The San Francisco Early Music Society to Welcome Back Quicksilver in January

The San Francisco Early Music Society has announced the return engagement of Quicksilver, "revered like rock stars within the early music scene" (The New York Times). Led by violinists Robert Mealy and Julie Andrijeski, the ensemble will perform a program titled The (very) First Viennese School, featuring music from the courts of Holy Roman Emperors Matthias to Leopold I: works by Valentini, Bertali, Buonamente, Pandolfi, Kerll, Legrenzi, Fux, Muffat and Schmelzer. Quicksilver performs at 8:00 pm Friday, January 29at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto; at 7:30 pm Saturday, January 30 at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley; and at 4:00 pm Sunday, January 31 at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Individual tickets from $34 to $40 as well as three-concert subscription packages are available for purchase online at SFEMS.org.

Quicksilver has designed a program that explores the lesser-known generations of composers and musicians who lived in Vienna in the 17th century. Long before the Vienna of Mozart and Haydn there was the Vienna of Italian-born composers like Buonamente, Bertali, Valentini and Melli, and native-born Germans like Schmelzer, Kerll, Muffat and Fux. The Holy Roman Emperors of the 17th century were great music lovers and connoisseurs who commissioned "a rich feast of sumptuous sonatas and ingenious ballets," write Mealy and Andrijeski in a program note.

The marriage of Ferdinand II to Eleonora Gonzaga in 1622 ushered in this period that is sometimes called "the first Viennese school." Eleonora brought with her to Vienna the composers Buonamente, Valentini and Melli, who introduced the Hapsburg court to the dramatic language of Monteverdi's stile moderno.

The last 40 years of the century witnessed the reign of Leopold I, who oversaw the presentation of "more than 400 musical dramas...including operas, oratorios, ballets, and Carnival entertainments." His court musicians included Johan Kaspar Kerll and Johann Jacob Fux, "a remarkable figure [who] deserves far more recognition for his music than he has yet received."

On Friday and Saturday, organist Avi Stein will play Muffat's Passacaglia from Apparatus Musico-Organisticus, but in Sunday's concert in San Francisco he will perform instead Bach's Passacaglia, BWV 582.

The members of Quicksilver include Robert Mealy and Julie Andrijeski, violins; Greg Ingles, trombone; David Morris, viola da gamba; Avi Stein, harpsichord and organ; Dominic Teresi, dulcian; and Charles Weaver, theorbo and baroque guitar.

NEXT CONCERT

February 19 - 21 | Ensemble Caprice

Founded by acclaimed recorder soloist Matthias Maute, the Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice performs a program titled "Salsa Baroque: Music of Latin America and Spain." During the 16th and 17th centuries, the blend of European polyphony and Latin American traditional music created a unique style that is exemplified by the villancicos of the Bolivian composer Juan de Araujo and his contemporaries. Also included on the program are sonatas by Locatelli and Falconieri, two European composers influenced by this Latin American style.

ABOUT QUICKSILVER

Praised for "impeccable, soulful playing" (The New York Times), Quicksilver brings together leading historically-informed performers in North America today, vibrantly exploring the rich chamber music repertoire from the early modern period to the High Baroque. The ensemble has been featured at numerous music series and prestigious festivals, and will make its debut at Carnegie Hall in 2017. Quicksilver's debut recording, Stile Moderno: new music from the seventeenth century was described as "Breakthrough of the Year... breathtaking" (Huffington Post). Quicksilver's new recording, Fantasticus: Extravagant and Virtuosic Music from 17th Century Germany has been named one of The New Yorker's Top Ten Recordings of 2014 and praised as "Fantasticus, indeed" (Gramophone).

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO EARLY MUSIC SOCIETY

Founded in 1975, SFEMS is the leading early music community-based service and membership organization in the US. Under the direction of Executive Director Harvey Malloy and President Robert Cole, it is the focal institution in Northern California 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.