Sunday Sept 17 
3:30 pm 
First Unitarian Church Providence Baroque Orchestra Bach Cantata 51 for soprano, trumpet & strings, Telemann concerto in D for violin & trumpet, and works of Graupner and Fasch Daniel Lee, violin; 
Josh Cohen, trumpet; 
Clare Brussel, Soprano Come celebrate the start of the concert season with joyous works from Germany – music of the finalists of the Cantor search in Leipzig in 1723. The Cantor search for this important School lasted for several years, as Telemann, Fasch and Graupner were first considered, and then the Leipzig Town Council finally settled on J. S. Bach, who was hired for his final and longest position. Enjoy Fasch's Symphonia in G, and Telemann's stirring concerto for Trumpet,Violin and Cello. Baritone Frederick Jodry perform a rare Graupner Cantata, and enjoy the pyrotechnics of Soprano Clare Brussel and Trumpeter Josh Cohen in Bach’s Cantata 51: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. Sunday Oct 29 
3:30 pm 
First Unitarian Church The Flamboyant 
Baroque; Music for Violin & Harpsichord Works of G.F. Handel, Jean-Marie Leclair, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Nicola Matteis, J.S. Bach & Corelli Théotime Langlois de Swarte & Justin Taylor, violin & harpsichord Music and sound are surely the most universal languages, and are especially effective in helping us travel through time. With a few strokes of the violin’s bow and animation of the harpsichord’s keys, let yourself be transported from the London of Handel to the Rome of Corelli, with a visit to J.S. Bach in Cöthen. Alongside monuments of the repertory, you will discover forgotten gems, rarities unearthed from old libraries, and transcriptions of opera arias in the taste of the era. A great journey awaits you! “I’m running out of ways to recount his brilliance…Most of all, I’m in awe of his seemingly effortless blend of control and abandon.” 
– Gramophone "Théotime Langlois de Swarte reminds me why I fell in love with Baroque violin in the first place...His playing is joyful; it is wild and beautiful.” 
– Gramophone

Sunday Nov 26 
3:30 pm

First Unitarian Church

 

Renaissonics:
Carols for Dancing

 

John Tyson, recorders, pipe & tabor, crumhorn; Douglas Freundlich, lute & cuica; Laura Gulley, violin, viola; Daniel Rowe, cello; Miyuki Tsurutani, harpsichord, recorders, crumhorn

 

Carols for Dancing began as a WGBH Special exploring the rich traditions and unexpected stories of carols as festive dances. From ancient times the movement from darkness to light at the Winter Solstice has been an occasion of joy and hope - people told stories, feasted, sang and danced. The Christmas celebration absorbed much of the character of the Solstice holidays. Consequently, dance became part of the Christmas story—angels dance, shepherds run, leap and dance, the magi process… Joy to the World

 

"They have delved further than anyone into Renaissance Improvisation."
– Continuo Magazine

 

"They have a great groove!”
– The Boston Globe

 

Sunday Jan 14 
3:30 pm

First Unitarian Church

 

A French Harpsichord Salon;
Byron Schenkman, Harpsichord

 

Music by Marie-Emanuelle Bayon, Joseph Boismortier, François Couperin, Jacques Duphly, & Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre.

 

This program offers a bouquet of delights from the final flowering of French harpsichord music. Music by Duphly, who died one day after the storming of the Bastille, combines the luscious harmonies of courtly French music with the virtuosity and popular appeal of newly fashionable Italian concertos. Boismortier was one of the first composers to support himself entirely through publishing music, with no reliance on royal or ecclesiastic patronage. Marie-Emmanuelle Bayon and Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre both hosted their own salons in Paris, while also enjoying royal and aristocratic patronage. Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint Georges) was of the most celebrated violinist-composers of the late 18th century and led an all-Black regiment in the French Revolution.

 

“Byron Schenkman fairly stole the show... intense and commanding yet effortless and virtuosic”

– Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Sunday Feb 11 
3:30 pm First Unitarian Church A Golden Wire: 17th-Century British Music Nola Richardson, soprano; Kevin Payne, lute; Arnie Tanimoto, viola da gamba; Parker Ramsay, harp Hailed as "exemplary" (San Francisco Classical Voice) and "especially impressive" (New York Times), soprano Nola Richardson joins the instrumental team A Golden Wire in a program of English song from the sixteenth century. The consort music of William Lawes and John Jenkins will be complemented by theatrical songs of Eccles and Purcell, including Music for a while, She Loves, and She Confesses Too, and the famous Evening Hymn. “astonishing accuracy – crystalline diction – natural sounding ease” 
– Washington Post Sunday March 3 
3:30 pm First Unitarian Church Bach Brandenburg Concertos 4/5/6 Daniel Lee, violin and leader; Kathryn Roth and Maximillian St. George, flutes; Emily Rideout and Sergio Munoz, violas; Frederick Jodry, harpsichord; with members of Providence Baroque Bach had occasion to meet the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721, and later sent him six varied concertos, perhaps as a job application. We do not know if they were ever performed at the Margrave’s court, but these exuberant and colorful pieces have become some of Bach’s most beloved instrumental pieces, exhibiting many different members of the orchestra as featured soloists. Typical for his delight in exploring texture, Bach expands the usual texture of the concerto grosso – two violins and cello with orchestra – so that each concerto has a different color palette of soloists. These three concertos feature solo violin, flutes, two pairs of violas and violas da gamba — and even the harpsichord gets the spotlight!