Join us for an intimate evening in the Powel House ballroom. Music by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and others for flute, strings, and soprano. Pre-concert talk begins at 6:30 PM.
Keyboard Conversations:
Music of Mozart & the Bach Sons
Featuring fortepianist Sylvia Berry, this program explores Mozart’s orchestral music in arrangements sanctioned by himself or fashioned by his student Hummel. On this intimate scale, the works’ conversational, sociable nature is especially apparent.
We pair a Mozart overture & concerto with an overture by Johann Christian Bach and one of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s last compositions, a quartet with a similarly conversational idiom that suggests his awareness of musical developments in Vienna.
NIGHT MUSIC
Karen Dekker, violin
Steven Zohn, flute & co-director
Heather Miller Lardin, double bass & co-director
with
Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
Aniela Eddy, violin
Amy Leonard, viola
Ellen Exner, oboe
Keyboard Conversations:
Music of Mozart & the Bach Sons
Featuring fortepianist Sylvia Berry, this program explores Mozart’s orchestral music in arrangements sanctioned by himself or fashioned by his student Hummel. On this intimate scale, the works’ conversational, sociable nature is especially apparent.
We pair a Mozart overture & concerto with an overture by Johann Christian Bach and one of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s last compositions, a quartet with a similarly conversational idiom that suggests his awareness of musical developments in Vienna.
Tickets not required; pay what you can
Suggested donation: $30 general, $20 senior, $10 college student, 18 & under free.
NIGHT MUSIC
Karen Dekker, violin
Steven Zohn, flute & co-director
Heather Miller Lardin, double bass & co-director
with
Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
Aniela Eddy, violin
Amy Leonard, viola
Ellen Exner, oboe
While in the service of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, Haydn composed almost 200 works for his patron to play on the baryton. This instrument resembles the viola da gamba but includes an extra set of sympathetic strings that can be plucked by hand. We place the oft-overlooked baryton at the center of a program that includes duos and trios by Haydn, his Esterházy colleague Andreas Lidl, and the “Swedish Mozart” Joseph Martin Kraus.
Featuring Karen Dekker, violin and viola; Eve Miller, cello; Heather Miller Lardin, baryton; and Steven Zohn, flute
When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote in 1775 that Telemann "raised me out of the baptismal font," he may very well have meant that in both a symbolic and literal way. You see, Telemann was Emanuel’s godfather, and fulfilled that role extensively throughout Emanuel’s life. Join Night Music in an intimate and colorful program that explores Telemann as The Godfather with works by The Godson and J.G. Janitsch.
Pre-concert lecture by Dr. Ellen Exner (The Philadelphia Orchestra) at 6:15
Program:
Georg Philipp Telemann: from "Quatuors Parisiens" TWV 43 A1
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Trio Sonata in a minor, Wq 148
Johann Gottlieb Janitsch: Quadro Sonata in c minor
CPE Bach: Rondo for solo keyboard
CPE Bach: Oboe sonata in G minor, Wq 135
Pay what you can: Suggested donation $30 general admission, $20 senior, $10 student. Tickets required: click here
Performers: Leon Schelhase, Harpsichord, Priscilla Herreid, Oboe, Karen Dekker, Violin / Viola, Steven Zohn, Flute, Heather Miller Lardin, Viola da Gamba / Double bass
Night Music kicks off its 2023–24 season (“Generations”) with three chamber works spanning the entire eighteenth century. We commence our journey in Vienna with Mozart’s beloved Eine kleine Nachtmusik, jump back in time to Leipzig for a passionate string quintet from Telemann’s university days, and finally leap forward to London for Haydn’s magnificent Symphony No. 98, as sensitively arranged by Johann Peter Salomon. You’ll be surprised and delighted at how these very different works complement each other.
With guest artists Evan few, violin; Amy Leonard and Fran Berge, violas; and Eve Miller, cello
GET TICKETS
PROGRAM:
Telemann, Sonata in E minor for two violins, two violas, and continuo, TWV 44:5
Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525
Haydn, Symphony No. 98 in B-flat major, arr. Salomon for flute and string quintet
Please join us at our spring salon to welcome our new violinist, Karen Dekker. We'll be joined by special guests pianist Yiheng Yang and cellist Caroline Nicolas for an idyllic evening featuring works of Hummel, Campagnoli, Sperger, and - of course - Beethoven. Seating will be limited.
Schubert's chamber music frequently invokes images of the natural world. Join Night Music for an afternoon of his finest specimens, including variations on "Trockne Blumen" and the iconic "Trout" quintet. With special guests Sezi Seskir, fortepiano and Jean Bernard Cerin, bass.
PhilaLandmarks Early Music Series presents Night Music in a program of Haydn, Mozart, and Devienne works for flute and strings. Hill-Physick House, 321 S. 4th St.
