Sunday, April 24, 2022- 4pm
$15 youth, $20 Senior/Student, $25 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
YOUR SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT TO OUR OFFERING THIS SHOW: Proof of full vaccination is required to attend, and a properly-worn mask is required at all times. Admission will be limited to 50% of capacity. All performers and staff are fully vaccinated.
Featuring Judith Linsenberg, recorder; Katherine Heater, harpsichord; Alexa Haynes-Pilon, cello/viola da gamba and David Wilson on Baroque violin
About Musica Pacifica:
Founded in 1990, Musica Pacifica has become widely recognized as one of America’s premier baroque ensembles, lauded for both “dazzling virtuosity” and “warm expressiveness.” They have been described as "some of the finest baroque musicians in America" (American Record Guide) and "among the best in the world" (Alte Musik Aktuell). Individually, the artists perform with Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and American Bach Soloists, as well as prominent early music ensembles worldwide. Musica Pacifica has performed on prestigious concert series throughout the U.S., such as The Frick Collection and Music Before 1800 (NY), the Getty Museum (LA), Houston Early Music, Seattle Early Music Guild, Arizona Early Music, Pittsburgh Renaissance and Baroque, Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC), among others. Featured at the Berkeley Early Music Festival four times, their first appearance there was cited in Early Music (UK) as "perhaps the standout of the entire festival." Their 2015 performance at the Boston Early Music Festival was reviewed as “sensational . . . astonishing . . . breath-taking throughout” by The Boston Musical Intelligencer. They have performed at festivals in Germany and Austria, and have been featured on German National Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, and National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and “Harmonia.” Musica Pacifica's 10 CDs on the Virgin Classics, Dorian, Solimar, and Navona labels have won national and international awards.
Online, Musica Pacifica can be heard on radio stations 1.fm, Last.fm, Celtic Radio, and Recorder-radio.com, as well as on Pandora, iTunes, Spotify, and Magnatune; and seen on youtube.com/MusicaPacificaSF. Please visit their website: www.musicapacifica.org.
Called "the Jascha Heifetz of the recorder," Judith Linsenberg is one of the leading exponents of the recorder in the US and has been acclaimed for her "virtuosity," "expressivity," and "fearless playing." She has performed throughout the US and Europe, including solo appearances at the Hollywood Bowl and Lincoln Center; and has been featured with such leading ensembles as the San Francisco Symphony, the SF and Los Angeles Operas, the Oregon Symphony, LA Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, American Bach Soloists, the Portland and Seattle Baroque Orchestras, the Oregon and Carmel Bach Festivals, among others. The winner of national performance awards, she has premiered several new works for the recorder and has recorded for Virgin Classics, Dorian, Solimar, Navona, harmonia mundi usa, Koch International, Reference Recordings, Musical Heritage Society, Drag City Records (with Joanna Newsom), and Hännsler Classics. She holds a doctorate in early music from Stanford University, and has been a visiting professor at the Vienna Conservatory and Indiana University's Early Music Institute. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with her dog, Jasper, playing for English country dances, and playing a bit of Klezmer clarinet. www.linsenberg.com
Program
Hijinks of the High Baroque: Composers Behaving Badly
Diving into the ultra-fashionable High Baroque scene of mid-18th-century Europe, Musica Pacifica explores the works of composers who struggled with keeping their composure throughout their careers. Come hear a program of quirky and appealing music along with the stories that shed light on the often crazy lives of composers such as Veracini and Leclair—whose brilliant compositions belie their darker sides. The program includes a virtuoso violin sonata by the “unstable genius” Veracini, an engaging recorder sonata by Handel, a flamboyant harpsichord piece by French composer, Royer, a haunting chaconne by Rameau, and an elegant trio sonata by Leclair, all framed by two of Telemann's delightful Paris Quartets replete with their own musical hijinks. Come hear stories of bad behavior and music of uncommon brilliance!
