THREE DUELS and a Funeral
March 7March 10, 2019
This sequel to last year’s hit program, “Three Duels and a Wedding,” takes a darker turn… sort of. Sparks fly as pairs of virtuoso soloists square off in dueling quadruple-concertos of Vivaldi, as well as the exhilarating Brandenburg Concerto no. 3. Telemann’s zany Funeral Cantata for a Dead Canary, delivered with tragic-comic aplomb by singer-actor Jeffrey Strauss, will leave you in tears… of laughter. Theatrical direction for the Canary Cantata by acclaimed director Christine McBurney.

Program

VIVALDI | Concerto in D for Two Violins, Two Cellos, and Strings, RV 564
J.S. BACH | Brandenburg Concerto no. 3
VIVALDI | Concerto in B Minor for Four Violins
TELEMANN | Funeral Cantata for an Artistically Trained Canary
VIVALDI | Flute Concerto in D, “Il Gardellino” (The Goldfinch)
VIVALDI/arr. Sorrell | La Folia (“Madness”)

PRE-CONCERT TALK with Don Rosenberg, 1 hr. before each concert. FREE!

Senior (65+), Young Adult (<40), and Student Discounts are available in select price sections.

afterglow_300

FRIDAY NIGHT!
Enjoy some mini-tarts and sparkling cider while you celebrate with the musicians. FREE!


Watch Video

Bach’s Brandenburg no. 3 – Apollo’s Fire on tour in the UK

Baritone-actor Jeffrey Strauss in Bach’s Coffee Cantata


Meet the Artists

  • JOHANNA NOVOM
    JOHANNA NOVOM
    violin
  • ADRIANE POST
    ADRIANE POST
    violin
  • KATHIE STEWART
    KATHIE STEWART
    flutes
  • JEFFREY STRAUSS
    JEFFREY STRAUSS
    baritone

These concerts are generously sponsored by
Whitmer & Ehrman, LLC

Thursday, March 7, 2019, 7:30PM
First United Methodist Church, AKRON
Friday, March 8, 2019, 8:00PM
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS
Saturday, March 9, 2019, 8:00PM
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS
Sunday, March 10, 2019, 4:00PM
ROCKY RIVER Presbyterian Church
Featured Soloists
Jeffrey Strauss,baritone
Kathie Stewart,traverso (baroque flute)
Johanna Novom & Adriane Post,violin
René Schiffer & Rebecca Landell Reed,cello
Jourdain Fences his Maid, Nicole with his Wife Looking on. Scene From ‘Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme’, Act III, Scene 3 (oil on canvas), Leslie, Charles Robert (1794-1859) / Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK / Bridgeman Images

“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band.” –CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE (UK)

JOHANNA NOVOM
violin

grew up in the woods of New Hampshire, and is currently based in Brooklyn. Her unusual schooling encouraged a variety of artistic inclinations that she thrives on to this day. She began playing violin at age 10, and the collaborative, communicative aspects of music have always inspired her, making chamber music an obvious priority. Johanna discovered baroque violin while pursuing her BM with Marilyn McDonald at Oberlin, and went on to achieve a Master’s in Historical Performance. She also spent a fellowship year in the Yale Baroque Ensemble under Robert Mealy.

First prize winner of ABS’ 2008 International Young Artists’ Competition, Johanna is Associate Concertmaster of Apollo’s Fire, and performs with many period ensembles, including Trinity Wall Street Choir and Baroque Orchestra, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, TENET, Concert Royal, Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, ACRONYM, and the Sebastian Chamber Players. Recent festival engagements include the Carmel Bach Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, and the BBC Proms.

ADRIANE POST
violin

formed her first quartet at age 11 and found her love of chamber music. She can be heard as leader of Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, founding member of ACRONYM Ensemble, member of Apollo’s Fire and Handel & Haydn Society, as a regular with Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra and performing with many period instrument ensembles across the US. Described as one of North America’s “brightest and best” by Early Music America, Adriane has received a fellowship from The English Concert and has performed with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie in Thiré, France, and as concertmaster for Nicolas McGegan and Jordi Savall with Juilliard 415.

