Media Contact: Emily Kirk Weddle, Boston Baroque [email protected] 617-987-8600 For Immediate Release:
Boston Baroque Announces 2019-2020 Season
Season bookended by two performances that highlight opera: October concert program of arias and symphonies featuring Amanda Forsythe and April semi-staged performance of Handel’s Ariodante with Paula Murrihy in the title role.
BOSTON, MA—GRAMMY®-nominated Boston Baroque is delighted to announce its 2019-2020 season. The season—led by founding Music Director and Conductor Martin Pearlman—features some of the most beloved music of the repertoire performed by a roster of world-class soloists and the ensemble’s celebrated orchestra and chorus. In addition to its annual Messiah and New Year’s Eve performances, the season includes Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons featuring concertmaster Christina Day Martinson paired with his vibrant choral masterpiece, the Gloria in D; Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony, Haydn’s Symphony No. 102, and concert arias sung by beloved soprano Amanda Forsythe; and closing the season Boston Baroque’s much-anticipated annual semi- staged opera, Handel’s Ariodante, with Paula Murrihy in the title role.
Season subscriptions start at $81 and may be purchased at bostonbaroque.org and 617-987-8600. Subscriptions are available beginning March 11th and single tickets will go on sale this summer.
The season opens on Friday, October 25th and Sunday, October 27th with a program that brings together music of the operatic and symphonic stages. Martin Pearlman will lead the Boston Baroque orchestra in performances of Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony No. 36 in C and Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 in B flat. Soprano Amanda Forsythe will join the ensemble for a selection of dazzling arias from Il re pastore, Zaide, and Haydn’s oft-overlooked oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia among others.
Boston Baroque will ring in the holiday season with two December programs that have become beloved holiday traditions for so many: Handel’s Messiah and our New
Year’s Celebration Concert. This year’s Messiah, which will take place on December 6th and 7th at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, will feature an all-star cast of soloists including Amanda Forsythe, soprano; Ann McMahon Quintero, mezzo- soprano; Thomas Cooley, tenor; and Andrew Garland, baritone. The New Year’s Celebration program includes a pair of Baroque gems by Bach—his Concerto in D for Three Violins and Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D—as well as an orchestral suite by Rameau, Corelli’s Concerto Grosso No. 6., and Vivaldi’s glittering motet, Nulla in mundo pax sincera with soprano Maggie Finnegan. And this Baroque feast would not be complete without complimentary champagne and chocolates to toast the end of one year, and the start of the next.
Boston Baroque returns to two of Vivaldi’s masterworks for its spring concerts on March 27th and 29th. The Four Seasons—Vivaldi’s quartet of concerti grossi, each elucidating on the nature of the seasons—will feature GRAMMY®-nominated concertmaster Christina Day Martinson. The program will also include Vivaldi’s Gloria in D, featuring Boston Baroque’s celebrated chorus.
The 19-20 season comes to a glorious finale with two semi-staged performances of Handel’s Ariodante on April 24th and 25th. The all-star cast of world-renowned singers includes: Paula Murrihy in the title role, Kiera Duffy as Ginevra, Sonja Tengblad as Dalinda, Ann McMahon Quintero as Polinesso, Rufus Müller making his Boston Baroque debut as Lurcanio, Matthew Brook performing his signature interpretation of the King of Scotland, and Jonas Budris as Odoardo. With a plot rife with moonlight encounters, attempted seductions, and star-crossed lovers, Handel’s seldom-performed masterwork will come to glorious life in the hands of a stellar cast, Boston Baroque’s acclaimed chorus and orchestra, and Maestro Pearlman.
ABOUT BOSTON BAROQUE
Boston Baroque is the first permanent Baroque orchestra established in North America and, according to Fanfare Magazine, is widely regarded as “one of the world’s premier period-instrument bands.” The ensemble produces lively, emotionally charged, groundbreaking performances of Baroque and Classical works for today’s audiences performed on instruments and using performance techniques that reflect the eras in which the music was composed.
Founded in 1973 as “Banchetto Musicale” by Music Director Martin Pearlman, Boston Baroque’s orchestra is composed of some of the finest period-instrument players in the United States, and is frequently joined by the ensemble’s professional chorus and by world-class instrumental and vocal soloists from around the globe. The ensemble has performed at major music centers across the United States and performed recently in Poland for the 2015 Beethoven Festival, with sold-out performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 in Warsaw and Handel’s Messiah in Katowice.
