The first annual 2011 Salish Sea Early Music Festival presents four programs of chamber music from 1550 through 1850 on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands.
Some of the finest performers of early music on period instruments from the Northwest, elsewhere in the United States and Germany will be featured in performances that run from January to April.
The opening program, “Putting the King to Bed: The King’s Musicians” will feature John Lenti on baroque guitar and theorbo (a long-necked lute), baroque bassoonist Anna Marsh, baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan and baroque violinist Courtney Kuroda. On Lopez Island only, baroque oboist Sand Dalton will join the group.
The concert will take place on Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. at Grace Church at 70 Sunset Lane. On Jan. 16 at 1:30 p.m. the group will perform at Emmanuel Church in Eastsound on Orcas Island; and also on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at St. David’s Church at 780 Park Street in Friday Harbor.
This exploration of several late 17th-century manuscripts from the Library of Congress and the Bibiotheque Nationale in Paris will reveal the melodies which surrounded Louis XIV, even at bedtime. The program includes a piece containing 18 Trios by composer Jean-Baptiste Lully. In addition to Lully, featured composers will be the king’s guitar instructor Robert de Visee and Marin Marais, both among the musicians who serenaded Louis XIV at bedtime. This program features the seldom-heard baroque bassoon, baroque guitar and theorbo which were widely used at the court of Louis XIV, along with the flute, oboe and violin of the period.
Admission is by donation. The suggested donation is $15 for all concerts. Age 18 and under are free. For further information call 468-3477 on Lopez Island, 376-2352 on Orcas Island, and 378-5360 in Friday Harbor. Pay-as-you-wish tickets and additional information will also be available through www.brownpapertickets.com.
Other programs presented later in the year include “Irish and Scottish Baroque and the Russian Guitar” on Feb 6 and 7. This will show case the lutenist and Russian 7-string guitar virtuoso Oleg Timofeyev. “An Elisabethan Broken Consort” will feature renaissance chamber music for renaissance transverse flute, violin and harpsichord on March 5 and 6. Finally on April 9 and 10, “Johann Sebastian Bach: A Musical Offering” will be performed with special guests harpsichordist Hans-Jürgen Schnoor from Lübeck, Germany and Ingrid Matthews, leader of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra.
