San Francisco Early Music Society Announces 2017-18 Season

One of the nation's leading organizations for the advancement of early music, the San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS) has announced the program for its 2017-18 Concert Season featuring some of the most exciting early music practitioners here and abroad in seven wide-ranging programs. The season runs from October 20 through May 6, with each program presented in Palo Alto, Berkeley and San Francisco.

The venerable Aulos Ensemble, celebrating its 44th anniversary this year, opens SFEMS' new season on October 20 with a program devoted to "Handel and His World," including contributions by Purcell and Telemann. Los Angeles-based Ciaramella follows the weekend of November 17 with a program highlighting German music composed around the time of the Protestant Reformation.

In lieu of a Christmas concert program, SFEMS' 2017-18 Season will celebrate the mystery and wonder of the new year with interpretations of medieval and early Renaissance music by Vajra Voices joined by harpist and vielle player Shira Kammen and Kit Higginson on recorder and psaltery. Next, the weekend of February 2, Agave Baroque will be joined by star countertenor Reginald Mobley in an emotionally charged program exploring the stylus fantasticus that evolved in the countries and territories ravaged by the Thirty Years' War: works by Johann Christoph Bach, David Pohle, Johann Pachelbel and more.

Baroque oboist Debra Nagy returns with Les Délices, March 2-4, in a program exploring the French Rococo, works full of wit and elegance by François-André Philidor, Jean-Philippe Rameau and more. April's concert, the weekend of the 6th, features Wildcat Viols, bringing together three of the Bay Area's most esteemed early string specialists, Joanna Blendulf, Julie Jeffrey and Elisabeth Reed, together with guest Annalisa Pappano, in a program of music for the viol consort from the second half of the 17th century: Henry Purcell's "Fantazias of four parts," Matthew Locke's "Magnifick consort of 4 parts," and Giovanni Legrenzi's "Sonate à quatro viole da gamba."

SFEMS' 2017-18 Season culminates the weekend of May 4 with a special event, three concerts with Czech soprano Hana Blažíková and cornettist Bruce Dickey. The program includes 17th-century motets and madrigals, as well as some rare, late 17th-century arias from operas and oratorios with obbligato parts written explicitly for the cornetto. Composers include Biagio Marini, Nicolò Corradini, Giovanni Battista Bassani, Giacomo Carissimi, Tarquinio Merula, Alessandro Scarlatti and Maurizio Cazzati.

"In a season spanning seven centuries, our artists explore some important and intriguing moments of social and musical transformation," said SFEMS Executive Director Harvey Malloy. "The upheavals of the Reformation and the 30 Years' War; the pregnant interval at the end of the baroque era, when the rules of Classical composition had not yet been written; the apotheosis of an arcane art or instrument on the eve of its dissolution: these are some of the watershed events this season spotlights. Throughout history, in uncertain times, music interprets and responds-with anguish, hope, comfort, contemplation and celebration."

Each ensemble in SFEMS' concert season receives three presentations: Friday nights in Palo Alto at First Presbyterian Church on Cowper Street; Saturday nights in Berkeley at either St. John's Presbyterian Church on College Avenue or St. Mary Magdalen Church on Berryman Street; and Sunday afternoons in San Francisco at either St. Mark's Lutheran Church on O'Farrell or the Church of the Advent on Fell Street. The exception is the final program of the season. The Friday concert will take place in San Francisco at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, and Sunday's concert will take place at 2:30 p.m. at Stanford University's Bing Concert Hall.

Individual tickets for SFEMS' six main concerts are $45 general admission with discounts for seniors, students and SFEMS members. May's concerts with Blažíková and Dickey are $50 general admission. SFEMS also offers discounts to season subscribers. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit sfems.org or call 510-528-1725.

In addition to its six-concert season, SFEMS will also continue its partnership with the California Jazz Conservatory, presenting monthly Sunday afternoon concerts of early music with an eye to the improvisational common thread that links early music and jazz. For more information, visit sfems.org. Complete details about the upcoming concert season follow below.

October 20 -22 | THE AULOS ENSEMBLE
Founded in 1973, The Aulos Ensemble was one of the first American "original instrument" ensembles. Its accomplishments over the past four decades have given it preeminence in the early music movement. The Ensemble opens SFEMS 2017-18 concert season with a program devoted to "Handel and His World," featuring selections from Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen, one of Telemann's New Paris Quartets, and a great deal of fine chamber music for three and four voices by both Handel and Telemann.

