Shriver Hall Concert Series Opens 22-23 Season with Baltimore Debuts of Flutist Emi Ferguson & Continuo Band Ruckus, October 2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com

Shriver Hall Concert Series Opens
2022-23 Season with Baltimore Debuts of
Flutist Emi Ferguson & Continuo Band Ruckus

All-Bach Program on Sunday, October 2 at Shriver Hall

“achingly delicate one moment, punchy and incisive the next”
– The New York Times

www.shriverconcerts.org

Baltimore, MD (August 22, 2022) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — opens its 2022-23 season with a concert featuring flutist Emi Ferguson and continuo band Ruckus, who make their Baltimore debuts at Shriver Hall on Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 5:30pm. A pre-concert talk takes place at 4:30pm and is open to all ticket holders.

Ferguson and Ruckus will join forces for a kaleidoscopic romp through a stunning collection of J.S. Bach’s most joyous and transcendent works, including his three flute and continuo sonatas, BWV 1033, 1034, and 1035. These works and their accompanying preludes (arranged by Ferguson and Ruckus) each inhabit their own artistic world, and represent very distinct stages and aspects of Bach’s life.

Bach’s E-minor Sonata, BWV 1034 (1724) is musical architecture at its most grand. Likely written during his early Leipzig years, this sonata has the weight of his larger musical sermons, and its technical sophistication shows the hand of a seasoned craftsman. Written in 1741 is the E-major Sonata, BWV 1035, which is sensual, simple in form, and perfumed with luxurious harmony. There is a galant breeziness throughout, yet the harmonic twists and melodic interplay between flute and bass reveal Bach’s love for thorny, contrapuntal music. Falling somewhere in between the poles of the two aforementioned sonatas is the slightly more anachronistic C-major Sonata, BWV 1033. Open-hearted, inviting, and full of grace and generosity, this sonata features an unusually simple continuo line that may have been composed by Bach’s son, a young C.P.E. Bach, as part of his studies (around 1731) in response to an existing solo flute work by his father.

“These sonatas are often introduced to flute players at a young age and while they are beloved standards in the repertoire, they continue to challenge and inspire with their capacity for individual interpretation,” Emi Ferguson and Clay Zeller-Townson write. “The way that we share them today is by no means the only way to play these pieces, and is our unique take on them, but we think our interpretation shows and augments all the characters and colors that these sonatas are naturally imbued with, turning them into true ensemble pieces.

Sprinkled throughout the program are Ferguson and Ruckus’ arrangements of iconic and obscure keyboard works by Bach. These include movements from the Well-Tempered Clavier, the iconic Aria from Goldberg Variations, addenda from his French Suites, and early drafts of pieces found in the Anna Magdalena and Wilhelm Friedrich notebooks.

“Bach’s love of family and friends is evident in his writing, and our arrangements of these keyboard works are our love letter and homage to the sense of community imbued in his writing and work,” Ferguson and Zeller-Townson share.

The New York Times describes Ferguson as “a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination”, while Ruckus – whose forces include theorbos, baroque guitars, baroque bassoon, cello, viola da gamba, harpsichord, organ, and bass – has earned widespread acclaim for its fresh, visceral approach. In baroque music, a continuo serves as the accompaniment that provides a baseline for the other parts and adds harmony. Says Ferguson and Zeller-Townson, “The use of continuo in a composition is an open-ended invitation from composers that allows ensembles the freedom to orchestrate, to shrink and grow from one person to large groups of a variety of bass instruments.” The array of possibilities makes it achievable for Ruckus to explode Bach’s bass line into a dazzling display of colors. Ruckus’ 2019 debut album, Fly the Coop, was a collaboration with Ferguson that featured Bach sonatas and preludes.

For the 22-23 season, SHCS offers the Concert Streaming Option as an exclusive Subscription Benefit for mainstage concerts taking place at Shriver Hall.

SHCS’ 22-23 season continues with performances including: cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih on Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 5:30pm; the Baltimore debuts of bass-baritone Davóne Tines and pianist Adam Nielsen on Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 5:30pm; Grammy-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov on Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 5:30pm; the Dover Quartet and double-bassist Joseph Conyers, in his Baltimore debut, on Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 5:30pm; the Baltimore debut of Grammy-nominated Tetzlaff-Tetzlaff-Vogt Trio – made up of violinist Christian Tetzlaff, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and pianist Lars Vogt – on Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 5:30pm; pianist Piotr Anderszewski on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 5:30pm; and Grammy-nominated quintet Imani Winds on Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 5:30pm.

Shriver’s 22-23 free Discovery Series includes 2022 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition-winner tubist Jasmine Piggot on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 3:00pm at the Baltimore Museum of Art; 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and youngest ever winner of the National Sphinx Competition cellist Sterling Elliott, who makes his Baltimore debut, and pianist Elliot Wuu on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 3:00pm at UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall; and the Thalea String Quartet on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 3:00pm also at UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall.

