Three Duels and a Wedding
Bach’s Double-Concertos & Wedding Cantata
with featured soloists
Amanda Forsythe,soprano
Debra Nagy,oboe
Kathie Stewart,traverso
Karina Schmitz & Kristen Linfante,viola
Olivier Brault & Johanna Novom,violin
Thursday, February 8, 2018, 7:30PM
First United Methodist Church, AKRON
Friday, February 9, 2018, 8:00PM
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS
Saturday, February 10, 2018, 8:00PM
The Temple-Tifereth Israel, BEACHWOOD
FREE Afterglow!
Sunday, February 11, 2018, 4:00PM
ROCKY RIVER Presbyterian Church

Renowned soprano Amanda Forsythe, now a Billboard Classical best-selling artist, joins the Apollo’s Fire orchestra and featured instrumental soloists.

TELEMANN
Concerto in E minor for Flute & Violin, TWV 52:e3
Olivier Brault, violin | Kathie Stewart, traverso
J.S. BACH
Wedding Cantata, BWV 202
Amanda Forsythe, soprano
BACH
Brandenburg Concerto no. 6
Karina Schmitz & Kristen Linfante, viola
BACH
Concerto for Violin & Oboe
Johanna Novom, violin | Debra Nagy, oboe
Viola Duo Tackles
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6
 
Read the Interview
 

PRE-CONCERT TALK by Professor Thomas Forrest Kelly of Harvard University, one hour before each performance.

afterglow_300
*SATURDAY NIGHT: Sample delicious German wedding cake and sparkling cider… and who will catch the bride’s bouquet? FREE!

These concerts are generously sponsored by Mrs. David Seidenfeld


SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 12:30pm – Nighttown Restaurant, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS
J.S. Bach the Rebel (click here for details)


  • AMANDA FORSYTHE
    AMANDA FORSYTHE
    soprano
  • DEBRA NAGY
    DEBRA NAGY
    oboe
  • KARINA SCHMITZ
    KARINA SCHMITZ
    viola
  • KRISTEN LINFANTE
    KRISTEN LINFANTE
    viola

  • OLIVIER BRAULT
    OLIVIER BRAULT
    violin
  • JOHANNA NOVOM
    JOHANNA NOVOM
    violin
  • KATHIE STEWART
    KATHIE STEWART
    traverso

Wedding at castle, 1789, print by Louis-Philibert Debucourt (1755-1832), France, 18th century / Musee Maurice Ravel, Montfort-L’Amaury, France / De Agostini Picture Library / G. Dagli Orti / Bridgeman Images

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

AMANDA FORSYTHE
soprano

The American soprano Amanda Forsythe sings Euridice on the recording of Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers with Boston Early Music Festival which won the 2015 GRAMMY AWARD for Best Opera Recording. She has been praised by Opera News for her “light and luster”, “wonderful agility and silvery top notes”. She was a winner of the George London Foundation Awards and was sponsored by them in her New York recital début. She also received prizes from the Liederkranz Foundation and the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation.

Amanda Forsythe made her European operatic début in the role of Corinna Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro which led to an immediate invitation to make her début at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Dalinda Ariodante where she was proclaimed “the discovery of the evening” (Financial Times). She returned to the Rossini Opera Festival to perform the role of Rosalia L’equivoco stravagante and Bellini duets in the ‘Malibran’ recital at the invitation of Joyce di Donato, and, most recently, Jemmy in the new production of Guillaume Tell for which she received considerable critical acclaim.headshotyellow400

Amanda Forsythe made her débuts at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich as Dalinda Ariodante and as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. She returned to Covent Garden to perform the roles of Manto in Steffani’s Niobe, regina di Tebe under Thomas Hengelbrock and Nannetta Falstaff under Daniele Gatti, described by Gramophone Magazine as “meltingly beautiful”. She also sang Nannetta for Opéra d’Angers-Nantes.

Amanda Forsythe made her USA stage début with Boston Early Music Festival, where her roles have included Niobe and Manto (recording) in Niobe, regina di Tebe, Aglaure in Lully’s Psyché, Venus Venus and Adonis (John Blow), Drusilla L’incoronazione di Poppea, Pallas in Eccles’ The Judgment of Paris and Edilia in Handel’s Almira, for which she received rave reviews.