November 17 - 19 | CIARAMELLA
Praised for performing intricate 15th-century counterpoint "with the ease of jazz musicians improvising on a theme," Ciaramella specializes in medieval and early Renaissance music. Founded on a core of winds-shawm, sackbut, recorder, organ, and voice-Ciaramella is directed by Adam and Rotem Gilbert, faculty in the Early Music Program at USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. For their November concerts Ciaramella will perform a program of German music composed shortly before and after a watershed year in European history - 1517, the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Included are songs of love, lust and devotion from the Lochamer Liederbuch, the Schedel Liederbuch, the Glogauer Liederbuch, the Songbook of Anna of Cologne and the Kodex Leopold. The program also includes works of Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer and Ludwig Senfl, topped off with popular dances collected and arranged by Michael Praetorius.

January 5 - 7 | VAJRA VOICES with Shira Kammen and Kit Higginson
Under the direction of Karen Clark, the women's vocal ensemble Vajra Voices sings medieval to modern music in a singing style inspired by Hildegard von Bingen that is "clear, sweet and strong." For SFEMS' first concerts of 2018 the ensemble will celebrate the mystery and wonder of the new year together with harpist and vielle player Shira Kammen and Kit Higginson on recorder and psaltery. This program includes florid chant, luscious French motets, chansons of Dufay, such as "Bon Jour, bon mois, bon an," and beautiful Middle English poems.

February 2 - 4 | AGAVE BAROQUE with Reginald Mobley
Based in the Bay Area, Agave Baroque specializes in string chamber music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Agave has received numerous awards and accolades, and gained local and national attention for its "rapturous music," "brilliant... profound playing" (EMA Magazine), and growing discography. Now in its ninth season, Agave continues its fruitful affiliations with star countertenor Reginald Mobley with whom it will perform an emotionally charged program exploring the stylus fantasticus that evolved in the countries and territories ravaged by the Thirty Years' War: works by Johann Christoph Bach, David Pohle, Johann Pachelbel and more.

March 2 - 4 | LES DÉLICES
Founded by baroque oboist Debra Nagy in 2009, Les Délices has established its reputation for "concerts and recordings...that are journeys of discovery" (The New York Times). The group's debut CD was named one of the "Top Ten Early Music Discoveries of 2009" (NPR's Harmonia), and their performances have been called "a beguiling experience" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), "astonishing" (Cleveland Classical), and "first class" (EMA Magazine). For its March concerts the group will perform a collection of daring, experimental works from the French Rococo, works full of wit and elegance by François-André Philidor, Jean-Philippe Rameau and more.

April 6 - 8 | WILDCAT VIOLS
Wildcat Viols was formed in 2003, bringing together three of the Bay Area's most esteemed early string specialists, Joanna Blendulf, Julie Jeffrey and Elisabeth Reed, with guest Annalisa Pappano. The ensemble will perform a program of music for the viol consort from the second half of the 17th century: Henry Purcell's "Fantazias of four parts," Matthew Locke's "Magnifick consort of 4 parts," and Giovanni Legrenzi's "Sonate à quatro viole da gamba."

May 4 - 6 | HANA BLAŽÍKOVÁ & BRUCE DICKEY
Soprano Hana Blažíková is one of the world's top vocal specialists in baroque, Renaissance and medieval music, performing with ensembles and orchestras around the world, including Collegium Vocale Gent, Bach Collegium Japan, Sette Voci, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Collegium 1704, among others. Bruce Dickey is one of a handful of musicians worldwide who have dedicated themselves to reviving the cornetto-once an instrument of great virtuosi, but which lamentably fell into disuse in the 19th century. The revival began in the 1950s, but it was largely Dickey who, from the late 1970s, created a new renaissance of the instrument, allowing the agility and expressive power of the cornetto to be heard once again.

In this special event, Dickey and Blažíková perform a program of 17th-century motets and madrigals, as well as some rare, late 17th-century arias from operas and oratorios with obbligato parts written explicitly for the cornetto. Composers include Biagio Marini, Nicolò Corradini, Giovanni Battista Bassani, Giacomo Carissimi, Tarquinio Merula, Alessandro Scarlatti, and Maurizio Cazzati.

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO EARLY MUSIC SOCIETY
Founded in 1975, SFEMS is one of the nation's leading organizations for the advancement of historically informed performance of early music. Through its concert series, publications, outreach activities, affiliate support and educational programs SFEMS encourages the development of amateurs, supports professionals, and increases public involvement and participation in early music. SFEMS is the lead presenter of the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition of early music.
FACT SHEET

WHO:
The Aulos Ensemble

Christopher Krueger, flauto traverso and recorder
Marc Schachman, baroque oboe
Linda Quan, baroque violin
Myron Lutzke, baroque cello
Arthur Haas, harpsichord

PROGRAM:
Handel and His World

WHEN & WHERE:
Friday, October 20 | PALO ALTO
8 p.m. @ First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street

Saturday, October 21 | BERKELEY
7:30 p.m. @ St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Avenue