Artist Profiles:
Judith Linsenberg, recorder: is one of the leading exponents of the recorder in the United States. She has been hailed for her “virtuosity” (Washington Post), “expressivity” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), "fearless playing" (SF Classical Voice), and combination of “masterly control with risk-taking spontaneity” (Early Music). She has performed extensively throughout the US and Europe, including solo appearances at the Hollywood Bowl and Lincoln Center; and has been featured with such leading American ensembles as the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco and Los Angeles Operas, the LA Chamber Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, the Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles Baroque Orchestras, the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, the Oregon and Carmel Bach Festivals, Musica Sacra of New York, Musica Angelica of Los Angeles, and others. She is the winner of national performance awards, and has premiered several pieces for the recorder, including a new work commissioned by her and the US premieres of works by Vivaldi and Telemann. She was awarded artist residencies at the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, in Otis, OR for 2008 and 2012; and in September 2011, she was a featured performer/teacher at the prestigious Montreal Recorder Festival.
Alexa Haynes-Pilon, viola da gamba: Recently described by Early Music America as “a special artist with a brilliant future,” Alexa Haynes-Pilon has quickly established herself in the early music scene, performing on baroque cello, viola da gamba, baroque bassoon and dulcian. She is the principal cellist of Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, a co-director and cellist/gambist of Musica Pacifica, and a co-founder of Ensemble Bizarria, a Los Angeles-based early music chamber ensemble. She has performed with numerous American ensembles, including the American Bach Soloists, Pacific Chorale, Los Angeles Chamber Choir, Opera NEO, Burning River Baroque, the Albany Consort, the American Contemporary Ballet, Los Angeles Baroque Players, and Con Gioia. In Toronto, she was a founding member of the early music ensemble, Rezonance, and performed with Accenti Vocali and played in Handel's Hercules with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Recent concerts and tours have taken her all over the United States and Canada, as well as Bogotà, Columbia, and Mexico City, Mexico. Recent recordings include American Bach Soloists, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen Sings Gluck, Handel, & Vivaldi, as well as Agostino Steffani duets under the Musica Omnia label titled Agostino Steffani: A son trés-humble service, Duets for Sophie Charlotte of Hanover under the direction of harpsichordist, Jory Vinikour. She has recorded for the TV show, Hannibal, and was the featured solo cellist on the soundtrack to the highly acclaimed 2017 documentary That Never Happened: Canada's First National Internment Operations.
After completing her BMus and MMus in cello performance at Brandon University, Alexa Haynes-Pilon earned a performance certificate from the University of Toronto in connection with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, studying cello with Christina Mahler and viola da gamba with Joëlle Morton. Alexa recently completed her doctoral studies at the University of Southern California, where she studied baroque cello and viola da gamba with William Skeen, and baroque bassoon and dulcian with Charlie Koster. She has participated in most of the major Early Music festivals and workshops in North America including the Tafelmusik Winter and Summer Institutes, the American Bach Soloists Academy in San Francisco, the Vancouver Early Music Festival, the Twin Cities Early Music Festival, and the Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals.
Katherine Heater, harpsichord: A native of San Francisco, Katherine Heater plays keyboards with Bay Area early music groups such as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Musica Pacifica and the Voices of Music. She has performed throughout the United States, including with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho and at the Berkeley Early Music Festival, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and the Tropical Baroque Festival of Miami. She received an Arts Bachelor from the University of California, Berkeley in music and a Masters of Music in historical performance from Oberlin Conservatory. At the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam Ms. Heater studied harpsichord with Bob van Asperen and fortepiano with Stanley Hoogland. Also an active teacher, Ms. Heater teaches harpsichord at UC Berkeley, piano at The Crowden Music Center, and privately.
David Wilson, Baroque violin: David Wilson is a founding member of Archetti, the Galax Quartet, and other ensembles. He has taught baroque violin at Indiana University, where he earned the Doctor of Music degree in Early Music, and he holds degrees in violin from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He teaches violin and chamber music and directs the orchestra at the San Francisco Early Music Society’s annual Baroque Workshop. His interests outside of music include cosmology, zymurgy, and science fiction (and he wants to discover a science fiction novel about a homebrewing cosmologist). In the last ten years he has performed and recorded classical music of India and the Ottoman Empire with Lux Musica (East Meets West Music and Golden Horn Records), contemporary music with the Galax Quartet (Innova Recordings and Music & Arts), and 18th century concerti with Archetti (Centaur Records). He is the author of Georg Muffat on Performance Practice, published by Indiana University Press, and of the article on Georg Muffat in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historical Performance in Music.