CCM Performs Claudio Monteverdi's Large-Scale Masterwork 'Vespers of 1610' on Nov. 16

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) will present Monteverdi’s masterwork

Vespers of 1610

, featuring regional and national Early Music guest artists, the CCM Chamber Choir, Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra and student soloists with CCM’s Director of Choral Studies Earl Rivers conducting.

Rivers says, “Monteverdi’s

Vespers of 1610

is the Beethoven 5th of Early Music. Monteverdi retained many of the Renaissance traditions in the work but fused the older style with the advent of the new, florid Early Baroque style of music.

Vespers of 1610

is a significant international repertory work that students will be performing throughout their careers.”

Anchoring the advent of music in the Baroque era as a large-scale masterwork, Monteverdi’s

Vespers of 1610

displays a range of lavish colors for vocal and instrumental soloists; six, seven, eight and 10-voice choral textures; and virtuosic embellishments and improvisations. The first major choral/orchestral repertory work of the early Baroque period,

Vespers of 1610

features solo, chamber and ensemble music displaying the historic past of Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant, as well as music of the future in the form of Baroque chamber duets, concerted choruses and large-scale instrumental movements.

This lavish presentation will involve many participants such as

Early Music guest and local artists

including:

• Alexander Bonus and Stephen Escher, cornetto
• Christopher Canapa, Alex Krawczyk and Linda Pearse, sackbut
  

A

Continuo Group

comprised of:

• Adriana Contino, cello
• Dieter Hennings, theorbo
• Annalisa Pappano, lirone and viola da gamba
• Elizabeth Motter, Baroque harp
• Rodney Stucky, archlute and Baroque guitar
• Michael Unger, continuo organ and harpsichord
  

And featuring

CCM student soloists

:

• Grace Kahl and Jacqueline Stevens, soprano
• Paulina Villarreal, mezzo-soprano
• Allan Palacios Chan and Marcus Shields, tenor
• T. J. Capobianco, tenor (Duo Seraphim)
• Jacob Kincaide, bass
• Brandon Bell, bass-baritone (Laudate Pueri and Magnificat)
  

About Alexander Bonus, cornetto

Alexander Bonus maintains a varied career performing historic brass and keyboard instruments, in addition to his conducting, researching, and teaching activities. He has performed with ensembles including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Folger Consort; Tragicomedia; Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra; the Washington Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble; the Newberry Consort; and Chicago Opera Theater. Dr. Bonus also appeared onstage in the Boston Early Music Festival production of Lully’s Psyché, and is heard on BEMF’s recording of this work, released on the CPO label. He holds a PhD in Musicology from Case Western Reserve University as well as MM and BM degrees from the Eastman School of Music. His scholarship appears in the latest edition of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments and Oxford Handbooks online among other sources. Dr. Bonus is the Assistant Professor of Music at Bard College, where he directs the Bard Baroque Ensemble and teaches courses in music history, theory, and historical performance practices.

About Annalisa Pappano, viola da gamba and lirone

Artistic director of Catacoustic Consort, Annalisa Pappano performs throughout the United States and Europe. She is recognized for bringing together the best international talent to present groundbreaking programs and landmark performances. Pappano studied at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute (Wendy Gillespie) and at Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Catharina Meints).

She has performed throughout Belgium, England, Ireland, Colombia, Canada, and the U.S., has appeared on nationally syndicated radio and has played at the Berkeley and Vancouver Early Music Festivals and the Ojai Music Festival. Pappano is a member of Atalante (England) and has performed with numerous other ensembles including the Houston Grand Opera, the Cleveland Opera, the Portland Opera, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Les Voix Baroques, Opera Atelier, the Toronto Consort, the Concord Ensemble, Cappella Artemisia (Bologna), the Dublin Drag Orchestra, Wildcat Viols, and Consortium Carissimi.

Pappano has taught at Viola da Gamba Society of America national conclaves, the Viola da Gamba Society Pacific Northwest and Northeast chapters, the San Diego Early Music Workshop, Viols West, the Madison Early Music Workshop and has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities.

She led the Catacoustic Consort to win the grand prize in the Naxos / Early Music America Live Recording Competition and recorded a program of Italian laments on the Naxos label. Pappano completed a performance practice orchestra workshop at Miami University in Ohio. She is currently teaching viola da gamba at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

About Linda Pearse, sackbut

Canadian-born Linda Pearse is recognized as a specialist in the exquisite musical repertoire of early seventeenth-century Italy. Dr. Pearse is Assistant Professor of Brass at Mount Allison University (New Brunswick) and Lecturer for Baroque trombone at Indiana University Bloomington. Following studies at McGill University, a career in Europe included regular performances with the Stuttgart Philharmoniker, Stuttgart Opera House, the Basel Symphony, La Cetra, piano possible and the Stuttgart Musical Theater. Pearse is the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Early Music Summer Baroque Workshop and directs the award-winning ensemble ¡Sacabuche!

Recent performances include a twelve-concert tour to Beijing with the interdisciplinary program “Matteo Ricci: His Map and Music” (Dec 2010), a tour to Hong Kong and Macau China (June 2013), and tours to Victoria, Nanaimo, and Salt Spring Island, Vancouver, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, New York, San Francisco, Bloomington (IN), Madison (WI), Kansas City and Houston. Her most recent project "Venetia 1500" is inspired by the Barbari Aerial Woodcut of Venice from 1500 and creates a conversation between new music, early music, texts and images, that finds resonances with Maritime cultures in decline. Her critical edition of

Seventeenth-Century Italian Motets with Trombone

is published with A-R Editions (April 2014).

Performance Time

• 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16

Location

Christ Church Cathedral, Fourth & Sycamore Streets, Cincinnati 45202

Purchasing Tickets

Tickets to Monteverdi’s

Vespers of 1610

are $20 general, $15 non-UC students, UC students FREE. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Tickets will also be available beginning at 4 p.m. on the day of the performance at Christ Church Cathedral; CASH and CHECKS ONLY at the door.

Parking and Directions

For more information, please visit

http://www.christchurchcincinnati.org/

.

____

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM's production of Monteverdi’s

Vespers of 1610

is made possible by funding from the Cambridge Charitable Foundation and CCM's Tangeman Sacred Music Center.