Recent performances include Spoleto USA, Tanglewood, The BBC Proms and the Carmel Bach Festival. Adriane received her BM from Oberlin Conservatory and her MM from The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance program. A proud Vermonter, Adriane admits to residing happily in Brooklyn with her husband, Paul Dwyer.

KATHIE STEWART
flutes

Hailed as a virtuoso by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kathie Stewart is a founding member and principal flute of Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. An advocate of the baroque flute as a mainstream instrument, Stewart serves as Teacher of Baroque Flute at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Kulas Visiting Artist at Case Western Reserve University, and is Assistant Director for the Seattle Baroque Flute Workshop. Stewart has performed as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Sinfonia, ARTEK, and Turn the Corner Irish Band. Stewart has performed at the BBC Proms, Snape Proms, Tanglewood Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, New World Symphony’s Baroque Festival, Oberlin College Artist Series, National Academy of Sciences, Library of Congress, and Dumbarton Oaks Series. Stewart is a faculty member of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she serves as Curator of Harpsichords in the Historical Performance Department and additionally taught baroque flute for nearly twenty years. A proponent of historical temperaments, she tunes and maintains the Conservatory’s world-class collection of historical harpsichord reproductions.

Stewart appears on fourteen recordings with Apollo’s Fire including solo performances in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. IV (AVIE) and Telemann’s Concerto in E Minor for Flute and Recorder (AVIE). An accomplished Irish flute player, she can be heard on Scarborough Fayre: Traditional Tunes from the British Isles and the New World, Come To The River: an Early American Gathering, and Sugarloaf Mountain: an Appalachian Gathering. Radio appearances include holiday specials on National Public Radio, NPR’s World of Opera, SymphonyCast, and Performance Today. Her concerts have been broadcasted on Britain’s BBC Radio, Canada’s CBC, European Community Radio, and on WCLV’s “Seaway” syndication network carried by member stations of the European Broadcasting Union.

Stewart holds a Bachelor of Music degree from West Virginia University as a student of Joyce Catalfano and a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music as a student of Thomas Nyfenger. She completed doctoral coursework at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as a student of George Hambrecht and participated in Eiji Hashimoto’s Baroque Ensemble. Fascination with the traverso led her to the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin Conservatory where she studied baroque flute and recorder with Christopher Krueger.

WEBSITE

JEFFREY STRAUSS
baritone

Praised as “an authoritative artist” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “an elegant and energetic singer” (Seen and Heard International), baritone Jeffrey Strauss has performed with leading period music ensembles including Tafelmusik, the Consort of Musicke with Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley, the Taverner Consort under Andrew Parrott, The Handel & Haydn Society, Seattle Baroque, The Newberry Consort, and Tempesta di Mare, among many others. Trained at an early age in Jewish liturgical music by Cantor Daniel Gildar, he later studied voice and art song in London with Yvonne Rodd-Marling and Martin Penny, and in Paris with Gérard Souzay. He has been a regular soloist with Apollo’s Fire since 1995, and is especially known for his appearances in Handel’s Messiah, the Bach St. John and St. Matthew Passions, Sephardic Journey, O Jerusalem!, and music of Monteverdi including the 1610 Vespers, Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, and the title role in L’Orfeo. A longstanding proponent of contemporary music, he has collaborated with Ralph Shapey and the Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago (Contempo), the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Pacifica Quartet, and Eighth Blackbird, and has premiered works by Babbitt, Bernstein, Axelrod, and Shapey. He has appeared twice with the Omaha Symphony, and performed the role of Mephistopheles in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust. An accomplished stage actor, his 2014 performance as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at the Lancaster Opera House—reprising a role he first played at age 17—was hailed as “masterful” (Buffalo News).

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