The blog has been quiet, but we’ve been hard at work. We’re close to launching the new Magnificat website – and this blog will a little re-designing as well. But that’s just part of what’s been going on. We’re preparing for the Berkeley Festival, our CD release party, and we’re hosting next month’s History Carnival.
Nika Korniyenko took some photos from our performance of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers yesterday evening at the beautiful St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park. Two more performances - tonight at St. Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley and tomorrow afternoon at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Both concerts are selling well but tickets are still available.
Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: nebulam sicut cinerem spargit. Mittit crystallum suum sicut buccellas: ante faciem frigoris eius quis sustinebit?
The parts designated ‘Alto’ or ‘Septimus’ in Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, like all music from the period, encompass a vocal range that in later music is most often sung by high tenors. The ‘counter tenor’ of the later Baroque would typically sing in a slightly higher register. As a result together with the ‘Tenore’ and ‘Quintus’ parts, we will have four tenors for our performances April 23-25.
A year ago, Magnificat performed Alessandro Scarlatti’s serenata Amore, Venere, e Ragione with “3 Jennifers”. For the final concerts of our 2009-2010 season, Magnificat is pleased to feature two of the Jennifers – Jennifer Paulino and Jennifer Ellis Kampani – as our sopranos. (Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane will be joining us for our performance at the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition in June.)
Click to continue reading “The Sopranos (for Magnificat’s 1610 Vespers)”
For Magnificat’s performances of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers next week, we are pleased to welcome three musicians who will be appearing with us for the first time, cornettist Kiri Tollaksen, baritone Jeffrey Fields and tenor Mirko Guadagnini.
On June 7th, KDFC with present Magnificat’s CD Release Party at Yoshi’s in San Francisco. The event will mark the official release of the first volume of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani’s complete works.
Click to continue reading “KDFC to Present Magnificat at Yoshi’s in San Francisco on June 7th”
Tickets Now available Online - Click Here Magnificat has been invited to perform a program of Cozzolani motets as a featured concert on the Berkeley Early Music Festival and Exhibition this June. The concert will mark the release of the first volume of our recordings of Cozzolani's complete works. Sopranos Catherine Webster, Jennifer Ellis Kampani, and altos Meg Bragle and Jennifer Lane will join with the continuo team of David Tayler and Hanneke van Proosdij for the concert on Friday June 11 at 8:00 at First Congregational Church in Berkeley. The program will be drawn from Cozzolani's 1642 collection Concerti Sacri and will include setting of all four Marian antiphons - Ave regina coelorum, Salve, O regina, Alma redemptoris mater, and Regina caeli, laetare. In addition, Magnificat will perform six of her other motets - Colligite, pueri, flores, O mi domine, Obstupiscite, gentes, Regna terrae cantate Deo, Quid, miseri, quis faciamus ...
The primary focus of our concerts this weekend is the music of Alessandro Grandi, including the modern premieres of the first cantatas from his 1620 collection Cantade et Arie a voce sola. We will also be playing instrumental music by several composers associated with Venice during Grandi’s tenure at St. Mark’s. It turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to re-visit some old "friends" like Cavalli's extraordinary Canzon a 3 from Musiche sacrae, and some music that's "new" to Magnificat. Though musicologists have speculated that Dario Castello probably worked at St. Mark's and probably played violin and/or cornetto, in fact nothing is known about him beyond his music, which was all published in Venice. The numerous reprints of his sonatas and canzoni as late as 1650 attest to his popularity and influence. We will perform the first of his two part sonatas "in stil moderno" published in 1629. More is known about ...
San Francisco Classical Voice posted the following excellent preview by Steven Winn of Magnificat's upcoming concerts featuring the music of Alessandro Grandi. The original post is here. For anyone who cares about 17th-century music, 2010 is without question a Claudio Monteverdi year. The 400th anniversary of the composer’s ground-breaking and magisterial Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) of 1610 is a ripe occasion to program the sacred masterpiece of an artist deemed “the creator of modern music” by scholar Leo Schrade. It’s an opportunity that Magnificat Baroque wasn’t about to miss. The Bay Area ensemble concludes its 18th season with an April 23-25 slate of Vespers concerts. But before they get there, the troupe is embarked on an unusual and revealing side-trip through Monteverdi territory, with the composer’s lesser-known Venetian contemporary Alessandro Grandi as the destination. To make this journey even more enticing, Magnificat is offering a striking historical contrast ...
Magnificat will perform the modern premieres of the first cantatas from a newly discovered print from 1620. Three cantatas and two settings of sonnets by Alessandro Grandi will be sung by soprano Laura Heimes February 12-14, 2010.
Click to continue reading “Magnificat to Perform Modern Premieres of the First Cantatas”
Magnificat's February 12-14 concerts will feature soprano Laura Heimes in a recital of songs, cantatas and motets by Alessandro Grandi. Laura most recently sang with Magnificat in a program of Charpentier divertissements in October 2008. Her first appearances with Magnificat were in September 2005 in a program featuring setting's of Guarini's Il Pastor Fido. Magnificat audience's will especially remember her captivating performances in the title role of Stradella's La Susanna in 2007. The San Francisco Classical Voice described her performance and the audience's response in glowing terms: "Soprano Laura Heimes alone was worth the price of a ticket. Her clear, expressive sound often soared beautifully above the ensemble. Her performance of the oratorio's best number, "Da chi spero aita, O Cieli," elicited spontaneous applause from at least one audience member (it could have been a touchdown). Stradella used a lamento bassline for this pivotal dramatic point of the oratorio…" Praised elsewhere for her ...
