Early Music Around Town

A timely (this month) shortlist of local early music concerts and events.

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To view the entire season of concerts and events (including past events), consult the current Master Calendar.

 

Please note that SCEMS does not present or sponsor concerts.

The listings below include early music related concerts and events offered by organizations throughout the Southern California area.  Readers are advised to call ahead to verify events, times, and ticket availability, which are subject to change.

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April 2022

Friday, April 29, 2022 8:00 PM (PT)  

Thornton Baroque Sinfonia: "Modern Musick": A Concert of Baroque and Early American Music

The Thornton Baroque Sinfonia, the early music ensemble of USC Thornton led by Adam Gilbert, Jason Yoshida, and Jennifer Kampani, presents works by Henry Purcell, Georg Philipp Telemann, Franz Joseph Haydn, and William Billings, along with African American spirituals and shape-notes hymns and anthems.

With special guests: The Brand Ensemble and Pre-concert music by the USC Baroque Oboe Band!

This concert is Free and open to the public. Seating is limited based on health guidelines and registration is required.

RSVPs Are Required Click here to RSVP.  https://uscthorntonearlymusicprogram.cmail20.com/t/j-l-zujtktl-jdyutihts-r/

Attendance Guidelines:Click here for our current COVID-19 safety requirements for audiences.

https://uscthorntonearlymusicprogram.cmail20.com/t/j-l-zujtktl-jdyutihts-y/

And for a special bonus, don't forget to listen to our Sound Walk! Listen to samples of our music as you wend you way across campus to the Newman Hall, and listen to audio program notes upon your arrival at the venue. To download the Echoes App, go to:

https://explore.echoes.xyz

Then search for our special Thornton Baroque Sinfonia Sound Walk, or find it here!:

https://explore.echoes.xyz/collections/ymZPl3z1fIRclERf

AND in case you missed it: Enjoy this lovely short feature about our own Robert Wang:

https://music.usc.edu/the-process-robert-wang/

Newman Recital Hall, USC campus, parking on campus off Figeuroa

more info: https://www.facebook.com/USCEarlyMusic/

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May 2022

Sunday May 1, 2022 at 4:00 pm

Los Angeles Baroque (LAB): "Alsatian" Spring

Join LAB in the courtyard at St. James' Episcopal Church, South Pasadena, for the next in our series of pop-up concerts: a relaxed afternoon performance (with wine/waters), given by LAB's "Big Band" and the LAB Consort Club. Led by artistic director Lindsey Strand-Polyak, assisted by LAB's artistic associates.

 Alsatian Spring: Orchestral music by German composers in pan-European styles by Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, Johann Bernhard Bach and Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, complemented by chorales and more from the LAB Consort Club

FREE admission but donations welcomed

Outdoors in the Courtyard at St James’ Episcopal Church 1325 Monterey Rd, South Pasadena, CA

learn more at  losangelesbaroque.org

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May 7th: doors open 6:30, pre-concert 7:00

Tallis Scholars: The Golden Age of Spanish Polyphony

The Tallis Scholars with Director Peter Phillips will perform at in the spectacular acoustics of St. Andrew Pasadena for the final concert of their 2022 U.S. Tour.  This world-renowned choral ensemble will perform several masterpieces by Renaissance composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548 – 1611). This will be the final performance in The Tallis Scholars’ 2022 United States tour.  The music of composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548 – 1611) is considered by many to represent the pinnacle of the Spanish Renaissance choral repertoire, he was a student of Palestrina (1525 – 1594) and a leading figure in the Counter-Reformation.
PROGRAM : Ave Maria a8, Magnificat primi toni a8, Requiem a6

The local St. Monica Academy Choir will begin the event at 7:00 PM, with doors opening at 6:30 PM
Official event page: https://www.saintandrewpasadena.org/tallis-scholars-concert
Church website: www.standrewpasadena.org
Ensemble website: https://www.thetallisscholars.co.uk

Tickets are available through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-tallis-scholars-concert-peter-phillips-director-tickets-292680052917
Sponsorship information: https://www.saintandrewpasadena.org/tallis-sponsorships

St. Andrew Church 311 N. Raymond Avenue Pasadena CA 91103 Located in Old Town Pasadena
 

May 7, 2022, at 8pm. online streaming on May 20

Boston Camerata : Douce Dame Jolie: Guillaume de Machaut’s Last Affair,

This program is one of five created by the Camerata for the Reims Festival in 2011, celebrating the 800th anniversary of Reims Cathedral, where Guillaume de Machaut had an ecclesiastical appointment. We will celebrate Music Director Emeritus Joel Cohen's 80th birthday and Artistic Director Anne Azéma's elevation to Officier of the French Order of Arts and Letters.

First Church in Boston, 66 Marlborough St., Boston, MA 02116

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Friday, May 13, at 7:00 p.m.,

Saturday, May 14, at 7:00 p.m.  