Amanda Forsythe’s operatic repertoire also includes Iris Semele, Poppea Agrippina, the title role in Partenope, Amenaide in Rossini’s Tancredi, Bastienne Bastien und Bastienne, Serpina La serva padrona, Ninfa/Proserpina Orfeo (Monteverdi), Amore Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Oberto Alcina, Dafne Apollo e Dafne, Atalanta Xerxes, and roles in Les Indes Galantes and The Fairy Queen.

Amanda Forsythe created the role of Young Margarta/Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, a role which she later repeated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Calgary Philharmonic. She also received high critical acclaim for her début as The Angel in the North American première of Peter Eötvös’ opera, Angels in America. She has also sung world premières by John Austin and Elena Ruher, and recorded songs by the composer Ken Sullivan.

Amanda Forsythe’s concert engagements in North America have included her recent débuts at the Tanglewood Festival and Lincoln Center in the title role of Teseo with Philharmonia Baroque, and her début with Seattle Symphony in Handel’s Messiah. Other highlights have included Dorinda Orlando and Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo with Early Music Vancouver, Dafne Apollo e Dafne with Pacific Musicworks, and Haydn and Mozart arias with Apollo’s Fire, Handel arias with Portland Baroque Orchestra, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Handel and Haydn Society, and Haydn’s Creation and Messiah with the Charlotte Symphony.

Overseas major concert engagements have included Alexander’s Feast with the Ulster Orchestra and L’allegro, il perseroso, ed il moderato with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, both under Kenneth Montgomery, Rossini Arias at Gran Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Scarlatti Pastorale per la natività and arias from Messiah with the Brabants Philharmonic Orchestra in the Netherlands, and Mahler Second Symphony with L’Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico.

Amanda Forsythe is a regular soloist with the highly acclaimed baroque ensembles Philharmonia Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Boston Baroque and Pacific Musicworks. Her concert repertoire also includes Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, Vivaldi’s Nulla in mundo pax sincera, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Amanda Forsythe recently made her début at Seattle Opera as Iris Semele which resulted in an immediate invitation to return to sing Pamina Die Zauberflöte in 2017. In the Autumn she returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Amour in Gluck’s Orfeo under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, a role she then repeats in concerts with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, before returning to the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia to sing the role of Marzelline in concert performances of Fidelio. She also recently sang Poppea Agrippina for Boston Baroque. She sings Poppea L’incoronazione di Poppea, Giunone Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, and the Monteverdi Vespers for the 2015 Boston Early Music Festival.

On the concert platform, Amanda Forsythe recently made her début with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome in performances of Bach Magnificat under Sir Antonio Pappano. In January 2016 she makes her début with The Boston Symphony under Andris Nelsons in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, following a tour of Mozart Requiem and Mass in C minor with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Other forthcoming concert engagements include Messiah with Philharmonia Baroque and Kansas City Symphony, Bach Cantata 51 and Vivaldi’s Gloria with Seattle Symphony, Handel and Vivaldi Concert arias and performances and a recording of Bach St John Passion with Apollo’s Fire.

Amanda Forsythe’s recordings include the 2015 Grammy-winning CD of Charpentier’s La déscente d’Orphée aux enfers, as well as Venus Venus and Adonis, Aglaure Lully’s Psyché, and La Grande Pretresse in Lully’s Thésée with Boston Early Music Festival (all for CPO), Manto Steffani’s Niobe with BEMF (Erato), the title role in Handel’s Teseo with Philharmonia Baroque (PBO’s own label) , Mozart’s Lucio Silla: In un istante Parto, m’affretto and Messiah with Apollo’s Fire (Avie), Minerve Dorinda Handel’s Orlando with Early Music Vancouver (ATMA) and Haydn’s Creation with Boston Baroque (Linn). She also sings on the DVD recordings of the Pesaro productions of L’equivoco stravagante and Guillaume Tell as well as Manto in the Royal Opera production of Steffani’s Niobe (Opus Arte).

In Autumn 2015 her début solo recording of Handel arias with Apollo’s Fire was released on the Avie label to critical acclaim.

