JBO Showcase Concerts for 2010-2011

Fall 2010: Music of Antonio Vivaldi for Chamber, Chapel and Theater Concerto in C Major, RV 423, for mandolin, strings & b.c., with soloist John Taylor Concerto in D Major, RV 95, La Pastorella, for recorder, oboe, violin, bassoon & b.c. With soloists Jim Rich, Kitty Steetle, Juliet Long & Karen Basin Aria from the opera Farnace, RV 711, for bass, strings & b.c. Laudate Pueri, RV 601, for soprano, strings & b.c. Vivaldi is often considered a one- or perhaps two-trick pony — Four Seasons and Gloria — but in truth he was a versatile composer for all popular 18th-century venues. His music for the famous Venetian orphanage/girl's school “La Pietá ” encompassed both secular instrumental and sacred music, while his operatic music was received ecstatically by opera houses all over Europe. Saturday, Nov. 20th, 8pm, Newman Methodist Church, Grants Pass (Map) Sunday, Nov. 21st, 3pm, Trinity Episcopal Church, 44 N. 2nd St., Ashland (Map)

Winter 2011: Golden Age of the Cornetto We feature the cornetto in music by Giovanni Battista Riccio, Giovanni Maria Cesare, Andrea Cima, Barbara Strozzi, Salomone Rossi, Giovanni Battista Mazzaferrata and Girolamo Frescobaldi. During the first 30 years of the Baroque era the cornetto flourished as never before, only to be eclipsed by the middle of the 17th century by the violin and oboe, difficult instruments, but not so difficult as the cornetto. During the first decades of the early music revival few musicians accepted the challenge of mastering an instrument whose technical difficulties were so great and whose literature was so relatively unknown. But as the richness of the literature has become better known, more people are dedicating themselves to an instrument whose sound Mersenne described as being like “a shaft of sunlight piercing the gloom of a dark cathedral.” Douglas Sears, cornetto and voice Sarah Viens, cornetto and recorder Jim Rich, dulcian, recorder and voice Margret Gries, harpsichord and organ Sunday, February 6, 3 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Church, Ashland

Spring 2011: J.S. Bach's Clavierübung, I, II, III and IV Margret Gries, harpsichords and organ The Clavierübung was Bach's only publishing project. Bach scholar Christoph Wolff believes that this massive series of keyboard publications was inspired by the publications of his good friend Telemann, especially the series Der Getreue Musikmeister (“The Faithful Music Teacher”). Clavierübung (“Keyboard Practice”) I was for single-manual harpsichord, II for double-manual harpsichord, and III for organ. Volume IV consists entirely of a single work, the Goldberg Variations, conceived for double-manual harpsichord. Ms. Gries will play selections from each volume: From I, the Second Partita in c-minor, BWV 826, on a single-manual Italian harpsichord by Owen Daly; from II, the French Overture, BWV 831, on a two-manual French harpsichord by David Calhoun; from III, several organ works played on the 11-rank tracker-action pipe organ by Karl Wilhelm; and from IV, the aria and several variations from the Goldberg Variations. Sunday, May 22, 3 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Church, Ashland.

Tickets for Showcase Concerts: $10 regular, $5 student, $5 for season ticket holders