$15 youth, $25 Senior/Student, $30 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.

For this much-anticipated event, the renowned ensemble Nash Baroque, with soprano Bethany Hill, bring to life tales of love, despair and triumph from 18th century France, with flute, violin, viola da gamba, theorbo and harpsichord, in a program entitled “Les Amours des Dieux”.

The cantatas of Michel Pignolet de Montéclair and Louis Nicolas Clérambault unfold as miniature dramas featuring mythological Greek gods and humans with all their passions, weaknesses and heartbreak. “Every myth is a drama in human form”, as Gaston Bachelard put it, and these intimate vocal works, together with richly evocative instrumental dance suites of Couperin, Phillidor and LeClair explore timeless themes of love, loss and metamorphosis that echo through the ages.

Artist Profiles

Bethany Hill is a versatile and critically acclaimed Australian soprano, now based in the United States. A specialist in 17th and 18th century music, she is also regularly involved in the development of new compositions. Comfortable on the stage and as a recitalist, Bethany has performed with State Opera of South Australia, Scottish Opera, Gertrude Opera, Juilliard 415,  The Song Company, Adelaide Baroque, The Firm New Music, and the award-winning Adelaide Chamber Singers.

 Operatic roles include Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), Lucy (The Telephone), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado), and Belinda (Dido & Aeneas). Most recently she performed Frau in Schönberg’s Erwartung.

In 2018 Bethany made her principal debut with State Opera of South Australia as Dido in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas and also sang the role of Mercedes for Carmen in the Square in 2019.

 Bethany has enjoyed performing in the Bay Area as a chamber musician and soloist. She is one half of the folk duo, Turas, who toured to Alaska for the first time in 2023. 

Vicki Melin Baroque and Renaissance Flutes, has performed in early music groups throughout the U.S. and the Bay area such as the American Bach Soloists, with the ABS Academy in the San Francisco Bach Festival, Voices of Music, Musica Angelica (L.A.), Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, California Bach Society, Jubilate Orchestra, MUSA, and her ensemble, Nash Baroque. Ms Melin attended Boston University for her Masters of Music, studying with Christopher Krueger and The Royal Conservatory of Music in Den Hague, The Netherlands, where she received an Advanced Diploma in Performance, studying with Wilbert Hazelzet. She has performed with early music orchestras and chamber ensembles in the United States, The Netherlands, Italy, and is a frequent guest soloist with International Organ and Chamber Music Festivals in Poland. Ms. Melin lives in San Francisco and teaches baroque flute privately and at UC Berkeley. https://www.nashbaroque.org/founders

Originally from Paris, France, Pauline Kempf is now based in San Francisco where she studied baroque violin with Elizabeth Blumenstock at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In June 2022 Pauline was selected to participate in EMA’s Emerging Artist Showcase and performed an all 17th century program during the Berkeley Festival and Exhibition. She was recently invited by the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and the Oregon Bach Festival to perform the “Spring” season by Vivaldi as a soloist. She is a co-founder of Ensemble Affect and frequently performs with several other period instrumental ensembles such as Third Coast Baroque, Haymarket Opera Company, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and Lumedia Musicworks. Pauline hold musical degrees from the Music Universities of Geneva and Vienna and received her Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University.

Award winning historical plucked string specialist, Matthew Xie focuses on the repertoire of the theorbo,lute, baroque guitar and 19th century guitar. He has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Taiwan. Matthew has recently graduated magna cum laude with a Masters in Historical performance Lute/Theorbo degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, The Hague under the mentorship of Joachim Held and Mike Fentross. Matthew also holds graduate and bachelor degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and UC Irvine. Matthew is currently active in San Francisco Bay Area as a continuo player, chamber musician, soloist, instructor and clinician. https://www.sirplucksalot.com/

Farley Pearce is a performer on both the various sizes of viola da gamba and the baroque cello. As a cellist he has performed widely in the Southeastern region of the US, most notably with the Spoleto Festival, with whom he has also played in Italy. For five years he was a member of the Charleston Pro Musica, and he has performed as a recitalist in Brazil and Uruguay. Since moving to San Francisco Farley has been an active free-lance performer with many of California’s orchestras and chamber ensembles. In the Bay Area he has performed on viola da gamba, violone, and baroque cello with Magnificat, the Jubilate Baroque Orchestra, the Sex Chordæ Consort of Viols, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Airs and Graces, and many other period instrument groups.

Katherine Heater, early keyboards, plays locally with early music groups such as Voices of Music, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Musica Pacifica. She has performed throughout the United States, including with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho and at the 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, the Crowden Center, as well as privately.