WEBSITE

DEBRA NAGY
oboe

Praised for her “dazzling technique and soulful expressiveness,” (Rocky Mountain News), and a musical approach that’s “distinctly sensual…pliant, warm, and sweet,” (New York Times), Debra Nagy is one of North America’s leading performers on the baroque oboe. She plays principal oboe with the American Bach Soloists, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and Apollo’s Fire, and is a regular guest with the Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Early Music Festival, and Portland Baroque Orchestra, among other ensembles. A dedicated chamber musician, Debra is the founder of Les Délices (whose debut recording was named “One of the Top Ten Early Music Discoveries of 2009”) and performs late-medieval music as a regular guest with Boston’s acclaimed Blue Heron and the Newberry Consort. Following studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Conservatory of Amsterdam, and Case Western Reserve University, Debra has received many awards for her creative and scholarly pursuits including first-prize in the American Bach Soloists Young Artists Competition, a 2009 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a 2010 Creative Workforce Fellowship from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. She has recorded over 30 CDs with repertoire ranging from 1300-1800 on the Chandos, Avie, CPO, Capstone, Bright Angel, Naxos, and ATMA labels, and has had live performances featured on CBC Radio Canada, Klara (Belgium), NPR’s Performance Today, WQXR (New York City) and WGBH Boston.

A dedicated and inspiring teacher, Debra serves on the artist faculties of the American Bach Soloists’ Summer Academy and has given masterclasses at Juilliard, the Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory, and University of Washington. She is also committed to service and to fostering the next generation of leaders through her work as a board member of Early Music America and liason to its Youth Advisory Board.

In her spare time, Debra cooks prodigiously (including much canning and pickling), and she loves commuting by bicycle from her home in Cleveland’s historic Ohio City neighborhood.

WEBSITE

KARINA SCHMITZ
viola

holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her early music studies began at Oberlin Conservatory with Marilyn McDonald, Miho Hashizume, and David Breitman. She continued her training in the Apollo’s Fire Apprentice Program while serving as Concertmaster of the Case Baroque Orchestra. She is currently Principal Second Violin with Tempesta di Mare in Philadelphia, Assistant Principal Violist of the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra, and violist with the Coriolan String Quartet, a period ensemble based in Boston.

KRISTEN LINFANTE
viola

holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, and specializes in both modern and baroque viola. She has served as Principal Viola of the Orchestra de Catania in Sicily and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Opera, and Ballet, Houston Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. She is currently the Executive Director of Chamber Music Pittsburgh, and also performs frequently with Chatham Baroque.

OLIVIER BRAULT
violin

hails from Terrebonne in Québec and brings communicative enthusiasm and scholarship to concerts throughout North America and Europe. In addition to directing the chamber ensemble Sonate 1704, he performs as Music Director with Les Goûts Réunis in Luxembourg, as a member of Four Nations Ensemble in New York, and as soloist with many Montréal-based ensembles including the Ensemble Caprice, Les Boréades de Montréal, Quatuor Franz Joseph, and Les Idées heureuses. He holds a Doctorate from the Université de Montréal, where he specialized in 18th-century violin repertoire. He has led workshops and masterclasses at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, CWRU, Oberlin Conservatory, Penn State University, University of Michigan, the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles and The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. He has participated in over 65 recordings, many award-winning. In 2011 he received the medal of the Assemblée Nationale de Québec for cultural contributions to his nation. Beginning in the fall of 2017, he joins the early music faculty of McGill University in Montréal teaching baroque violin.

JOHANNA NOVOM
violin

appears as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician with period ensembles across the US and internationally. First-prize winner of the American Bach Soloists’ International Young Artists Competition in 2008, she holds a Master’s degree in baroque violin from Oberlin Conservatory and was a Yale Baroque Ensemble fellow in 2010-2011 under the directly of Robert Mealy. Based in Brooklyn, NY, she currently performs with Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Carmel Bach Festival, Clarion Music Society, Washington Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, TENET, the Sebastian Chamber Players, New York Baroque Incorporated, and ACRONYM, among others. She is a founding member of the Diderot String Quartet, a new ensemble dedicated to the performance of 18th and early 19th century repertoire. 

KATHIE STEWART
traverso

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

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