Early Music New York Sets 43rd Season

A performance by Early Music New York (EM/NY) is an aural depiction of a time and place seemingly far removed from the present day, though arguably as near as the mind's ear.

As one of New York's foremost exponents of historically informed performance, EM/NY has acted as tour guide to the musical riches of seven centuries for more than four decades. The scope of EM/NY's 43rd subscription season is as broad as any presented by this mainstay of the largest historically informed performance community in the United States.

"Audiences can look forward to encountering works both familiar and soon-to-be familiar," says Founder and Director Frederick Renz about the upcoming season. "Autumn will find us in the Low Countries, with world-renowned guest artist, flutist Barthold Kuijken, performing repertoire from the high baroque period in Holland and Flanders, a fresh harvest of tantalizing works from fields heretofore uncultivated. From the same area but an earlier era will come our holiday program from the Burgundian Renaissance. A full evening devoted to Haydn, the quintessential classical period master, will warm us in winter. And we'll celebrate the renewal of spring with 'new Italian'-style early baroque repertoire from both sides of the Alps."

The fall concert ("BarokOrkest") will be the concluding event of the 2017 New York Early Music Celebration (NYEMC), coordinated by the Early Music Foundation (EMF). Many of the city's finest early music artists and ensembles, as well as guest performers from Belgium and the Netherlands, will participate in the biannual festival, whose theme this time is "The Low Countries - Flanders & Holland." The Celebration runs from Friday, October 13 through Sunday, October 22. More information can be found at: www.NYEMC.org

Subscriptions and single tickets for the 2017-2018 Early Music New York season
are on sale now, and can be ordered: on the secure Early Music Foundation website: EarlyMusicNY.org; by telephone: 212-280-0330; or by mail: Early Music Foundation | 10 West 68th Street | New York, NY 10023.

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2017-2018 Season Details

FALL 2017

BAROKORKEST
18th-Century Flanders & Holland

(concluding event of The New York Early Music Celebration 2017:
The Low Countries - Flanders & Holland)

Guest artist Barthold Kuijken, flute

Sunday, October 22nd at 5:00 pm
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th Street

EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK [EM/NY] performs chamber orchestra works by outstanding composers who flourished in the Dutch and Flemish capitals during the 18th century, including De Fesch, Van Wassenaer, Groneman, De Croes, Hellendaal and Van Maldere...many known to, and esteemed by, Haydn and Mozart.

BURGUNDIAN CHRISTMAS
Renaissance in the Low Countries

Saturday, December 9th at 7:30 pm
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th Street
&
Sunday, December 10th at 2:00 pm ~ Sunday, December 17th at 2:00 pm
Monday, December 25th at 2:00 pm ~ Monday, December 25th at 5:00 pm
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Amsterdam Ave at 112th Street, in Saint James Chapel

Continuing EM/NY's fall focus on Holland and Flanders, Burgundian Christmas presents sacred and secular Renaissance holiday motets and carols for voices and instruments. The four performances of this program at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where the group is "artist in residence," take place in the intimate and ambient St. James Chapel.

SPRING 2018

HAYDN IN ESTERHÁZY
Genial Kapellmeister

Saturday, March 3rd at 7:30 pm
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th Street

"Papa" Haydn, with his unique combination of genius and geniality, spent much of his career on the remote Esterházy estate in Hungary, developing some of the freshest, most original music of his time. The program will include a symphony, a concerto, and some lesser-known works from the beloved master.

MONTEVERDI ECHOES
Venice to Vienna

Saturday, May 5th at 7:30 pm
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th Street

The 'new' Italian style promoted by Monteverdi and his contemporaries quickly made its way across the Alps, as Italians were engaged by Austrian and German courts, influencing northern European composers. In addition to Monteverdi, composers will include Carlo Farina, whose Capriccio Stravagante for strings features imitations of wind instruments, birds, barking dogs and howling cats.

[programs subject to change]

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Frederick Renz, Founder/Director of the Early Music Foundation, is internationally acclaimed for his work as a conductor, producer, director, performer and scholar, presenting music and music drama from the eleventh through the eighteenth centuries. He has received commissions from the Spoleto Festival, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, individual grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and awarded a doctorate honoris causa by the State University of New York, Fredonia.

Now in its forty-third season, Early Music New York reaps international acclaim for vibrant and provocative performances of historically informed repertoire from the medieval through the classical eras.

Early Music Foundation (EMF), a not-for-profit organization founded in 1974, is Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City. Under the leadership of Frederick Renz, EMF's mission is to foster public understanding and appreciation of music and music drama from the 11th through the 18th centuries. EMF presents the historical performance ensemble and orchestra EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK - FREDERICK RENZ, DIRECTOR; a recording label, Ex cathedra Records; and a service to the field project "New York Early Music Central" (NYEMC), sponsoring/managing city-wide festivals serving the NYC historically informed artist community.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist is located in the heart of the Lincoln Square neighborhood, within the landmark Central Park West Historic District. Designed by Frederick R. Comstock, the copper-domed Beaux-Arts-style edifice dates from the turn of the 20th century, when it was built and originally dedicated as the Second Church of Christ, Scientist.

About its square-proportioned auditorium, NYC-Arts says, "With raked seating, First Church of Christ, Scientist's ambient and acoustical clarity is an ideal venue for chamber and orchestra performance."

The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, adjacent to the Columbia University campus in Morningside Heights, is more than a century old but still a work in progress. Already the largest Cathedral in the world, it was declared a landmark by The New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee in 2017. EM/NY performs in the Chapel of Saint James, one of the oldest parts of the Cathedral (consecrated in 1916), described as "acoustically vibrant" by The New York Times.