Sunday, October 22 | SAN FRANCISCO
4 p.m. @ St. Mark's Lutheran Church
1111 O'Farrell Street

* * *

WHO:
Ciaramella

Adam Gilbert, shawm, recorder & bagpipe
Rotem Gilbert, shawm, recorder & bagpipe
Malachai Komanoff Bandy, shawm, viola da gamba, hurdy-gurdy & bagpipe
Adam Bregman, sackbut & recorder
Aki Nishiguchi, shawm & recorder
Jason Yoshida, lute, guitar & percussion

PROGRAM:
1517-German Music Before and After the Reformation

WHEN & WHERE:
Friday, November 17 | PALO ALTO
8 p.m. @ First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street

Saturday, November 18 | BERKELEY
7:30 p.m. @ St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Avenue

Sunday, November 19 | SAN FRANCISCO
4 p.m. @ St. Mark's Lutheran Church
1111 O'Farrell Street

* * *

WHO:
Vajra Voices with Shira Kammen & Kit Higginson

Karen Clark, Director
Allison Zelles Lloyd, Amy Stuart Hunn, Cheryl Moore, Lindsey McLennan Burdick, Phoebe Jevtovic Rosquist and Celeste Winant, voices
Shira Kammen, vielle & harp
Kit Higginson, recorder, psaltery & jongleur

PROGRAM:
Annus Novus: One Yeare Begins-Medieval Poetry, Music & Magic to Ring in the New Year

WHEN & WHERE:
Friday, January 5 | PALO ALTO
8 p.m. @ First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street

Saturday, January 6 | BERKELEY
7:30 p.m. @ St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Avenue

Sunday, January 7 | SAN FRANCISCO
4 p.m. @ St. Mark's Lutheran Church
1111 O'Farrell Street

* * *

WHO:
Agave Baroque

AaRon Westman, Natalie Carducci, violins
William Skeen, cello & viola da gamba
Kevin Cooper, guitar & theorbo
Henry Lebedinsky, harpsichord & organ
Reginald Mobley, countertenor

PROGRAM:
Peace in our Time-Music of the Thirty Years War

WHEN & WHERE:
Friday, February 2 | PALO ALTO
8 p.m. @ First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street

Saturday, February 3 | BERKELEY
7:30 p.m. @ St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Avenue

Sunday, February 4 | SAN FRANCISCO
4 p.m. @ Church of the Advent
261 Fell Street

* * *

WHO:
Les Délices

Debra Nagy, baroque oboe
Julie Andrijeski and Adriane Post, baroque violin
Emily Walhout, viola da gamba
Mark Edwards, harpsichord

PROGRAM:
Age of Indulgence

WHEN & WHERE:
Friday, March 2 | PALO ALTO
8 p.m. @ First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street

Saturday, March 3 | BERKELEY
7:30 p.m. @ St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman Street

Sunday, March 4 | SAN FRANCISCO
4 p.m. @ Church of the Advent
261 Fell Street

* * *

WHO:
Wildcat Viols

Joanna Blendulf, treble viol
Julie Jeffrey, tenor viol
Annalisa Pappano, tenor viol
Elisabeth Reed, bass viol

PROGRAM:
The Magnifick Consort of Four Parts-Fantasies, Suites and Sonatas for viol quartet

WHEN & WHERE:
Friday, April 6 | PALO ALTO
8 p.m. @ First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street

Saturday, April 7 | BERKELEY
7:30 p.m. @ St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Avenue

Sunday, April 8 | SAN FRANCISCO
4 p.m. @ Church of the Advent
261 Fell Street

* * *

WHO:
Hana Blažíková and Bruce Dickey

Hana Blažíková, soprano
Bruce Dickey, cornetto
Ingrid Matthews and Tekla Cunningham, violins
Joanna Blendulf, viol
Michael Sponseller, organ & harpsichord
Stephen Stubbs, theorbo & guitar

PROGRAM:
Breathtaking-A Cornetto and a Voice Entwined

WHEN & WHERE:
Friday, May 4 | SAN FRANCISCO
8 p.m. @ St. Mark's Lutheran Church
1111 O'Farrell at Gough

Saturday, May 5 | BERKELEY
7:30 p.m. @ St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman Street

Sunday, May 6 | PALO ALTO
2:30 p.m. @ Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University
327 Lasuen Street

* * *

TICKETS:
Individual tickets: $15 - $50
$45 General ($50 for the concerts May 4-6)
$40.50 Seniors
$38.25 SFEMS Members
$15 Students

Memberships and subscriptions for three or more concerts are available with discounts up to 25%.

Tickets may be purchased online at sfems.org or by phone at 510-528-1725. The box office may also be reached by email at tickets@sfems.org.

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