“A Subtle Aroma of Romanticism: Music by Felix Mendelssohn and Louise Farrenc”, with guest Andrew Willis
Felix Mendelssohn, Trio in D minor for flute, cello, and piano, Op. 49
Louise Farrenc, Quintet in A minor for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano, Op. 30
This event takes place in the Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion of the Kislak Center on the 6th Floor of the Van Pelt Library. Featuring the Department of Music's 1846 Érard piano.
6 PM: Refreshments
6:15 PM: Pre-concert talk
7 PM: Concert (sans intermission)
Registration is requested: click here to register.
“Parlor Tricks: Music for a Viennese Salon”. Music of Haydn, Kraus, and Dittersdorf. This event is free.
One of the most common stories told in music is that of metamorphosis or transformation – of themes developing during the course of a movement, of melodies reimagined through ornaments or variations, of borrowings from other composers repaid with musical interest, and of music transferred from one medium to another, as in the case of arrangements. In this program, we explore versions of this story through works spanning the mid-seventeenth century to the early romantic era, from Baltzar and Corelli through Haydn, Mozart, and Köhler.
Featured are Baltzar’s variations for violin on “John come kiss me now,” a Corelli sonata transferred to the flute and transformed by the embellishments of several eighteenth-century violinists, Haydn’s arrangements of traditional “Scots” songs, and arias from Mozart’s Magic Flute reimagined by Johann Wendt for instrumental chamber ensemble. Joining us will be three special guests, all well known to Philadelphia audiences: tenor James Reese, violinist Evan Few, and cellist Eve Miller.
This concert will be performed at Powel House as part of the PhilaLandmarks Early Music Series. No tickets required; pay what you wish at the door. To reserve your seat, click here.
If you enjoy music by the traditional Three B’s – Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms – you’ll love our wide-ranging program of chamber music by the Four B’s: Bach (one of Johann Sebastian’s sons), Beethoven, Boccherini, and Brahms. Featured works include Beethoven’s beloved Serenade for flute, violin, and viola, Brahms’s “Hymn in Veneration of the Great Joachim,” and Boccherini’s string quintet in B-flat major with double bass.
No tickets required; pay what you wish at the door.
If you enjoy music by the traditional Three B’s – Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms – you’ll love our wide-ranging program of chamber music by the Four B’s: Bach (one of Johann Sebastian’s sons), Beethoven, Boccherini, and Brahms. Featured works include Beethoven’s beloved Serenade for flute, violin, and viola, Brahms’s “Hymn in Veneration of the Great Joachim,” and Boccherini’s string quintet in B-flat major with double bass.
Saturday, October 27 2018 | 8:00 PM
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
19 S 10th St., Philadelphia PA
No tickets required; pay what you wish at the door.
Get a sneak peak of our first recording, just before we go into the studio! You'll hear Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony in a contemporaneous arrangement for string quintet and flute, Joseph Martin Kraus's stunning flute quintet, and Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf's delightful duo for viola and double bass. No tickets necessary, but donations at the door are appreciated!
Since its inception, opera’s extravagant sets, over-the-top costumes, and legendary superstars have kept the genre wildly popular. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music lovers who couldn’t get enough of opera’s expensive thrills brought it into their homes on a smaller scale through arrangements of overtures and arias, operatically-inspired instrumental music, and theatrical cantatas or “Singspiels” such as those on our program by Michael Haydn (Der Bassgeiger zu Wörgl) and Thomas Arne (The Morning). We also introduce our own arrangement of Mozart’s concert aria “Per questa bella mano” for bass and obbligato double bass.
With guest singers Laura Heimes and Graham Bier
This event is "pay what you wish", but you must RSVP.
Early Classical music for home entertainment both personal and celebratory centered around the lighthearted divertimento. With no set form or instrumentation, divertimenti ran the gamut from intimate duos to miniature orchestra: think of Mozart’s ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, often performed as a string quartet but equally successful in an expanded ensemble. Symphonies were often arranged and published for home performance, as in Salomon’s version of Haydn’s “Surprise” symphony for flute and strings. Smaller works for less conventional, even whimsical combinations – as in Dittersdorf’s charming duo for viola and bass – were surprisingly common. While the flexible string quartet’s expressive capabilities and efficiency ultimately led it to dominate home musicales, it climbed there on the shoulders of the divertimenti that preceded it.
** Please note: Diversions & Distractions is presented as part of the PhilaLandmarks Concert Series.
This concert will also be performed on the Early Music at St. James series in Lancaster, PA on Friday, November 17 at 7:30 PM. For more information click here.
Musical improvisation and pre-planned, notated music that simulated improvisation remained in vogue throughout the eighteenth century. The main locus of improvisatory style was the fantasia, a genre epitomized by Telemann’s solo instrumental works for solo flute, violin, and viola da gamba and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s keyboard works. Our program is built around three fantasias: two by Telemann, and one by the younger Bach, who was his godson and namesake. Alternating ensemble pieces bring the solo instruments in dialogue with one another and explore the fantasia’s influence on other genres.
With guests Francesca Brittain, fortepiano, Sarah Cunningham, viola da gamba, and Margaret Humphrey, violin
