Free Concert – Baroque Beat – Fiesta Latina
Baroque Beat – Fiesta Latina
Your Favorite Baroque Works on Latin American and Early Instruments
On September 23, 2023, the award-winning music organization Crescendo presents a second free chamber music concert, featuring an ensemble of internationally renowned musicians performing Baroque music on Latin American folk and traditional Western instruments. This concert is part of Crescendo’s 20th anniversary season.
With renewed interpretations of Baroque ‘classics’, such as Handel’s Water Music Suite, Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and others, the ensemble presents some of Johann Sebastian Bach’s, G.F. Handel’s, Antonio Vivaldi’s, Johann Pachelbel’s, Domenico Zipoli’s, and Henry Purcell’s masterworks in one-of-a-kind arrangements, creating a tapestry of global sounds. All four instrumentalists are equally at home in Latin American Folk and traditional Baroque styles. The ensemble creates a bridge between the Western European culture and the sounds of the New World. By celebrating the origins of Baroque music alongside the deeply captivating Latin American sounds and rhythms, a unique fusion of styles comes to life.
Why do we like Baroque music so much? Crescendo’s Founding Artistic Director Christine Gevert remarks: “I think it is because of its emotional power. Baroque music tends to use contrast as a dramatic element, and that makes it feel very alive. It also has a lot of movement, and it transmits this energy to us. The melodies are beautifully crafted, and expressive: all music in Baroque times focused on the singing voice, and tried to achieve a “singable” quality. So Baroque music communicates the whole spectrum of emotions. Intricate ornamentations, complex voicing, and sonorous bass lines–these elements make Baroque music very appealing. Performing Baroque music on native and colonial folk instruments is something that happened from the time that the Europeans settled in America. The arrangements offered by us are likely not exactly what was heard back then, but they are an entertaining and new way of bringing this repertoire, and the sounds and rhythms of Latin American instruments and music, to our audiences. All four of us ensemble members did this kind of fusion performance while growing up in Chile and Mexico.”
The performers are Job Salazar, violin and bombo, Carlos Boltes, viola and charango, Gonzalo Cortés, quena, toyo, and zampoña, and Christine Gevert, virginal and percussion.
The concert will take place on Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 5:00 pm at Trinity Church, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville, CT (parking through Dugway Rd. entrance). This hour-long performance is part of a series of free chamber music concerts offered by Crescendo this season. Donations are welcomed. A reception with the performers after the concert will take place in Walker Hall, where audience members will also be able to see the ‘Trinity Gallery Juried Art Show’. Please visit Crescendo’s website: www.crescendomusic.org for more details and other season concerts, or call 860.435.4866.
For this concert, support has been provided to Crescendo from CT Humanities (CTH), and the Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.
