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Press Releases
New York Early Music Celebration 2019
NYEMC Advance Notice
Padraic Costello, Public Relations
Early Music Foundation (EMF) is pleased to announce the seventh NEW YORK EARLY MUSIC CELEBRATION [NYEMC], to coincide with EMF's 45th anniversary. The theme of this seventh festival project will be:
Ex Borealis: The Nordic and Baltic Regions
Saturday, October 5 through Saturday, October 26, 2019
NYEMC has again arranged for select foreign guest artists and ensembles to join the festivities, including recorder player BOLETTE ROED and the COPENHAGEN CAMERATA ensemble from Denmark, Norwegian cornettist ALEXANDRA OPSAHL, and the vocal ensemble HEINAVANKER from Estonia. New York-based instrumental ensembles participating in this year's program include EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK, GOLD AND GLITTER, ACRONYM, ABENDMUSIK, and NEW AMSTERDAM CONSORT. Vocal ensembles include MUSICA SACRA, COLLECTIO MUSICORUM, and the CHOIR OF SAINT LUKE IN THE FIELDS. Several educational components will also take place during the festival, including AMHERST EARLY MUSIC's annual "CityRecorder!" weekend workshop, and a guest lecture by musicologist BERTIL VAN BOER, preeminent scholar of early Scandinavian symphonic works. The 7th NYEMC is a service project of the EARLY MUSIC FOUNDATION. The primary partner for this year's Celebration is the American-Scandinavian Foundation. This project is made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and Celebration consulate and foundation partners. Presenting partners for "Ex Borealis - The Nordic and Baltic Regions" include Music Before 1800, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia's Miller Theater, and Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS). Further information about NYEMC 2019 can be found at www.NYEMC.org
    About the New York Early Music Celebration An EMF Service-to-the-Field project, this festival is designed to showcase New York’s historically informed performance artists, ensembles and presenters. In the Celebration’s 2004 inaugural year, EMF organized a city-wide early music celebration that spawned sixty-plus events. In 2007, the number of participants grew to more than ninety. In 2010, EMF together with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Concerts & Lectures and Musical Instruments Departments combined resources to co-produce a day-long Early Music Festival. In 2013, the festival concept was enhanced by introducing a national theme, Pro Musica Polonica, with select foreign guests. The 2015 festival’s national theme was titled El Nuevo Mundo, showcasing music and ensembles from Latin America and Iberia; and the 2017 festival was titled The Low Countries, featuring music and guest artists from Flanders and Holland. This forthcoming event, as in previous years, is open to all NYC historical performance artists and presenters, and will include participation by Nordic and Baltic guest artists selected and invited by Mr. Renz. All New York-based historical performance artists, ensembles, and presenters are invited to schedule events during this period. With twenty-three events presently scheduled, we anticipate this seventh Celebration endeavor will be another noteworthy event – an opportunity for the New York Early Music Community to reinforce its presence, qualitative and quantitative, on the City’s cultural scene. The Nordic/Baltic sub-theme for this Celebration is intended to tap and expose a rich repertory resource not performed as frequently in New York. Several New York early music artists have chosen to present all-Nordic and/or Baltic-themed programs. However, programming of Nordic and/or Baltic repertoire is not a proviso for Celebration inclusion.
- Frederick Renz New York Early Music Central A Project of the Early Music Foundation • Frederick Renz, Founding Director 212-749-6600 • www.NYEMC.org * “early music,” in the context of this Celebration, is defined as repertoire from the first written music through the year 1800, interpreted with adherence to historically informed performance practices.
Schedule of Events Saturday, October 5 at 4:15 PM and 8:00 PM GOLD AND GLITTER "Northern Lights" - New York early music veterans Sang Joon Park, Daniel Lee, Martha McGaughey, and Arthur Haas present baroque chamber music by composers with ties to the Royal Courts of Denmark and the Baltics: Dietrich Buxtehude, Georg Philipp Telemann, and Johann Valentin Meder. Sonatas by J.S. and brother Johann Jacob Bach round out the program.
Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church, 152 West 66th Street off BroadwaySaturday, October 5 at 7:30 PM HOUSE OF TIME "Transcendent Bach III" - House of Time continues its mission of re-creating Bach's imaginary trio sonatas and expanding the repertoire of chamber music by the greatest of Baroque masters. This program includes new versions of trios in G major and C minor, and the great Chaconne, the Everest of the baroque violin's repertoire.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 3 West 65th Street at Central Park WestSunday, October 6 at 4:00 PM Music Before 1800 presents ACRONYM "Cantica Nova: Discoveries from Uppsala's Düben Manuscripts" In 1732, Gustaf Düben, the last of his family to serve as hovkapellmästare at the Swedish Court, gave his collection to Uppsala University. This trove contains 1,800 works by famous and obscure composers. ACRONYM, ever dedicated to finding repertory on the wild side, performs sonatas and cantatas by Capricornus, Schmelzer, Carissimi, and others. Founded in 2010, the ensemble delights with its vivacious, heartfelt style.
Corpus Christi Church, 529 West 121st Street off BroadwayThursday, October 10 at 1:15 PM Midtown Concerts presents COLLECTIO MUSICORUM "Music of Robert Johnson--the Heretic Priest" - Robert Johnson was a 16th Scottish composer/priest who escaped execution for heresy by escaping to England. His music and memory has been unearthed by the musicologist Elaine Moohan from English and continental collections. Collectio Musicorum has exclusive permission to perform from these manuscripts.
The Chapel at St. Bartholomew's Church, Park Avenue at 50th StreetFriday, October 11 at 8:00 PM ABENDMUSIK "Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares Figured in Seaven Passionate Pavans" - There is no doubt that one of the most popular melodies associated with the Elizabethan period is John Dowland's setting of "Lachrimae" or "Flow My Teares." Dowland published his instrumental "Lachrimae" collection around 1605 when he was in the service of the King of Denmark, Christian IV. Join Abendmusik as it explores the music from this collection, addresses the questions about its provenance and place in music history, and Dowland's relationship with Denmark.
<Church of Sweden in New York, 5 East 48th Street off 5th AvenueSaturday, October 12 at 7:30 PM NEW AMSTERDAM CONSORT "An Early Quartet" - The New Amsterdam Consort performs four-part music by Castello, Telemann, Handel, and others. Since their debut in 2018, this group of young Juilliard graduates has earned a reputation for their impeccable and lively one-on-a-part performances of repertoire spanning the 16th through 18th centuries.
St. John's in the Village, 218 West 11th Street off Waverly PlaceThursday, October 17 at 1:15 PM Midtown Concerts presents TALISMAN MEDIEVAL "Breathing Life into Medieval Icons" - Join Talisman Medieval for a diverse journey through medieval sound and place featuring harps, citole, hurdy gurdy, medieval bagpipes, voices and more, from evocative music of the 12th to 15th centuries, as well as medieval and fantasy-inspired compositions by David Yardley.
The Chapel at St. Bartholomew's Church, Park Avenue at 50th StreetThursday, October 17 at 7:30 PM Early Music Foundation presents COPENHAGEN CAMERATA Sofia Söderberg directs the Danish Copenhagen Camerata Chamber Choir in their international debut concert featuring early Scandinavian hymns and folk songs.
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th StreetFriday, October 18 at 8:00 PM COLLECTIO MUSICORUM "Early Music from Scotland" - The chamber ensemble Collectio Musicorum presents a concert of early music from Scotland. Much of the program is dedicated to music from the 12th century, when the northern portions of Scotland were under the control of Scandinavian kings. Music by Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son, James VI, will also be heard, as well as newly discovered music by the prolific composer and heretical priest Robert Johnson, and pieces by Roderick Morison, also called “The Blind Harper,” who lived at the turn of the eighteenth century.
Christ and St. Stephen's Church, 120 West 69th street between Columbus and BroadwaySaturday, October 19 at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM Metropolitan Museum of Art presents HEINAVANKER "Listening to the six-member vocal ensemble Heinavanker, 'angelic' is not an overstatement....you are awed that only six voices can create so much musical power." —The Pulse; This stunning Estonian a cappella ensemble performs timeless compositions including runic songs and folk hymns. Presented in the intimate and magical Fuentidueña Chapel, these unusual voices create a sonic environment that is both ethereal and deeply human.