Boston Baroque reaches an international audience with its twenty-five acclaimed recordings. In 2012, the ensemble became the first American orchestra to record with the highly-regarded UK audiophile label Linn Records, and its release of The Creation received great critical acclaim. In April 2014, the orchestra recorded Monteverdi’s rarely performed opera, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, which was released on Linn Records and received two nominations at the 2016 GRAMMY® Awards.
Boston Baroque's recordings have received six GRAMMY® Award Nominations: its 1992 release of Handel's Messiah, 1998 release of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, 2000 release of Bach's Mass in B Minor, 2015 release of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and 2018 release of Biber's The Mystery Sonatas.
High-res photos available for download online: http://www.bostonbaroque.org/press-room/photo-gallery
ABOUT MARTIN PEARLMAN, FOUNDING MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
Boston Baroque founder, music director, and conductor Martin Pearlman is one of this country’s leading interpreters of Baroque and Classical music on period and modern instruments. In addition to Boston Baroque’s annual concert season, Pearlman tours in the United States and Europe and has produced twenty-five major recordings for Telarc and Linn Records. Mr. Pearlman’s completion and orchestration of music from Mozart’s Lo Sposo Deluso, his performing version of Purcell’s Comical History of Don Quixote, and his new orchestration of Cimarosa’s Il Maestro di Cappella were all premiered by Boston Baroque.
Highlights of his work include the complete Monteverdi opera cycle, with his own new performing editions of L’incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d’Ulisse, the American premiere of Rameau’s Zoroastre, the Boston premiere of Rameau’s Pigmalion, the New England premieres of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Alceste, and an exploration of the Beethoven symphonies on period instruments. Mr. Pearlman is also known for his internationally acclaimed series of Handel operas including Agrippina, Alcina, Giulio Cesare and Semele.
Mr. Pearlman grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, where he received training in composition, violin, piano and theory. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, where he studied composition with Karel Husa and Robert Palmer. In 1967– 68, he studied harpsichord in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt on a Fulbright Grant and in 1971, he received his Masters of Music in composition from Yale University, studying composition with Yehudi Wyner and harpsichord with Ralph Kirkpatrick. In 1971, he moved to Boston and began performing widely in solo recitals and concertos. From 2002-2016, he was a Professor of Music at Boston University’s School of Music in the Historical Performance department.
BOSTON BAROQUE 2019-2020 CONCERT SEASON AT-A-GLANCE
October 25, 2019 at 8pm October 27, 2019 at 3pm NEC’s Jordan Hall Mozart and Haydn
Featuring Amanda Forsythe, soprano
Mozart: “Linz” Symphony No. 36 in C Mozart: "Barbaro, oh Dio, mi vedi" from Il re pastore Mozart: "Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben" from Zaide Mozart: "Bella mia fiamma, addio" Haydn: "Anna, m'ascolta” from Il ritorno di Tobia Haydn, Symphony No. 102 in B flat
December 6, 2019 at 7:30pm December 7, 2019 at 7:30pm NEC’s Jordan Hall
Amanda Forsythe, soprano Ann McMahon Quintero, mezzo-soprano Thomas Cooley, tenor Andrew Garland, baritone
Handel: Messiah
December 31, 2019 at 8pm January 1, 2020 at 3pm Sanders Theatre at Harvard University New Year’s Eve and First Day Gala Concerts with Maggie Finnegan, soprano
Corelli: Concerto Grosso, Opus 6, No. 6 in F Bach, Concerto in D Major for three violins (after BWV 1064) Vivaldi: Motet, “Nulla in mundo pax sincera” Rameau: Orchestral Suite Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D
March 27, 2020 at 8:00pm March 29, 2020 at 3:00pm NEC’s Jordan Hall
Featuring Christina Day Martinson, violin
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Vivaldi: Gloria for Chorus and Orchestra Monteverdi: Beatus Vir
April 24, 2020 at 7:30pm April 25, 2020 at 7:30pm NEC’s Jordan Hall
Paula Murrihy, Ariodante Kiera Duffy, Ginevra Sonja Tengblad, Dalinda Ann McMahon Quintero, Polinesso Rufus Müller, Lurcanio Nathan Berg, Re di Scozia Jonas Budris, Odoardo
Opera Handel: Ariodante