For the New Year, we've made some changes to the blog. We've added direct links to Magnificat on Facebook, Twitter, and Flikr. You can also listen to streaming audio of Magnificat by clicking on the Magnificat Radio tab. We hope you enjoy it! Happy New Year!
We’ve uploaded photos from our wonderful week of Cozzolani to our Flickr page. Beyond the excellent musicians, we benefitted from assistance from a four footed advisor in Berkeley. Here’s a sample from the photo set:
Click to continue reading “Photos from Magnificat’s Cozzolani Performances”
Listen to Cozzolani's Music The San Francisco Classical Voice published the following review by Anna Carol Dudley. It is very gratifying to be recognized so graciously. Bravi tutti to Catherine, Meg, Jennifer, Kristen, Hugh and Hanneke - it was a wonderful week! Magnificat’s dazzling singers have done it again. As part of their ongoing project to perform and record the complete works of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, four singers brought her glorious music vividly to life in a performance Saturday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley. The four women sang music that Cozzolani wrote for the famous singing nuns in her convent, Santa Radegonda, in 17th-century Milan. Cozzolani’s setting of a Christmas Mass, In nativitate Domini (The birthday of the Lord), was written to be sung by a male celebrant — in this concert, Hugh Davies, whose expressive chant framed the work. The women formed a chorus, chanting in unison, then blossoming into ...
Magnificat's recording Vespro della Beata Vergine included a third CD called "Beyond the Notes" - Salmi Bizarri: Cozzolani and the music of Milanese convents. Patterned on the talks that precede each Magnificat concert, on this CD I discussed aspects of Cozzolani's life and music with musical examples. This introduction to the life and music of Cozzolani is now available in streaming audio here: [audio http://cozzolani.com/audio/SalmiBizarriPodcast.mp3] Click Here to download this podcast
Listen to Cozzolani's Music By all accounts the nuns at the convent of Santa Radegonda in the 17th Century did not have internet access and so it had to wait until the 21st century for Chiara Margarita Cozzolani to launch get her own Facebook page. With her birthday coming up on November 27th in seemed like an especially appropriate time. As Magnificat prepares for our upcoming performances of phenomenal music of the Benedictine nun from Santa Radegonda, it occurred to us that she deserved a Facebook page. Please visit and become a fan! Magnificat has benefited tremendously from Robert Kendrick's path-breaking research into convent music in Milan as well as the work of other scholars like Colleen Reardon, Craig Monson, Gabriella Zarri, Ann Mather, and so many others who have helped us developed a deeper appreciation for the music written and performed in convents in the 17th Century. We are also grateful ...
Magnificat will be participating in the second annual Early Music Musician's Bazaar. Among the delights available for purchase will be CD's, concert tickets, sheet music & lots of other fun stuff. The Bazaar will take place from 10 am to 3 pmon Saturday December 12 at MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, Berkeley. It's a great opportunity for holiday shopping that will support the Bay Area early music community, As one of the organizers (and Magnificat musician) Hanneke van Proosdij explains, "it's a community event bringing together the early music groups and supporting the local musicians. Basically there are a bunch of vendor tables spread out throughout the entire lower floor of MusicSources. People can drop in, peruse the stuff, hang out and eat way too much chocolate." The stellar list of participants in the Bazaar includes Cançonièr, Ensemble Vermillian, Farallon Recorder Quartet , The Festival Consort, Glen Shannon Music, Healing Muses, Junior Recorder ...
The Jubilate Orchestra, a project of Magnificat, will perfrom with Bay Choral Guild on November 20, 21, and 22 . The program features Handel's marvelous setting of Psalm 109 Dixit Dominus, Alessandro Scarlatti's Messa di Santa Cecilia, and Monteverdi's setting of Psalm 112 Beatus vir. Magnificat's relationship with Bay Choral Guild is almost as old as Magnificat. The Jubilate Orchestra (then called the Magnificat Baroque Orchestra) first performed with Bay Choral Guild (then called Baroque Choral Guild) in March 1989, joining with the choir in J.S. Bach's motet Jesu meine freude. Since then, Jubilate has collaborated with BCG almost every season, first under Robert Geary and more recently under music director Sanford Dole. In addition to projects with BCG, Jubilate has performed with the Sanford Dole Ensemble with the choir of St. Gregory Nyssen Episcopal Church, which Sanford also directs. Active in the Bay Area as a conductor, singer and composer for ...
Ronald Chase’s innovative use of “old fashioned” technology and the resulting images, which struck me as somehow antique and modern at the same time, seemed quite apt for the project. Cozzolani’s music, though well over three centuries old, invariably sounds fresh and unexpected.
Click to continue reading “The Flowers on Magnificat's Cozzolani CDs”
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