Early Music Vancouver Events

Online Concert – Women of Note

Pacific Baroque Orchestra Wednesday, March 23, 2022 | 7:30 PM Online

This concert showcases the music of 18th-century female composers who, though forgotten or ignored by history, in their day shared the stage with and enjoyed the respect and friendship of composers we now regard as musical giants, including Haydn and Mozart. Like their male colleagues, these women were highly acclaimed both as composers and as performing musicians. They include the star singer and playwright Amélie-Julie Candeille; the stateswoman, keyboard player, and opera composer Maria Antonia, Electress of Saxony; the master violinist Maddalena Laura Sirmen, who was trained at one of Venice’s famous musical orphanages; and the virtuoso singer and pianist Marianne Anna Katharina von Martinez, a frequent duet partner of Mozart’s, an influence on his compositional style, and a member of the prestigious Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna. Their music is brimming with the elegance and eloquence of the Classical era.

This concert is generously supported by Dorothy Jantzen

Online Concert – Pardessus in Paradise – J.S. Bach & His French Contemporaries

Wednesday, February 16, 2022 | 7:30PMOnline - This concert was originally recorded on August 4, 2021.

The works selected by Mélisande Corriveau and Eric Milnes for this evening present a vibrant array of French musical styles developed during the 18th century before the French Revolution. The origin and development of the pardessus de viole – known in France as “the woman’s violin”- coincided with the increasing prominence of the violin in French instrumental fashion. The crowning glory of the viola da gamba family, the pardessus – the smallest of the viola da gamba family of instruments – facilitated the instrument’s rise in popularity in France. Most of the works which will be performed were selected from the microfilm collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and few had been recorded until Mélisande’s recent recording. They are charming, playful, luminous and exquisitely elegant.

Online Concert – Guided by Voices with Bach’s Cello Suite no. 6

Wednesday, April 20, 2022 | 7:30PMOnline - This concert was originally recorded on July 30, 2021.

Today, the five-string cello is treated as an exotic and rarely-played cousin of the standard cello. However, in the 17th and 18th centuries it was simply one of the many instruments used in the family of bass violins and was particularly important for virtuosc sonatas and solos. This programme centres around the five-string cello’s most enduring work, Bach’s Sixth Solo Cello Suite (BWV 1012).

Each movement reveals the instrument’s incredible versatility and remarkable colours. Elinor Frey explores these qualities further through two newer works, “Guided By Voices” by Scott Godin (based on “O Vis Aeternitatis” of Hildegard von Bingen) and “With concord of sweet sounds” by Isaiah Ceccarelli.

Lab’rinths: Purcell & His Contemporaries | Digital Concert Hall

Wednesday November 10, 2021 | 7:30PMOnline

The program name ‘Lab’rinths’ evokes the spiritual mystery and human turmoil captured so clearly by Purcell and his contemporaries. Taken from a collection of sacred songs published in 1688 by Henry Playford, ‘Harmonia Sacra’, these devotional songs by Purcell can often be interpreted as biblical ‘mad scenes’: they offer the listener a glimpse into his most dramatic and harmonically adventurous explorations of personal loss, confusion, spiritual angst and delirious ecstasy. These songs will be sung by baritone Jonathon Adams and accompanied by Mélisande Corriveau on viola da gamba and Eric Milnes on organ and harpsichord. Interpolating these vivid scenes are pieces written for two viols by contemporaries of Purcell. Susie Napper will join Corriveau and Milnes for these instrumental selections.

Pilgrimage to Bach feat. Jonathon Adams, baritone, Pacific Baroque Orchestra | Digital Concert Hall

Wednesday, October 13, 2021 | 7:30PMOnline

EMV’s summer artist-in-residence, Jonathon Adams, a Two-Spirit, nêhiyaw michif (Cree-Métis) baritone and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra led from the organ and harpsichord by Alexander Weimann perform J.S. Bach’s BWV 82 “Ich habe genug” (It is enough). The cantata represents a solo journey, or transition, from this world to the next. This multimedia presentation centers on the tension between the physical body and the caged spirit within.

Chaconne: In Memory of Jeanne Lamon | Digital Concert Hall

Wednesday, October 6 2021 | 7:30 pmOnline

Eight notes of one famous bass line have placed Johann Pachelbel among the world’s most well- recognized composers. Yet there is much more to him than his ever-popular Canon. This program presents two rarely heard suites from Pachelbel’s major surviving chamber music work, Musikalische Ergötzung (Musical Delight). Featured gems for solo violin and continuo include ciaconnas by Italian composers Antonio Bertali and Nicola Matteis. Both were violin virtuosi who left their native country for successful careers in Vienna and London, respectively. Matteis contributed to steering the English taste toward the florid and fiery Italian school of violin playing. From the earthly to the ethereal, explore the remarkable spectrum of what the chaconne has to offer with these four talented local artists.

Rossignol Sauvage (Film)

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021 | 11:00AMCinematheque

Baritone Jonathon Adams and Les Voix Humaines viol consort recorded this moving performance at the McCord Museum in Montréal. The Métis songs, which survived in the memories of travelers from Quebec to the Prairies, are in Michif, French and English. The earliest songs can be traced back to their European origins, with melodies that are remarkably similar to airs de cour, a form popular in 17th century France, that were often accompanied by viols. We hope you’ll enjoy hearing these beautiful songs, often plaintive, of the Rossignol Sauvage, a voice of the Métis people.

Nightingales in the Garden (film)

Tuesday July 27, 2021 | 11:00AMThe Cinematheque

Instrument inventor, music and dance instructor, celebrated player of Scots tunes on the violoncello, founder of a secret musical society, music arranger and publisher, and Chamber Composer to the King, James Oswald (1710-1769) is a fascinating character. Although his music is rarely heard on the concert stage today, it remains influential elsewhere. His chamber music on this program comes from his two collections of 48 Airs for the Seasons, multi-movement pieces named after plants and grouped into sets celebrating each of the four seasons. We have the great pleasure of sharing Oswald’s music with you from the grounds of Vancouver’s own 55-acre garden oasis, VanDusen Botanical Gardens. Two of Ballet BC’s dancers, Jordan Lang and Justin Rapaport, choreograph and dance several of the airs, with poetry interspersed between the airs.