The Sebastians Season Continues With Obsession and Legacy on October 8

THE SEBASTIANS CONTINUE SEASON WITH
OBSESSION & LEGACY ON OCTOBER 8

Sebastians’ Core Quartet Joined by Dramaturg Ivey Lowe for Dramatic Exploration of Arcangelo Corelli

Additional Featured Composers Include Couperin, Colista,
Jacquet de La Guerre, Handel, and Vivaldi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | New York, NY (September 22, 2023) – New York-based early music ensemble the Sebastians continues its 2023–24 season on Sunday, October 8, 2023, at 5PM with Obsession and Legacy. This original program of music and theatrical scenes explores Arcangelo Corelli’s quest for fame and influence upon generations of musicians to come. Corelli, who achieved recognition as a virtuoso violinist and is considered one of the first masters of the instrument, obtained a succession of influential patrons that bolstered his legacy as a composer. Alongside Corelli, the Sebastians perform works by his predecessor, Colista, and music by Jacquet de La Guerre, Couperin, Handel, and Vivaldi, all of whom were directly influenced by Corelli’s compositional style and structure.

New York, NY (September 14, 2023) – New York-based early music ensemble the Sebastians continues its 2023–24 season on Sunday, October 8, 2023, at 5PM with Obsession and Legacy. This original program of music and theatrical scenes explores Arcangelo Corelli’s quest for fame and influence upon generations of musicians to come. Corelli, who achieved recognition as a virtuoso violinist and is considered one of the first masters of the instrument, obtained a succession of influential patrons that bolstered his legacy as a composer. Alongside Corelli, the Sebastians perform works by his predecessor, Colista, and music by Jacquet de La Guerre, Couperin, Handel, and Vivaldi, all of whom were directly influenced by Corelli’s compositional style and structure. 

The Sebastians core quartet members Founding Director Daniel S. Lee (violin), Nicholas DiEugenio (violin), Ezra Seltzer (cello), and Artistic Director Jeffrey Grossman (harpsichord) will be joined by two actors in the intimate Alchemical Studios for a dramatic exploration of what it means to want it all. Between musical selections, director/dramaturg Ivey Lowe will be curating contemporary scenes inspired by Corelli’s fame, including Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and other living playwrights. This unique blending of music and theatrical scenes for a small company of actors is a first for the ensemble.

“It’s hard to overstate how important Arcangelo Corelli is to the early music world,” says Artistic Director Jeffrey Grossman. “He popularized so many musical choices that became the standard for future generations—rolling bass lines, harmonic sequences, chains of suspensions, and more. He was also uniquely fixated on his career and legacy, more so than any of his contemporaries—he strove to publish as widely as possible, and his music swept across Europe!”

“Starting with such rich source material, we wanted to find a fresh way to explore those themes of legacy and ambition for today’s audience,” adds Managing Director Karl Hinze. “As such, we're thrilled to be collaborating with Ivey Lowe, an inventive Brooklyn-based director, on our first theatrical mash-up. Working with a small company of actors, Ivey is curating scenes from contemporary plays that, when interspersed with the music, will help shine a light on how ambition functions in our modern world—a world so far removed, but perhaps not that different, from Corelli's.”

Later this fall, the Sebastians team up with the esteemed Yale Voxtet for Voices of Versailles on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 5PM. The afternoon of elegantly luxurious French chamber music centers around Charpentier’s La Couronne de fleurs, H. 486 for eight voices and chamber ensemble, and also includes works by Lully and François Couperin.

Concert Information:
Obsession and Legacy 
Sunday, October 8, 2023, at 5PM 
Alchemical Studios
50 West 17th Street, 12th floor
New York, NY, 10011
Link: https://www.sebastians.org/event/obsession-and-legacy/

Program: 
Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata in G major, op. 2, no. 12
Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre: Violin Sonata in D minor, no. 1
François Couperin: Le Parnasse ou l’Apothéose de Corelli
Lelio Colista: Trio Sonata in G major, W-K 16
Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata in B minor, op. 3, no. 4
George Frideric Handel: Violin Sonata in D major, HWV 37
Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata “La Folia,” op. 1, no. 12, RV 63

Artists: 
Daniel Lee, violin 
Nicholas DiEugenio, violin
Ezra Seltzer, cello
Jeffrey Grossman, harpsichord
Ivey Lowe, director and dramaturg

About the Sebastians 
The Sebastians are a dynamic and vital musical ensemble specializing in music of the baroque and classical eras. Lauded as “everywhere sharp-edged and engaging” (The New York Times), the Sebastians have also been praised for their “well-thought-out articulation and phrasing” (Early Music Review) and “elegant string playing… immaculate in tuning and balance” (Early Music Today). Their 2018 unconducted St. Matthew Passion with TENET Vocal Arts was called “shattering” and “a performance of uncommon naturalness and transparency.” The Sebastians’ recent seasons have included dozens of originally conceived programs, including collaborations with poets, choreographers, and actors; a musical installation in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; programs dealing with musical “immigration” and nationalism; and major works of J.S. Bach led from the keyboard. The Sebastians are currently in residence at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments.

About Jeffrey Grossman
Keyboardist and conductor Jeffrey Grossman specializes in vital, engaging performances of music of the past, through processes that are intensely collaborative and historically informed. As the artistic director of the acclaimed baroque ensemble the Sebastians, in recent seasons Jeffrey has directed concerts including Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions and Handel’s Messiah from the organ and harpsichord, in collaboration with TENET Vocal Artists, and he is a frequent performer with TENET, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and numerous other ensembles across the country. Recent seasons include his conducting operas of Haydn and Handel with Juilliard Opera, leading Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with the Green Mountain Project in New York and Venice, and conducting a workshop of a new Vivaldi pastiche opera for the Metropolitan Opera. As musical director for the 2023 and 2019 Boston Early Music Festival Young Artists Training Program, he conducted Jacquet de La Guerre’s Cephale et Procris and Handel’s Orlando from the harpsichord. For thirteen seasons, he toured portions of the rural United States with artists of the Piatigorsky Foundation, performing outreach concerts to underserved communities. Jeffrey can be heard on the Avie, Gothic, Naxos, Albany, Soundspells, Métier, and MSR Classics record labels. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he holds degrees from Harvard College, the Juilliard School, and Carnegie Mellon University. Jeffrey teaches performance practice at Yale University.

About Ivey Lowe
Ivey Lowe is a Brooklyn-based director who works across fields of theater, education, community engagement, civic practice, integrated media, and film. Her work explore questions around interdependence, intimacy, and community care, focusing on stories that uplift female and queer experiences. She was a 2022-2023 Social Practice CUNY Fellow funded by the Mellon Foundation and a National Civic Saturday Fellow with Citizen’s University focusing her combined work on increasing civic engagement within artistic spaces. As a theater director, she is an alumni of the Drama League Directing Fellowship, Williamstown Theater Directing Corps, and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Recent directing includes Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Away Uniform by Tina Satter (Brooklyn College), Providence by Nancy Bleemer (Summer Shorts at 59E59), The Switch by Charlie O’Leary (Fresh Fruit Festival), Spring Awakening The Musical (Yale University), Far Away by Caryl Churchill (Hangar Theatre), and Happily After Ever by Laura Zlatos (Bloomington Playwright’s Project). She has worked as an educator and facilitator at Brooklyn College, Pace University, Musical Theater Factory, Drama League, 24 Hour Plays, and TheaterWorks USA. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Community Leadership from the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and an MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College.