Concert Information

Emi Ferguson, flute and Ruckus (Baltimore Debuts)
Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 5:30pm
Pre-concert talk at 4:30pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $269 Subscription; $44 General Admission; $10 Students
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/ruckus 

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH:
     The Craftsman, BWV 1034 (c. 1724)
     Prelude in G major, after BWV 884
     Sonata in E minor, BWV 1034
     Prelude in E minor, after BWV 855
     Sonata in E minor, BWV 1034

     The Teacher and the Student, BWV 1033 (c. 1717/1731)
     Prelude in C minor, after BWV 999
     Prelude in C minor, after BWV 847
     Aria from Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
     Sonata in C major, BWV 1033
     Variation 30, “Quodlibet” from Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

     The Eccentric, BWV 1035 (c. 1741)
     Prelude from Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012
     Adagio from Sonata in D major, BWV 1039
     Sonata in E major, BWV 1035
     Prelude in E major, after BWV 815a

Emi Ferguson, flute
Ruckus
     Doug Balliett, bass
     Adam Cockerham, theorbo
     Elliot Figg, harpsichord/organ
     Coleman Itzkoff, cello
     Paul Holmes Morton, baroque guitar
     Clay Zeller-Townson, founder & baroque bassoon

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
For more than 50 years, Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) has been “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” (The Baltimore Sun) and the area’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with a mission to craft performances and educational programs at the highest level of excellence. A 5-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue, the coveted subscription series features many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles, presented in The Johns Hopkins University’s Shriver Hall. 

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Bueding, a pharmacologist at The Johns Hopkins University, and a group of similarly dedicated music enthusiasts, SHCS set out to make an important contribution to the vitality of an already vibrant city. When flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal walked onto the stage of Shriver Hall for the first concert, more than 1,100 people witnessed the launch of what is now recognized as a remarkable success story: Shriver Hall Concert Series. In the succeeding years SHCS has presented hundreds of acclaimed and emerging international artists in classical chamber music and recitals and a legacy of important debuts and premieres. In addition, SHCS collaborates with local schools and subsidizes hundreds of student tickets each season. 

The list of artists presented by SHCS is remarkable—Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Ewa Podlés, Maurizio Pollini, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Rudolf Serkin, Janos Starker, Daniil Trifonov, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Ax, Alban Berg Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and Quartetto Italiano, among many others. SHCS also has a history of championing important musicians early in their careers, including Richard Goode, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, Dawn Upshaw, Lang Lang, and the Emerson String Quartet. Commissioned composers include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Leshnoff, James Lee III, Hannah Lash, Caroline Shaw, and Nina C. Young.

Designed specifically for the community, SHCS offers the Discovery Series, a series of free concerts presented in venues throughout the region focused on artists emerging on the national and international scene. Artists featured include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Colin Currie, Xavier Foley, Eric Lu, and the Dover Quartet. SHCS also offers the annual Spring Lecture Series, a series of free talks focused on annual topics related to the intersection of music and society, and a variety of student programs.

For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

About Emi Ferguson
Hailed by critics for her “tonal bloom” and “hauntingly beautiful performances,” English-American performer and composer Emi Ferguson stretches the boundaries of what is expected of modern-day musicians. Emi’s unique approach to the flute can be heard in performances that alternate between the Silver Flute, Historical Flutes, and Auxiliary Flutes, playing repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to today.

Emi can be heard live in concerts and festivals around the world as a soloist and with groups including AMOC*, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Handel and Haydn Society, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. She has spoken and performed at several TEDX events and has been featured on media outlets including The Discovery Channel, Vox's "Explained" series on Netflix, Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Juilliard Digital's TouchPress apps talking about how music relates to our world today. Her debut album, Amour Cruel, an indie-pop song cycle inspired by the music of the 17th century French court was released by Arezzo Music in September 2017, spending four weeks on the Classical, Classical Crossover, and World Music Billboard Charts. Her 2019 album Fly the Coop: Bach Sonatas and Preludes, a collaboration with continuo band Ruckus, debuted at #1 on the iTunes classical charts and #2 on the Billboard classical charts, and was called “blindingly impressive…a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” by The New York Times.

Emi was a featured performer alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Simon, and James Taylor at the 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony of 9/11 at Ground Zero, where her performance of Amazing Grace was televised worldwide. Her performance that day is now part of the permanent collection at the 9/11 Museum. Emi is currently on the faculty of The Juilliard School teaching Ear Training, the Bach Virtuosi Festival, and has taught on the faculty of the University of Buffalo. Her principal teachers have been Carol Wincenc, Sandra Miller, Robert Langevin, and Judy Grant. Born in Japan and raised in London and Boston, she now resides in New York City. Her website is emiferguson.com.

About Ruckus
Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music. The ensemble debuted in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in a production directed by Christopher Alden featuring Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ambur Braid, and Davóne Tines at National Sawdust. The band’s playing earned widespread critical acclaim: “achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” (New York Times); “superb” (Opera News).

Ruckus’ core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon and bass. Other members include soloists of the violin, flute and oboe. The ensemble aims to fuse the early-music movement’s questing, creative spirit with the grit, groove and jangle of American roots music, creating a unique sound of “rough-edged intensity” (New Yorker). Its members are assembled from among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music, and is based in New York City.

Ruckus’ debut album, Fly the Coop, a collaboration with flutist Emi Ferguson, was Billboard’s #2 Classical album upon its release. Live performances of Fly the Coop in Cambridge, MA was described as “a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” (New York Times).

"Ruckus brought continuo playing to not simply a new level, but a revelatory new dimension of dynamism altogether… an eruption of pure, pulsing hoedown joy … Wit, panache, and the jubilant, virtuosic verve of a bebop-Baroque jam session electrified and illuminated previously candle-lit edifices as Ruckus and friends raised the roof, and my mind’s eye will never see those structures in quite the same light again.” (Boston Musical Intelligencer)

With "Holy Manna," a program including arrangements of early American hymns from the shape-note tradition, Ruckus has begun a multi-project exploration of histories of American music. Other upcoming projects include a co-commission of a large-scale work by pioneering artist and NEA Jazz Master Roscoe Mitchell as part of a Bach / Bird Festival (with The Metropolis Ensemble and the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet). The group's website is ruckusearlymusic.org.

Photo at top of release: Emi Ferguson and Ruckus by Aleksandr Degtyarev

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