Bach Collegium San Diego : APOTHEOSIS OF THE DANCE

Don't miss out on the final Mainstage concert of the season! Beethoven’s seventh symphony is filled with an infectious dance with musical ideas linked back to Mozart. Fortepianist Sylvia Berry delivers Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 20, a dynamic work admired by the young Beethoven. You won't want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see BCSD perform the music of Beethoven and Mozart.

Friday, May 13, at 7:00 p.m.  All Souls Episcopal Church 1475 Catalina Blvd, San Diego, CA 92107

Saturday, May 14, at 7:00 p.m.  Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church 3459 Manchester Ave, Cardiff, CA 92007

more info: BachCollegiumSD.org

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May 21-31 – Video on Demand

Piffaro Founders' Finale: The Musical Legacy of Charles V

w/ guests: Daniel Swenberg, lute & Héloise Degrugillier and Fiona Last, winds

Few monarchs of the Renaissance can rival the achievements, and titles, of the Burgundian Charles V – Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy, Head of the House of Hapsburg. His traveling musical establishment was sumptuous, replete with some of the most notable composers of the day, and his musical reach extended well beyond his lifetime and Europe’s shores. This will be the final concert of our founding artistic directors, Joan Kimball & Bob Wiemken. We invite you to join us in celebration of magnificent musical legacies! Join us after the concert to toast Joan & Bob!

This varied all-instrumental program will include works by Jakob Obrecht, Alexander Agricola, Josquin Despres, Nicolas Gombert, Christóbal de Morales, Gaspar Fernandes, and more!

Online concerts: Each of our in-person concerts will be filmed by Torello Productions in front of a live audience. The videos will become available online one week after the live concert and will remain available on demand for 11 days.

Instructions and tips: https://www.piffaro.org/support/

Tickets: https://t.e2ma.net/click/x8fn9f/pyaireg/tlvg3p

Concert Preview: Dance de Cleves From the Basse Dance MS, ca. 1500, arr. G. Herreid

https://t.e2ma.net/click/x8fn9f/pyaireg/h4lg3p

Marguerite of Austria was regent of Charles V in his early years. She was a great music lover and manuscript collector. The Danse de Cleves comes from a Burgundian manuscript of the time containing numerous dance melodies. The basse danse was a popular court dance in the 15th and early 16th centuries, especially at young Charles' Burgundian court. If you close your eyes while you listen, you can picture the courtiers gracefully gliding.

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Sunday, May 22nd, 4pm,  (repeats June 12 in Glendale)

Baroque Bliss: French Baroque Music Fit for a King

Louis XIV, himself a dancer, intervened at every level in courtly cultural production. The music his composers created was influenced by various dances, so congenial to the French, with their orderly forms, and great attention to surface detail. It is mannered, even decadent, its melodies are heavily ornamented, its rhythms often fastidious, and its harmonies often appear aimless. These affects served to awaken the listener with their unexpected twists and turns, thereby invoking surprise and pleasure (surprise et plaisir). At other times the music suspends time and cadential expectation. In tone and structure, it was so much in harmony with the spirit of the French court, and was so elegant and different from other national styles, that the whole of Europe became enamored of it, and attempted to imitate the music of Versailles. Come experience this blissful music for yourself!

Directed by Marischka Hopcroft; band members: Marischka Hopcroft, harpsichord, Paul Sherman, oboe, Carolyn Beck, bassoon, Bruce Teter, musette and recorder, Jaehuan Kim, countertenor, Lewis Johnson, bass, Robert Wang, guitar, and Haley Hedegard, viola da gamba, Adam Gilberti, percussion.

Suggested donation $20.

COVID precautions: we follow the guidelines for the City of Santa Monica which are currently: All attendees and musicians (except singers and wind instrumentalists) are currently required to wear masks; attendees can socially distance in the large sanctuary.

St-Augustines-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 1227 4th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Parking: Two hours free parking in the parking structure just opposite (west side of  4th St)

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May 22, 2022, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Tesserae Baroque: The Myth of Venice

The phrase “The Myth of Venice” is used by historians to describe a kind of “Venetian Exceptionalism”; in this formulation, art, architecture, and (of course!) music was used to glorify the Republic. In a concert featuring cornetts, sackbuts, strings, and singers, Tesserae brings to life the grandiose polychoral music from the late Renaissance and the early Baroque – the Golden Age of Venetian music – as well as other non-Venetian works inspired by this rich musical tradition. This program includes Venetian music by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli and Monteverdi, as well as works in the polychoral style by Diego Ortiz and Hieronymous Praetorius.

General Admission $30, Seniors & SCEMS $25,Students $10,Children and members of the Music Guild may attend for free.All tickets are fully refundable up to the day of the concert.

All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills; 504 North Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Covid safety

This performance will take place indoors. All guests will be notified a few days prior about specific social-distancing measures that are currently in effect in Los Angeles County. This may include face covering or a requirement to be fully vaccinated. All tickets are refundable up to the day of the performance.