Dozens of young singers, many studying at the Kennesaw State University School of Music and the Georgia State University School of Music, came to perform arias and art songs with a pianist, or to listen and support their friends. It’s a loose, casual, and supportive atmosphere, and a family event. Much good food was eaten, too.

We passed around  posters announcing our February 4 and 5 concerts with the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir, and gave away some tickets.

We encourage you to visit one of Opera on Tap’s monthly events. They’re a lot of fun for music lovers. And if you go to Pizzeria Venti, try the pistachio gelato for dessert.

Opera on Tap Atlanta

Reverend Sanders will discuss the contexts of Psalm 110, the text of Handel’s Dixit Dominus, and Psalm 46, the chief text of Jerry Ulrich‘s new composition Lucem Pax, which will be premiered at the concerts. The first presentation will be on February 4 at 6:15 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, prior to the 7:00 pm concert. The second presentation will be on February 5 at 2:15 pm at Roswell Presbyterian Church, prior to the 3:00 pm concert.

Tickets to the concert are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. Student and Senior tickets are $15. Purchase tickets online at atlantabaroque.ticketleap.com.

From his bio on the church web site:

Rev. Marthame Sanders

A native of Atlanta, Marthame Sanders is a graduate of the Galloway School. He received his B.A. from Yale University, where he majored in History.

Marthame received his Masters of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago in 1996. Following graduation, Marthame worked in churches in the Presbytery of Chicago as a youth director, assistant pastor, and temporary supply pastor.

From 2000 to 2003, the Sanders served as mission personnel of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the Palestinian Christian village of Zababdeh. Their ministry was one of ecumenical support for the Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic churches of the northern West Bank and culminated with the production of the documentary film Salt of the Earth: Palestinian Christians in the Northern West Bank.

The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra under Director Julie Andrijeski joins with the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir under Director Jerry Ulrich to present George Frideric Handel’s rarely-performed sacred choral cantata Dixit Dominus, based on Psalm 110, and the premiere of Jerry Ulrich’s new choral piece for period instruments, Lucem Pax, based on Psalm 46. Atlanta favorites Wanda Yang Temko, soprano, and Terry Barber, counter-tenor, are featured soloists.

Georgia Tech Chamber Choir

The orchestra will also perform

• Handel’s Concerto Grosso in D Major, Op. 6, No. 5
• Christoph Graupner’s Ouverture in D, GWV 418.

Performances are Saturday, February 4 at 7:00 pm at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, and Sunday, February 5 at 3:00 pm at Roswell Presbyterian Church. The pre-concert lecture, by Rev. Marthame Sanders of Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church, begins 45 minutes before each concert. Parking is free. Tickets are $17 in advance, $20 the day of the concert, $15 for students and seniors. A group discount is available in advance. Purchase tickets online here.

Handel wrote Dixit Dominus in 1707 when he was only 21 years old and working in Italy. This difficult and demanding work is rarely performed anywhere, let alone in the historically-informed style for which the Atlanta Baroque is renowned.

Georgia Tech choir director and composer Jerry Ulrich selected verses from Psalm 46 and several other Psalms as the basis for his new composition Lucem Pax (the Light of Peace), as a Scriptural and musical counterpoint to the message of Psalm 110 expressed by Handel in Dixit Dominus. Ulrich’s Lucem Pax will receive its world premiere, capitalizing on the unique opportunity to present a 21st-century work with the 18th-century resources that the ABO provides.

The Georgia Tech Chamber Choir was founded in 1998 in order to provide especially skilled vocal musician-students with the means to perform a more challenging choral repertoire. The Chamber Choir has become  known for its proficiency, artistry, and professionalism, giving concerts throughout the Southeast to critical acclaim.

In its 15th season, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra is the first and longest-running professional early music chamber orchestra in the Southeast. Playing replicas of the actual instruments used in the era of Bach, our performers are accomplished in unusual instruments and techniques that create a sound and a concert experience very different from “contemporary” symphony orchestras. The ABO is a 501(c)3 nonprofit performing arts organization.

Funding is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of Fulton County Arts and Culture.

Performance Venues

First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
1328 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta GA 30309
(404) 876-8461
http://www.firstpresatl.org

Roswell Presbyterian Church
755 Mimosa Boulevard
Roswell GA 30075
(770) 993-6316
http://www.roswellpres.org

The New York Times just published a travel article, “The Castles of Moravia”, by Evan Rail. It is about wine-tasting through Moravia, in the Czech Republic, and it did include a stop in Kromeriz, the site and source of the wonderful music from the late 1600s that we performed in our concert last week, La Battalia! 17th-century Battle Music. The article, however, is about wine, architecture and paintings, not music.

