributed to the creation of multicultural societies. Dialogue and mutual enrichment between artists of different cultures were commonplace. We find evidence of these musical and cultural exchanges in period works that appear in musical manuscripts of 17^th century Ottoman, Persian and post-Byzantine origin. In this concert, these compositions will be combined with other masterpieces surviving for centuries through the oral tradition and handed down from one generation to the next; together they provide a comprehensive picture of the atmosphere and local colour of the places Harant himself visited and the music he heard on his travels.

Harant’s colourful work, narrated by Bill Richardson, will guide you on a musical journey to the exotic lands of Cyprus, Jerusalem, Sinai, and Cairo. “The Journey is like a beacon which will act as a guide for both ensembles – a geographical, historical, cultural and inner voyage of discovery to distant horizons,” says Vojtech Semerad, director of Cappella Mariana.

Pre-Concert Talk at 7 p.m.: Sylvia L’Ecuyer in conversation with Vojtech Semerad (Director, Cappella Mariana) and Kiya Tabassian (Director, Constantinople).

This concert is generously supported by Marianne Gibson and Delma Hemming.

This concert is also made possible through the support of the Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic, The Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec.

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Festive Cantatas: J.S. Bach Magnificat & Cantata BWV 110 (Let Our Mouth Be Full of Laughter)

Saturday, Dec 17, 2022 | 7:30 p.m. at The Kay Meek Arts CentreSunday, December 18, 2022 | 3 p.m. at The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

NOTE: There is another performance of this concert on Saturday, December 17 at The Kay Meek Arts Centre in West Vancouver. Tickets for that performance must be purchased through the Kay Meek Arts Centre’s Box Office. This concert is part of both the Masterworks Series Subscription and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra Series Subscription.

Artists: The Pacific Baroque Orchestra directed by Alexander Weimann; Hélène Brunet and Arwen Myers, sopranos; Krisztina Szabo, alto; Jacques-Olivier Chartier, tenor; and Sumner Thompson, bass

The boys’ choir of the St. Thomas church in Leipzig was founded in 1212, and to this day, it still is one of the most prestigious ambassadors of musical culture in Germany. Historically, the choir director had to prepare the services in four churches and organize the music for city functions. Bach held the position from 1723 to his death in 1750; he was appointed only after two of his colleagues, further up on the list, Telemann and Graupner, had declined.

There is a Pre-Concert Talk for the December 18 concert at The Chan only and it starts at 2:15 p.m. with broadcaster/author Bill Richardson in conversation with Alexander Weimann and cornetto player Matt Jennejohn.

This concert is generously sponsored by Tony & Margie Knox, Linda Leonard, and Dr. Katherine Paton

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The Art of The Lute with Thomas Dunford

Friday, November 25, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: Thomas Dunford, lute

The lute arrived in Europe from Moorish Spain, spreading rapidly in the 15th century and becoming the most popular instrument among courtiers and commoners in the 16th century. Henry VIII played the lute, and made sure that his three children – the future monarchs Edward VI, “Bloody” Mary, and Elizabeth I – learned it, as well. The lute was also a popular feature in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre, which was enjoying its own golden age in the works of William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.

John Dowland, an indisputable master of the lute and lute song repertoire, is quite ‘Shakespearian’ in the range of emotion and expression found in his music, and in his ability to absorb and synthesize the cultural influences of his day.

Bach arranged his Fifth Cello Suite for the lute which gives us unsuspected harmonies and a better understanding of how and where Bach would add ornaments. Thomas Dunford, following in Bach’s footsteps, arranged Bach’s First Cello Suite for archlute, a lute with an extended neck and unstoppable bass strings like the theorbo.

Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger was an Austrian-Italian virtuoso performer and highly original composer whose compositions for the lute and theorbo were fundamental in the development of these as solo instruments.

Pre-concert Talk at 7 p.m.: Suzie LeBlanc in conversation with Thomas Dunford.

This concert is generously supported by José Verstappen and Jonathan Drance.

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From War to Peace: Heinrich Schütz and His Time

Saturday, November 5, 2022 | 7:30 p.m. St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church

Note: This concert is part of both the Masterworks Subscription Series and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra Subscription Series

Artists: Arwen Myers and Danielle Reutter-Harrah, sopranos; Nicholas Burns, alto; Lawrence Williford, tenor; Sumner Thompson, baritone; musica intima; Cappella Borealis; the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Weimann; Alex Fisher, concept and programming

A collection of musicians including musica intima, Capella Borealis, and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, join forces to mark the 350th anniversary of prolific composer Heinrich Schütz’s death. Directly affected by the violence and political tension that accompanied the Thirty Year’s War (1618–1648), Schütz produced works of comfort and lamentation to directly comment on the conflict. Alongside the famous Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? (1650) and settings of the Psalms of David, we end with the splendid hymn of thanks “Danket dem Herren” (“Thanks be to God”) with trumpet calls that might be heard as a call to arms, or as a celebration of peace long desired.

Pre-concert Talk at 7 p.m. features UBC School of Music’s Dr. Alex Fisher in conversation with Alexander Weimann, director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra on the importance of Schütz and his music.

This concert is generously sponsored by Birgit Westergaard and Norman Gladstone.

This concert is generously supported by a Digital Now grant from the Canada Council for The Arts.

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A New Springtime of the World

Friday, October 28, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.Christ Church Cathedral

Artists: Ensemble Diabolus in Musica

During the 12th century, as the famous historian, Georges Duby said, “a new springtime of the world blossomed, on the old Latin stock.” The unchanging social order which prevailed before the year 1000 was now jostled by the feudal system. In southern France castles and monasteries were built, far from the declining influence of the king or the pope. Painting, sculpture, architecture, and music celebrated the beauty of the world in a new way.

In the same regions and exactly at the same time, Roman art flourished and new chants were being created in the generous acoustics of these new basilicas and chapels. In the domains of the great Saint-Martial de Limoges abbey notably, polyphony birthed its first audacious and jubilant elaborations, and the first notated secular songs of France were being created by the troubadours who celebrated courtly love.

Diabolus in Musica is a French medieval music ensemble founded in Paris in 1992. Now under the direction of Nicolas Sansarlat, the ensemble continues to programme rediscovered Medieval works alongside the richness of the well-known musical works by the Troubadours, Trouvères and the Notre Dame School.

Join us for the Pre-concert Talk at 7 p.m. – our Artistic and Executive Director, Suzie LeBlanc chats with Nicolas Sansarlat, director of Musica in Diabolus, and Emmanuel Vistorky, one of the singers from the ensemble.

This concert is generously supported by Agnes Hohn.

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