Musica Angelica Presents Purcell's The Fairy Queen
Jenine Baines
January 21, 2009
The Fairy Queen is a masque or semi-opera based on one of Shakespeare´s most popular plays, "A Midsummer Night´s Dream." Written in 1692, approximately 100 years after Shakespeare´s comedy chronicled the adventures of four Athenian lovers in a moonlit forest populated by fairies, The Fairy Queen contains some of the most seductive melodies of the Baroque period.
"Critics and musicologists have described the masque as ´love as first sound,´ " explains Laura Spino, General Manager. "It contains some of Purcell´s finest theatre music and reveals how Purcell had completely mastered the English style of Baroque counterpoint, although audiences will hear Italian influences as well. Yet, for almost two centuries, the score was neglected. Fortunately for those of us who love early music, The Fairy Queen was rediscovered in the early 1900s."
Bringing Purcell´s melodies to life in this Musica Angelica production are sopranos Lisa Saffer, a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and Olivier Award nominee who has performed worldwide in opera roles ranging from Handel´s Cleopatra to Berg´s Lulu, and Andrea Brown, hailed for "her lovely voice" and ability at "tossing off the coloratura passages with elan and demonstrating custard donut tone at every turn," by the American Record Guide. Joining the sopranos is bass baritone Michael Dean, praised by the San Jose Mercury News as "the standout, his voice a penetrating wake-up call." Musica Angelica´s Music Director Martin Haselböck will conduct.
Also appearing is the award winning chorus, The Concord Ensemble. Described as "excellent and impeccable" by the Washington Post and "clearly a group to watch out for," by Goldberg Magazine, the ensemble will also perform this season in Washington, D.C. with the Folger Consort and in Portland during the Cappella Romana series. Recently, the men of the ensemble – countertenor Paul Flight; tenors Daniel Carberg, Pablo Corá and N. Lincoln Hanks; baritone Aaron Caine; and Scott Graff, bass-baritone – performed before sold-out audiences at Walt Disney Concert Hall with rock musician Sting and Bosnian lutenist Edin Karamazov.
While the spoken text of the masque is as Shakespeare wrote it, Purcell did not set any of Shakespeare´s words to music. Instead the libretto is an anonymous adaptation, which many authorities believe was co-authored by Thomas Betterton, the manager of Dorset Garden Theatre with whom Purcell worked regularly.
Tickets to Purcell´s The Fairy Queen, which can be purchased online at www.MusicaAngelica.org or by calling 310.458.4504, range from $39 to $55. Student tickets cost $15.
The Colburn School of Performing Arts is located at 200 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, while The Broad Stage is on the campus of Santa Monica Community College, at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and 11th Street.
MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Lisa Saffer - American soprano Lisa Saffer is especially well known for her performances in such operas by Handel as Rinaldo, Agrippina, Ottone,and Radamisto, as well as the title role in Partenope, many of which have been released on the Harmonia Mundi label. She has also performed the role of Drusilla in Monteverdi´s The Coronation of Poppea at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in New York, Angelica in Haydn´s Orlando Paladino, the title role in Cavalli´s Calisto and Amore in Gluck´s Orfeo ed Euridice. Other Early Music projects have included performances as Antigona in the rarely performed opera Admeto by Handel with Emmanuel Music in Boston and the role of Amore in Gluck´s Orfeo ed Euridice under the auspices of the prestigious University Musical Society at the University of Michigan in Shaffer´s hometown of Ann Arbor.
In addition, Saffer has appeared in Rameau´s Platée – playing the roles of Thalie and Clarine – with the Mark Morris Dance Company at the New York City Opera, reprising earlier performances under the auspices of Cal Performances on the Berkeley Campus. She added the role of Cleopatra in Handel´s Giulio Cesare to her repertoire at the Utah Symphony & Opera, then repeated the role with Boston Baroque and the San Diego Opera.
Andrea Lauren Brown - A native of Wilmington, Delaware, soprano Andrea Brown studied piano and flute before turning to singing and winning such prestigious awards as second place at the International Competition of the ARD in Munich, Germany. After making her opera debut at the age of 17 in the title role in Libby Larson´s opera, A Wrinkle In Time, the soprano moved to Germany in 2003, where she has sung with such early music and classical ensembles as the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Orlando di Lasso Ensemble, the Münchener Bach choir, the Kammerphilharmonie Karlsruhe, Bremer Philharmoniker and the Chapelle Rhènane. Recent roles include Norina in Don Pasquale at the Salzburger Landestheater, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas at Philadelphia´s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and Galatea in Acis and Galatea with the Wiener Akademie and Musica Angelica, under Martin Haselböck.
In addition, Brown is a featured soloist on recordings of Handel for radio ORF in Austria and the World Premiere of Justin Knecht´s opera, Die Aeolsharfe for SWR Stuttgart.
