14 October 2008

Concert: 21 November 2008

Mediterraneo II: More Music from Byzantium to Iberia
Friday, 21 November 2008, 7:30 PM. Pre-concert event at 7:00 PM.

What kind of music were you likely to hear if you lived, worked, and traveled around the complex and multicultural world of Byzantium? What instruments would you be playing and hearing as you traveled? If you were a musician, you’d have to be well versed in a variety of musical styles and be able to play more than one instrument. Add to this the undulations of the Ottoman Empire that were a political force in Italy and every Eastern European country for hundreds of years. See how these attempted conquests play out in musical terms!

Special Guests Kane Mathis and Ruthie Dornfeld join the Baroque Northwest Trio (Ronnee Fullerton, Elizabeth Brown, Gus Denhard) to play Traditional, Renaissance, and Baroque music from Turkey, Iberia, North Africa, and other countries.

19 August 2008

Our 2008-2009 Season!

For the 2008-2009 concert season, Baroque Northwest takes you on a tour of Europe in our new venue, Trinity Parish Church. Start in France, then to Spain and around the Mediterranean to Turkey, Germany by way of Italy, and with two stops in England. You’ll hear music by composers you have never experienced, and you’ll get better acquainted with some composers you have already met.

Concert I--Friday, 19 September 2008, 7:30 PM. Pre-concert event at 7:00 PM
Louis Louis: Music from the Courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV

Concert II--Friday, 21 November 2008, 7:30 PM. Pre-concert event at 7:00 PM.
Mediterraneo II: More Music from Byzantium to Iberia

Special Guests Kane Mathis and Ruthie Dornfeld join the Baroque Northwest Trio (Ronnee Fullerton, Elizabeth Brown, Gus Denhard) to play Traditional, Renaissance, and Baroque music from Turkey, Iberia, North Africa, and other countries.

Concert III--20 March 2009, 7:30 PM. Pre-concert event at 7:00 PM.
Bach to the Futue: The Baroque Avant-Garde

Join The Baroque Northwest Trio (Kim Pineda, Ronnee Fullerton, and Gus Denhard) as we explore the outer limits of baroque music, with special guest Bernard Gordillo, harpsichord. Music by Johann Philipp Kirnberger, CPE Bach, Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Concert Descriptions --


Louis Louis: Music from the Courts of Louis XIV and Louis XV
The artistic and cultural foundation set in place during Louis XIV’s long reign survived well into the time of Louis XV. But, ultimately, ruling the enormous empire built by XIV got the better of XV, and, by the time of Michel Blavet’s death in 1768, all things cultural had taken a turn for the worse. The composers on our program worked for one Louis or the other, or both, and the royal patronage was the gig to have in the 17th and 18th centuries. Join the Baroque Northwest Quartet (Kim Pineda, transverse flute, Ronnee Fullerton, viola da gamba, Elizabeth Brown, baroque guitar and archlute, and August Denhard, theorbo and baroque guitar) as we perform works by composers employed by the Sun King (Louis XIV) and his successor, Louis XV. Music by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Marin Marais, Michel Blavet, Anne-Danican Philidor, Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, and Charles- François Gregoire de la Ferté.

In addition to the Louis connections, Philidor (brother of the first international chess master Francois-Andre Philidor), created the Parisian concert series, Le concert spirituel. It was on this series that Blavet stepped into the limelight and became recognized as one of the premier musicians of his day, and not just a flute virtuoso. Blavet made his first appearance at the concert spirituel at the age of 26. He performed his own concerto, at the time a new form of composition in France, and afterwards, because of his exciting manner of playing, the flute became more popular in France. Marais and Hotteterre, each significant in the development of their respective instruments and repertoire (viola da gamba and flute), were well established by the time of Blavet’s debut. It is likely that Blavet used an instrument made by the Hotteterre family. A childhood prodigy, Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre performed for Louis XIV at the age of five and subsequently went on to establish herself as one of the few well-known woman composers of her time. We know less-than-little about François Gregoire de la Ferté, other than he was one of the first French composers to write chamber music with the title of sonata. Sonata XII is the only piece in the collection that treats the treble and bass parts as equal soloists.

Mediterraneo II: More Music from Byzantium to Iberia
What kind of music were you likely to hear if you lived, worked, and traveled around the complex and multicultural world of Byzantium? What instruments would you be playing and hearing as you traveled? If you were a musician, you’d have to be well versed in a variety of musical styles and be able to play more than one instrument. Add to this the undulations of the Ottoman Empire that were a political force in Italy and every Eastern European country for hundreds of years. See how these attempted conquests play out in musical terms!

Special Guests Kane Mathis and Ruthie Dornfeld join the Baroque Northwest Trio (Ronnee Fullerton, Elizabeth Brown, Gus Denhard) to play Traditional, Renaissance, and Baroque music from Turkey, Iberia, North Africa, and other countries.


Bach to the Futue: The Baroque Avant-Garde
Exploring the world was not new to those living in the Age of Enlightenment. The world of music was no different. For baroque music, beginning with the Seconda Pratica of Claudio Monteverdi, the Camerata of Vicenzo Galilei, and the stile moderno of Giulio Caccini, musicians have always been interested in creating new things that break from the “party line” and give their music a unique character. After all of the music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Friderick Handel, and Georg Philipp Telemann, what else could the younger generation, composers such as Johann Philipp Kirnberger and CPE Bach, do but push the envelope of tradition? And after John Dowland, what else could Johannes Hieronymous Kapsberger do as a lute composer?

Join The Baroque Northwest Trio (Kim Pineda, Ronnee Fullerton, and Gus Denhard) as we explore the outer limits of baroque music, with special guest Bernard Gordillo, harpsichord. Music by Johann Philipp Kirnberger, CPE Bach, Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger, and Johann Sebastian Bach.


Our new venue, the Parish Hall at Trinity Parish Church in downtown Seattle, is a performance space similar to a typical salon de musique in 18th-century France. Large enough to comfortably seat our audience, but intimate enough to make the listener feel as if they are enjoying the music in someone’s home.