The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park, 99 Margaret Corbin DriveSaturday, October 19 at 6:00 PM Early Music Foundation presents LYDIA & ANDREA The duo 'lydia & Andrea' performs early Swedish folk music on fiddle and nyckelharpa, a traditional Swedish bowed key harp related to the hurdy-gurdy, in the intimate Swedish Church of Manhattan.
Church of Sweden in New York, 5 East 48th Street off 5th AvenueSaturday, October 19 at 8:00 PM Miller Theatre presents VOX LUMINIS "Stabat Mater" - The first piece Belgian ensemble Vox Luminis ever sang together was Stabat Mater, Scarlatti’s masterpiece about the Virgin Mary that pays homage to the great tradition of polyphony. This signature work anchors a collection of powerfully moving compositions depicting the suffering of the Mother of God at the foot of the cross, fittingly performed in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.
Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 West 46th Street between 6th and 7th AvenuesMonday, October 21 at 7:30 PM MUSICA SACRA "Music for a Gothic Space" - Machaut’s late medieval Messe de Nostre Dame, hauntingly beautiful motets of Josquin des Prez, and the meditative sounds of Gregorian Chant resound ethereally in the world’s largest Gothic cathedral.
Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th StreetThursday, October 24 at 1:15 PM Midtown Concerts presents ARTIS WODEHOUSE "A Grand 19th Century instrument: Mason & Hamlin's Liszt Organ" - At the middle of the 19th Century, the Mason & Hamlin Company developed a grand pump organ called the Liszt Organ. Wodehouse will play selections specifically fashioned to exploit the richness and complexity of this American-designed instrument.
The Chapel at St. Bartholomew's Church, Park Avenue at 50th StreetThursday, October 24 at 7:30 PM Early Music Foundation presents BOLETTE ROED Danish recorder virtuoso Bolette Roed performs transcriptions of J.S. Bach violin sonatas, partitas, and suites for solo recorder. Bolette's repertoire ranges from medieval through Renaissance and baroque to contemporary music including world premieres. She tours as soloist with the baroque orchestra Arte dei Suonatori and has performed as a soloist with Concerto Copenhagen, the Danish National Chamber Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Danish Orchestra. Bolette teaches at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and conducts masterclasses in Poland and the Czech Republic. "J.S. Bach: Sonatas, Partitas, Suites" is her latest CD release.
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th Street Thursday, October 24 at 8:00 PM CHOIR OF ST. LUKE IN THE FIELDS "William Byrd - The Great Service" - William Byrd’s monumental Great Service is often described as the “crown jewel” of Anglican sacred music. It is one of his most magnificent creations, awesome in scale and hugely demanding, with intricate and complex ten-part polyphony. The program will also include psalms, anthems and organ works by Byrd.
St. Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson Street between Christopher and Grove StreetsSaturday, October 26 at 7:30 PM Early Music Foundation presents EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK - FREDERICK RENZ, DIRECTOR "Nordic Accord - 18th-century Scandinavia" - In the concluding event of the seventh Citywide New York Early Music Celebration, Maestro Renz leads Early Music New York's Chamber Orchestra, joined by guest Danish recorder soloist Bolette Roed and Norwegian cornetto soloist Alexandra Opsahl in a vibrant program of sinfonias and concertos by Scandinavian composers Johan Helmich Roman, Johan Joachim Agrell, Johann Adolph Scheibe, Johan Daniel Berlin and Joseph Martin Kraus.
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th Street WORKSHOPS & LECTURES
Saturday, October 26 and 27 from 9:30 AM
Amherst Early Music presents CITY RECORDER! Annual weekend workshop - faculty will include Norwegian recorder player Alexandra Opsahl. The Ella Baker School, 317 E 67th Street between 2nd and 1st Avenues Saturday, October 26 at 6:30 PM EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK Pre-concert talk by Dr. Bertil Van Boer, preeminent scholar of 18th-century Scandinavian symphonies (gratis w/ concert admission)
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th StreetTO BE ANNOUNCED
Sundays, October 6 and 20 at 2:00 PM
RENAISSANCE STREET SINGERS Concerts of sacred music from the golden age of polyphony, a cappella. Outdoor locations TBA via website
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