Michael Dean – Applauded by the New York Times for his "strong appealing bass-baritone," Michael Dean has appeared with leading opera houses and orchestras throughout the U.S. and Europe. These include New York City Opera – where he performed the title role in The Marriage of Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, George in Of Mice and Men, and Papageno in The Magic Flute – the title role in Don Giovanni and Silva in Ernani at the Landestheater in Linz, Austria, and Colline in La Bohème in Strasbourg and Berlin. Recently, Dean made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in the world premiere of Aaron Kernis´ Garden Of Light, conducted by Kurt Masur, and returned the following season for Street Scene, under conductor Leonard Slatkin. Orchestras with which the bass baritone has also appeared include the San Antonio Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, among many others.
Currently a member of the Voice Faculty of UCLA, Dean has appeared as Jason McFarlane in the "Live From Lincoln Center" broadcast of Lizzie Borden and has received critical praise for his numerous recordings of baroque opera, including Agrippina, Ottone, Dido and Aeneas, Radamisto, Giustino, and Serse.
ABOUT THE CONCORD ENSEMBLE
The award winning Concord Ensemble came together in 1997 and was quickly catapulted into the international music scene by winning the Grand Prize in the First Early Music America Recording Competition. Subsequently their debut recording, The Victory of Santiago: Voices of Renaissance Spain, earned them the prized "5-Star" distinction in Goldberg Magazine.
The Concord Ensemble has toured extensively throughout the United Status and in Europe, and has headlined some of the most prestigious festivals, including the early music festivals of Berkeley, Washington, D.C., Madison, Milwaukee, Bloomington (IN), San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, New York´s Cloisters, Indianapolis, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg (Germany) and Feldkirchen (Austria). Their work has been broadcast on National Public Radio´s Harmonia, Millenium of Music and Performance Today.
The most recent performances of Concord include newly commissioned programs of Spanish and Latin American Christmas and paschal music. Equally at home in the contemporary medium, Concord has performed music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Stephen Hartke, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, and Libby Larsen. The ensemble regularly commissions new works from award-winning composers N. Lincoln Hanks and Forrest Pierce.
The group has an outstanding tradition of collaborating with several instrumental ensembles of renown, including Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, the Folger Consort, Piffaro, the Renaissance Wind Band, and the contemporary dance troupe the Pennington Dance Group. The ensemble´s versatility recently reached the rock world, when the men of the ensemble were asked to perform with Sting and Bosnian lutenist Edin Karamazov to sold-out audiences at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The program featured Sting´s latest foray in the music of 17th-century English composer John Dowland in a program titled "Songs of the Labyrinth."
Highlights for the 2008-09 season include performances in Washington, D.C. with the Folger Consort, a guest performance in Portland for the Cappella Romana series, as well as a second collaboration with Musica Angelica Baroque orchestra, in Purcell´s The Fairy Queen.
ABOUT MUSICA ANGELICA:
Since its founding in 1993, Musica Angelica has presented an annual season of orchestral and chamber concerts in venues throughout Los Angeles County. The ensemble presents not only well-known masterworks but rarely heard compositions that showcase leading Baroque musicians from around the world.
Today, under conductor and Music Director Martin Haselböck, Musica Angelica is Southern California´s leading Baroque ensemble, garnering acclaim both nationwide and abroad.
"Musica Angelica soars in a Baroque gem…a triumph…Haselböck´s leadership was nuanced and inspiring," wrote the Los Angeles Times in a recent review. In addition, KUSC FM Classical Radio hailed Musica Angelica as a "world class Baroque orchestra" while Angeleno Magazine christened the group "LA´s premiere Baroque music ensemble." Added esteemed music critic Alan Rich, " [Musica Angelica is] a serious and important early-music ensemble, the best of its kind in these parts."
After embarking upon its first international tour in 2007 – performing Bach´s St. Matthew Passion with the Weiner Akademie of Vienna – Musica Angelica was applauded by El Universal of Mexico City for presenting "a Passion as God and Bach commanded." Italy´s Dolomiten concurred: "Haselböck conducted with intense spirit and soul…Martin Haselböck is a superb conductor. The festival concert…was a triumph."
In 2008, Musica Angelica collaborated with celebrated actor and Academy Award nominee John Malkovich to present "Seduction and Despair." The multi-media world premiere, directed by and starring Malkovich, played to two nearly sold out houses and attracted media attention throughout the United States and Europe. "Seduction and Despair" originated after Malkovich met Haselböck at a dinner at the Austrian Consulate in Los Angeles. Ultimately, the two agreed to work together on a project that would bridge and reflect both Southern California´s and Austria´s cultures. Austrian writer and director Michael Sturminger wrote the libretto.
Currently Musica Angelic has a contract for four recordings on the New Classical Adventure (NCA) label in Germany. The first recording – Handel´s Acis and Galatea – was released in 2007.
Based in Santa Monica, California, Musica Angelica collaborates with leading performing arts institutions throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Guest conductors have included Rinaldo Alessandrini, Giovanni Antonini, Harry Bicket, Paul Goodwin, and Jory Vinikour, among others. The ensemble was co-founded by Michael Eagan, widely considered one of the foremost lute players in the country, and gambist Mark Chatfield. Eagan passed away in 2004; Chatfield, in 1998.
For more information or a brochure listing schedules for Musica Angelica´s 5-concert Orchestral Series or its Chamber Series, call 310.458.4504 or visit www.MusicaAngelica.org.
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