Annalisa Pappano, artistic director and founder of Catacoustic Consort(Photo: Provided)
If you haven’t noticed, there’s a boom of early music occurring in this region. Next month, you’ll be able to sample a vast range representing 1,000 years of music from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras.
The early music group Catacoustic Consort is presenting its third annual Cincinnati Early Music Festival, Feb. 1 to March 1.
“The first annual festival happened kind of spontaneously,” says Alice Nutter, who plays the viola da gamba (a bowed string instrument with frets) and is board president of Catacoustic Consort.” We just looked around one day and discovered a dozen early music events, all happening in February. People were so excited, they wanted a repeat,” she says.
Last year, more than 1,500 people turned out for 17 events. This year, the festival will expand to 25 performances. The showcase will feature professionals and amateurs performing on period instruments in unexpected venues, from Cincinnati’s oldest church – Old Saint Mary’s in Over-the-Rhine – to the Northside Tavern. The offerings include choral music, instrumental music and even opera performed in authentic style using rare instruments.
The idea, organizers say, is to give audiences a chance to hear old music played and sung as it would have sounded when it was new. Many events are free.
“When I came here 14 years ago, early music was Beethoven,” says Annalisa Pappano, founder of Catacoustic Consort, which presents its own series of concerts each year. “It’s neat to see some of this happening and to connect the dots.”
Eary music seems to be everywhere. This season, the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music presented the Academy of Ancient Music, which played Bach using valveless trumpets, gut strings, piercing oboes and harpsichord. Last summer, Pappano and other early music specialists were in the opera pit for Cincinnati Opera’s extraordinary production of “La Calisto,” the company’s first-ever Baroque opera. Next month, CCM’s opera department will mount two Baroque operas.
Catacoustic Consort regularly brings internationally known virtuosos of early instruments to Cincinnati, a fact that has earned national attention from publications such as Early Music America. In one of the festival’s highlights, Catacoustic will perform a candlelit concert of rarely-heard music by Frenchman Jean-Joseph de Mondonville for soprano, harpsichord, and pardessus (the highest instrument of the viol family). The soloist will be Toronto-based soprano, Shannon Mercer, who has recorded the music.
“It is extremely virtuosic,” Pappano says. “I’ve wanted to do it for years, and Shannon Mercer just happened to be available. I’ve been lucky to get some pretty phenomenal talent here.”
What’s the appeal of early music? Nutter calls it “the ultimate roots music.”
“No matter what kind of music people like today, it comes from people several hundred years ago. Early music is sacred, secular, profane, it’s dance music – there are many kinds, and they are completely different from each other,” she says. “People like the variety and the unexpectedness of it. To me, the stranger it gets, the more I like it.”
Cincinnati Early Music Festival highlights
Feb. 1: Cantigium. A vocal chamber concert of music from the Middles Ages and very early Renaissance. 7:30 p.m., Annunciation Catholic Church, Clifton. Free.
Feb. 2: Faculty Artist Series Music for Lute and Voice. Mezzo-soprano Mary Stucky is joined by Rodney Stucky on lute and Baroque guitar in a recital of 17th-century music from Spain, England and The Netherlands. 8 p.m., Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Free.
Feb. 8: Classical Revolution. An all-early music edition of the popular monthly gathering at Northside Tavern. 8 p.m., Northside Tavern, Northside. Free.
Feb. 10: Consort in the Egg, a Renaissance band performing music from the 15th and 16th centuries. You’ll hear recorders of all sizes, and other surprising instruments, too. 12 noon, Christ Church Cathedral, Downtown. Free; you may bring or purchase lunch.
Feb. 11: “Missa Ave Maria.” A rare opportunity to hear an entire mass setting by 16th-century Spanish composer, Cristobal de Morales, performed in the city’s oldest church (1842). 7:30 p.m., Old Saint Mary’s Church, Over-the-Rhine. Free.
Feb. 14: Harper’s Robin. A new harpist collective performs on lever harps (they change keys with levers rather than pedals). Music ranging from the late 12th century to the late 17th century, from Ireland, Britain, and Northern Europe, as well as some Sephardic tunes. 2 p.m., Sisters of Charity Motherhouse Immaculate Conception Chapel, Delhi. Free.
Feb. 15: A Concatenation of Choirs. The Cathedral Choir of St. Peter in Chains, Xavier University’s Edgecliff Vocal Ensemble, and Cincinnati Camerata explore music from the Renaissance. 3 p.m., St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, Downtown. Free.
Feb 20-22: “The Coronation of Poppea.” CCM’s Studio Opera Series presents Monteverdi’s masterpiece, directed by Emma Griffin and conducted by Brett Scott. 8 p.m. Feb. 20-21; 2 p.m. Feb. 22 in Cohen Family Studio Theater. Free; reservations are required. Tickets are available at noon Feb. 16. Call 513-556-4183 to reserve.
Feb. 27-March 1: Handel’s “Ariodante.” Cincinnati Chamber Opera performs this epic love story of betrayal and revelation. 7 p.m. Feb. 27; 2 p.m. March 1, Ascension and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Wyoming.
Feb. 27-March 1: Handel’s “Alcina.” CCM’s Undergraduate Opera Series presents Handel’s opera, directed by Kenneth Shaw, conducted by Brett Scott and produced by Amy Johnson. 8 p.m. Feb. 27-28; 2 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 1, Cohen Family Studio Theater. Free; reservations required. Tickets available at noon Feb. 23. Call 513-556-4183 to reserve.
Feb 28: Catacoustic Consort. A candlelit concert of music from 18th-century France, featuring soprano Shannon Mercer, harpsichord and the rarely-heard pardessus. 7:30 p.m., St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Terrace Park. Tickets: $25; $10 students, at catacoustic.com.
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