Musicians of the Old Post Road announces Its 2018-2019 30th Anniversary Season: Enlightenment

Musicians of the Old Post Road celebrates its 30th Anniversary Season with five programs that explore the impact of the Enlightenment on 18th-century music and culture. From the rise of the public concert to the industrious creativity of Classical freelance musicians, these programs offer glimpses of the multi-faceted influences of societal changes, philosophy, and scientific discovery on music-making in the Baroque and Classical eras.

Musicians of the Old Post Road is a chamber music ensemble specializing in period instrument performance of music from the Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic eras. Over their 30-year history, they have given special attention to rediscovering lost or neglected works of the past.

The season opens with a celebratory free concert on September 23 at 3 PM at Gore Place in Waltham. Titled Pleasure Gardens of London, this outdoor (tented) event will be in the festive spirit of the famous outdoor concerts held at Vauxhall on the outskirts of London in the eighteenth century. Acclaimed soprano Teresa Wakim is the vocal soloist, and WCRB radio host Laura Carlo will emcee the event. The program includes symphonies, songs, and concertos by Handel, Arne, Lampe, Hook, and others. Guided tours of the Gore Place mansion will be offered prior to the concert, and period-style refreshments will be served at concert’s end.

This event is presented in cooperation with Gore Place, and is made possible by a generous gift from an anonymous donor and the David Greenewalt Charitable Trust.

The season continues in early November with Jefferson in Paris, a program that reveals composers from the lively Parisian musical scene that Thomas Jefferson experienced while ambassador to France. The program includes a flute quartet by F.-J. Gossec, a string trio by Maddelena Sirmen, a flute concerto by Niccolò Piccinni, and variations for harpsichord on La Marseillaise by C.-B. Balbastre. The concerts take place on Saturday, November 3, 7:30pm, at First Parish of Sudbury, and Sunday, November 4, 3pm, at Old South Church in Boston.  The Sudbury performance is presented in collaboration with the Sudbury Historical Society and is supported by the Sudbury Cultural Council.

December’s holiday program, Christmas with the Bach Family features the rarely performed oratorio Die Kindheit Jesu by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, along with arias from Christmas cantatas and oratorios by Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Vocal soloists for this program include soprano Jessica Petrus, mezzo-soprano Catherine Hedberg, tenor Jonas Budris, and baritone Bradford Gleim. Concerts take place on Saturday, December 15, 3pm, at Emmanuel Church in Boston, and Sunday, December 16, 4pm, at First Unitarian Church in Worcester.

March’s offering, Mozart’s Viennese Circle, showcases enterprising creativity in 18th-century Vienna in outstanding works by Mozart and the musical friends around him, celebrating the rise of the individual and equality of musical voices in Classical chamber music. The program includes one of Mozart’s string quartets dedicated to Haydn, Haydn’s “Sun” quartet (period instrument arrangement for flute), a quintet by Vanhal for flute and strings, and a quartet by Dittersdorf. Concerts take place on Friday, March 15, 2019, 7:30pm at First Parish in Wayland, and on Saturday, March 16, 8pm, at Emmanuel Church in Boston. The Wayland performance is presented in cooperation with the Wayland Historical Society and First Parish, Wayland.

The closing program of the season, Stars in Their Eyes, discovers rarely-heard chamber works by cutting-edge scientist-musicians along with Baroque music inspired by gazing at the sky. Works include a chamber symphony by William Herschel, quartets by John Marsh and C. F. Baumgarten, a “Planetary” ariette by J.-P. Rameau, and a suite from Les Quatre Saisons by J. C. Schmidt written for the 1719 Festival of the Planets in Dresden. Concerts will take place on Thursday, May 2, 7:30pm, at Worcester Historical Museum, and on Saturday, May 4, 8pm, at Emmanuel Church, Boston. The Worcester performance is co-presented by the Worcester Historical Museum.

Learn more about this festive season on the group’s website, www.oldpostroad.org. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $35 for Section A seating, $30 for Section B seating, $10 for students. Children aged 7 to 17 are admitted free with an adult. Affordable and flexible three- and four-concert subscriptions are also available. All Old Post Road concert sites are wheelchair accessible. The concert series is sponsored in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

ABOUT MUSICIANS OF THE OLD POST ROAD

Musicians of the Old Post Road takes its name from its acclaimed concert series that brings period instrument performances of music of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries to beautiful historic buildings along New England’s fabled Old Post Road, the first thoroughfare to connect Boston and New York City in the late 17th century.

Winner of the 1998 Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, Musicians of the Old Post Road has also received programming awards from Chamber Music America and the US-Mexico Fund for Culture. The ensemble has toured in Germany, Austria, and Mexico, and has appeared at festivals and on concert series in the US, including the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival Concert Series, the Castle Hill Festival, the Artists Series at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and the Connecticut Early Music Festival. The ensemble held a residency at Dartmouth College and was featured on WCVB television’s “Chronicle” program and 99.5 All Classical radio’s “Live from Fraser” program.

The ensemble’s discography includes seven recordings that have each been praised in the US and abroad. They include: The Virtuoso Double Bass (Titanic, 1994), Trios and Scottish Song Settings of J. N. Hummel (Meridian, 1999), Galant with an Attitude: Music of Juan and José Pla (Meridian, 2000), Quartets of Telemann and Bodinus(Meridian, 2004), Feliz Navidad: Christmas from Spain and New Spain (Meridian, 2008), Roman Handel (Centaur, 2013), and Earthly Baroque (Centaur, 2017).

 

The Season at a Glance

Pleasure Gardens of London
Celebratory 30th Anniversary Free Public Concert!
A tented garden concert in the festive spirit of those that were presented at Vauxhall in the outskirts of London in the eighteenth century. WCRB’s Laura Carlo hosts. Music of Arne, J. C. Bach, and Handel. With soprano Teresa Wakim.

Sunday, September 23  3:00 pm, Gore Place, Waltham

Jefferson in Paris
Reveals composers from the lively Parisian musical scene that Thomas Jefferson experienced while Ambassador to France. Revolutionary inspirations!

Sat., Nov. 3  7:30  First Parish, Sudbury
Sun., Nov. 4  3:00 Old South Church, Boston

Christmas with the Bach Family
Features J.C.F. Bach’s rarely-performed oratorio Die Kindheit Jesu, along with arias from Christmas cantatas by other Bach family members. With soprano Jessica Petrus, mezzo-soprano Catherine Hedberg, tenor Jonas Budris, and baritone Bradford Gleim.

Sat., Dec. 15  3:00    Emmanuel Church, Boston
Sun., Dec. 16  4:00    First Unitarian Church, Worcester

Mozart’s Viennese Circle
Showcases enterprising creativity in 18th-century Vienna in outstanding works by Mozart and the musical friends around him. Celebrate the rise of the individual and equality of musical voices in Classical chamber music.

Fri., March 15   7:30   First Parish, Wayland
Sat., March 16   8:00   Emmanuel Church, Boston

Stars in Their Eyes
Discovers rarely-heard chamber works by cutting-edge scientist-musicians along with Baroque music inspired by gazing at the sky. Astronomical imaginations!

Thurs., May 2   7:30   Worcester Historical Museum
Sat., May 4   8:00  Emmanuel Church, Boston

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