Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's (LACO) Baroque Conversations series features the United States debut of 17-year-old Dutch recorder virtuoso Lucie Horsch in a program of Vivaldi, Handel, Purcell and Sammartini led by Grammy-winning conductor and early music specialist Stephen Stubbs on Thursday, March 2, 2017, 7:30 pm, at Zipper Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Horsch, the first recorder player ever signed to the prestigious Decca Classics label, is featured on Vivaldi's Concerto in C major for Recorder and Strings and Concerto in G minor for Recorder and Strings, "La Notte" as well as Sammartini's Concerto in F major for Recorder and Strings. Stubbs also conducts Purcell's Suite from The Fairy Queen and Vivaldi's Concerto in C major for Strings. Former LACO Principal Oboe Allan Vogel serves as guest host, offering commentary to open the program and moderating the post-concert Q&A.
Stubbs, hailed for his "warm, well-paced" conducting (The Seattle Times), is one of the world's most respected lutenists, conductors and baroque opera specialists. After enjoying a 30-year career in Europe, he returned to his native Seattle in 2006, where he established Pacific MusicWorks, a Production Company that reflects his lifelong interest in both early music and contemporary performance. Stubbs is also the Boston Early Music Festival's (BEMF) permanent artistic co-director along with his long-time colleague Paul O'Dette, with whom he serves as co-musical director of all BEMF operas and recordings, which have garnered three Grammy Award nominations, and earned a Grammy for Best Opera Recording 2015. His extensive discography as conductor and solo lutenist includes more than 100 recordings. In 2013, Stubbs was appointed Senior Artist in Residence at the University of Washington School of Music. Horsch, winner of the 2016 Concertgebouw Young Talent Award, has been described as "the latest big thing in recorder playing" (The Guardian). She is considered one of the most remarkable musical talents of her generation and already in great demand internationally as a solo recorder player. She has performed at the Early Music Festival in Innsbruck, Austria; the Next Generation Festival in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland; the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam; the International Chambermusic Festival Utrecht; the International Organ Festival Haarlem; and the Flanders Festival in Ghent, among others. Horsch was also chosen to perform in the televised farewell concert for the former Queen Beatrix, appearing as a soloist with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble. An ambassador for the recorder, she is eager to break down preconceptions about the instrument, experimenting with contemporary repertoire, jazz and pop music. She plays on recorders built by Fred Morgan, Doris Kulossa, Stephan Blezinger and Seiji Shirao, which she acquired with the generous support of the Prins Bernhard Foundation. She also uses a specially designed tenor flute from Tokyo. From a musical family, her parents are both cellists and her father is principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.Videos