Here is a link to the article, although you may require a log-in account at the New York Times to read it. Here are a couple of excerpts:

What we at the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra know, and you do to if you were at our concert last week, is that the bishop filled his palace and court with musicians and vibrant, innovative music. We hope you enjoyed hearing some of it.

4:00 pm Sunday, September 18, 2011 at Roswell Presbyterian Church, Roswell, Georgia
Pre-concert lecture at 3:15 pm

Click here for Tickets

Click here for Directions

Program

Fanfare No. 1 for Two Trumpets, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704)
Sonata I for Two Trumpets, from Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes, Biber
Sonata à 6 in E minor, for Solo Violin and Strings, Antonio Bertali (1605-1669)
Balletae ad duos coros for Two String Choirs (circa 1685), “Sr. Hugi”
Sonata à 6 for Solo Trumpet, Solo Violin and Strings, Biber.
Sonata Mayalis for Two Trumpets and Strings (circa 1670), “C.M.”
La Battalia, Sonata for Two String Choirs, Biber
Sonata Sancti Mauritii for Two Trumpets and Strings, Pavel Joseph Vejvanovsky (1639-1693)
Sonata for Three Violins and Strings, Johann Heinrich Schmeltzer (1623-1680)
Sonata à 6 for Two String Choirs, Schmeltzer
Fanfare No.7 for Two Trumpets and Strings, Biber
Ciaconna for Two Trumpets and Strings, Phillip Jakob Rittler (1637-1690)

Our concert features two “modern world premieres” of orchestral pieces that have never been played since they were originally written in the late 1600s in the court of Prince-Bishop Carl Liechtenstine-Castlecorn at Kroměříž in Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic.

These two pieces, by Johann Heinrich Schmeltzer and an unknown composer known only by a scribbled note identifying him as “Signore Hugi”, were uncovered and edited by Dr. Brewer, who is also the husband of founding Atlanta Baroque Orchestra violist Melissa Brewer.

Dr. Charles' Brewer's latest book

Dr. Brewer has recently published his book The Instrumental Music of Schmeltzer, Biber, Muffat and Their Contemporaries, (Ashgate Press) centered around his years of research in the music archives at Kroměříž, in one of the most famous palaces in Eastern Europe. With a backdrop of beautiful and romantic gardens, Kroměříž is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

In 2001, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra  premiered Dr. Brewer’s revised orchestration of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum.

Featuring Trumpet Music of Heinrich Biber (1644 –1704), Pavel Josef Vejvanovský (1633-1693), and more from the Moravian Palace of Kroměříž, including pieces never performed since the 1600s.

An amazing opportunity to hear virtuoso trumpet music from the 1600s played on replicas of the original instruments—and this little-known music from a pocket of Eastern Europe was light-years ahead of its time.

Soloists Barry Bauguess (Oberlin Conservatory) and Rick Murrell (Pittsburgh Pennsylvania) are two of the most sought-after Baroque trumpet specialists in North America.

Barry Bauguess

Rick Murrell

Musicologist Charles Brewer (Florida State University), who is responsible for publishing the newly-rediscovered pieces, will give a pre-concert lecture about his years of research at Kroměříž in the Czech Republic.

With the authentic Baroque trumpet, there are no valves: everything depends on the embochure and the overtone series. Trumpets with valves that could play chromatically didn’t come into prominence until the end of the 1800s. Consequently the compass of pitches and keys in classical trumpet music was limited.

Circa 1670, Vejvanovský blew past all of that, writing music that used both major and minor tonality, and making the earliest known use of a mute to transpose the trumpet up a half-step in the middle of a piece. Needless to say this music takes all the skill we can muster; you’ll be amazed when you experience this moment in music history.

Barry Bauguess and Rick Murrell will be available to trumpet instructors and students before and after the concert. For more information, contact volunteer business manager Wheat Williams at wheat@atlantabaroque.org. (770) 557-7582.

Trumpet repertoire for this concert:

• Biber. Fanfare No. 1 (from a publication of 12 trumpet duets by Biber)
• Biber. Sonata I from Sonatae tam aris quam servientes (one of several sonatas for two trumpets published by Biber)
• Biber. Sonata a6 (One of three know Biber sonatas for solo trumpet and solo violin with strings)
• C.M. Sonata Mayalis (A modern premier)
• Vejvanovsky. Sonata Scti Mauritii (A modern premier and is one of the few 17th-century pieces marked for muted trumpets. Our trumpet mutes are made of wood and raise the pitch of the trumpet by 1/2 step)
• Biber. Fanfare No. 7 (another trumpet duet)
• Rittler. Ciaccona (a beautiful ciaccona…sort of a “Pachelbel’s Canon” for Baroque trumpet)

The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra presents in concert La Battalia! 17th century Battle Music, with two modern-era world-premiere performances. 4:00 pm, Sunday September 18, 2011, at Roswell Presbyterian Church in Roswell, Georgia.

Watch out for cannonballs! Artistic Director and Violinist Julie Andrijeski leads Atlanta’s storied chamber orchestra into the breach to present a stirring presentation of fantastical musical battles by Heinrich I. F. Biber and Johann H. Schmeltzer.

Then it’s on to more tranquil vistas. Journey with Baroque trumpeters Barry Bauguess and Rick Murrell far to the east of Prague, to Moravia and the legendary gardens and palace of Kroměříž. Join us as we bring to life long-forgotten treasures of the early Baroque by pioneering violinist Biber along with Vejvanovský, Bertali, Rittler and more. We will premier pieces by Schmeltzer and Hugi that have never been performed anywhere since the late 1600s.

Dr. Charles E. Brewer of Florida State University, author of the newly-published The Instrumental Music of Schmeltzer, Biber, Muffat and Their Contemporaries, will be our guide with a pre-concert lecture at 3:15 pm.

Tickets are available online now at http://atlantabaroque.ticketleap.com. $17 in advance, $20 at the door, with discounts for students, seniors, and group purchases of 3 tickets or more. Cash, Check, Credit Card and PayPal are accepted at the concert.

Location:
Main Sanctuary
Roswell Presbyterian Church
755 Mimosa Boulevard
Roswell, GA 30075
770 993-6316
http://www.roswellpres.org/

The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, under Artistic Director Julie Andrijeski, announce their 15th season. The first and longest-running early music chamber orchestra in the Southeast, based in Roswell in North Fulton County, Georgia, are proud to announce three concerts and four performance dates for 2011-2012, featuring several “modern world premieres” of music, old and new.

September 18, 2011: La Battalia! 17th-century Battle Music, at Roswell Presbyterian Church, 4:00 pm.

Violinist and director Julie Andrijeski leads two opposing string choirs in the fantastical musical battles of Biber and Schmeltzer. With this one-show-only concert, the Orchestra premieres two works never heard anywhere in the world since the late 1600s, by Schmeltzer and Hugi. Renowned musicologist Charles Brewer leads our musical journey to the legendary 17th-century gardens and palace of Krom??íž in Moravia for compositions by Vejvanovsky, Rittler, and more, featuring two Baroque trumpets.

February 4, 2012: A Prelude to Super Bowl XLVI: Psalms XLVI and CX, featuring the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir, at First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, 7:00 pm.

 February 5, 2012: A second performance of Psalms XLVI and CX with the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir at Roswell Presbyterian Church, 3:00 pm.

The ABO returns to Midtown! Dr. Jerry Ulrich conducts the choir and orchestra in Handel’s 1707 sacred work Dixit Dominus, based on Psalm 110, then leaps to the 21st century with the premiere of Ulrich’s composition Psalm 46.

May 20, 2012: Spring Celebration at Roswell Presbyterian Church, 4:00 pm.

Director and Violinist Julie Andrijeski leads the Orchestra in a vivacious performance of “Spring” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and festive works by van Wassenaur, Fasch, Locatelli and Sammartini, featuring flutes, oboes, bassoon, strings and continuo.

Advance Tickets for all concerts at Roswell Presbyterian Church are on sale now at http://atlantabaroque.ticketleap.com/. Regular admission $17, day-of-show $20. Season Ticket packages and discounts for Seniors, Students and Groups are all available.

Directions to Roswell Presbyterian Church are here.

Since 1997, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra has been a leading light in the Southeast in the “early music” and “historically-informed performance” movement, playing replicas of the actual instruments used in the era of Bach. Performers are accomplished in unusual instruments and techniques that create a sound and a concert experience very different from “contemporary” symphony orchestras. The ABO is a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization.

This will provide seed-money for a fundraising campaign that we are about to announce as we also announce our 2011-2012 concert season. Watch this space; there’s much more coming soon!