Arcadia Players 2007-2008 Season

Arcadia Players Baroque Orchestra and Chorus presents complete performances of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah, conducted by Ian Watson, Saturday, December 15, at 7:30 PM at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 3 Elm Street, Northampton, and on Sunday, December 16 December 23, at 3:00 PM at Old First Church, Court Square, Springfield. Gregory Hayes will give a pre-concert talk one half-hour before each performance.

December 16 Springfield performance cancelled due to winter storm. Rescheduled for Sunday, Dec. 23, at 3:00 PM (same venue)
Ticket holders: Please contact the Arcadia office by phone (413-534-8888) or email (info[at]arcadiaplayers.org) to confirm your attendance or ask for a refund

The Springfield performance of Messiah is the final event scheduled at Old First Church, Court Square, which expects to close on January 1. The church will host a reception following the concert.

Arcadia’s celebrated presentations of Messiah in historically informed style feature a professional orchestra of 18th-century size and composition, playing period instruments, and a commensurate vocal ensemble whose members serve as both soloists and chorus. By lifting off the weight of later performance traditions and returning to genuine Handelian forces, conductor Ian Watson aims for an illuminating and inspiring performance of Handel’s great score. He looks forward to sharing these two concerts with area concertgoers and especially with the many fifth-grade students from Springfield Public Schools who will attend the afternoon performance with their parents or guardians. The performance at Old First Church is the culminating event in Arcadia’s inaugural Concert Education Program, which since September has offered a teacher development workshop, a seven-lesson curriculum relating to the Baroque era and the concert, and a special rehearsal to introduce the students to Arcadia’s performance of this musical masterwork

Ian Watson, Artistic Director of Arcadia Players, is known internationally both as a conductor and as a distinguished performer on harpsichord, organ and piano. He played an important role in the British Baroque revival which brought such renowned orchestras into prominence as the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the English Chamber Orchestra, the English Baroque Soloists, the Monteverdi Choir and The Sixteen, all ensembles with whom he has performed. Among his major conducting engagements have Monteverdi's Vespers at St. James's Palace in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen; Bach's Mass in B minor at the Rheingau Festival with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra and Chorus; and the opening concerts of the newly renovated Châtelet Theater in Paris with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Ian Watson is also director of the Karlstad Baroque in Sweden, music director of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester, Mass., and director of the St. Paul ’s Music Festival.

Tickets to either performance of Messiah may be ordered in advance at 413-534-8888. Advance ticket prices are $20 general admission, $30 preferred seating, $10 students. Prices at the door are $25 general, $35 preferred, $10 student. Informationis available at 413-534-8888 or www.arcadiaplayers.org.

The season sponsor for Arcadia’s 2007-08 season is WGBY. The Daily Hampshire Gazette is sponsor of the Northampton performance, which is also supported by the Northampton Arts Council, Inc. The Springfield performance is sponsored by The Republican, with support from the Springfield Cultural Council. Mass Mutual provided major support for the Concert Education Program, for which other participating sponsors are the Springfield Cultural Council, Old First Church, Court Square, the Melanie Kasparian Professional Development Center, the Urban League of Springfield’s Foster Grandparent Program, and the American Guild of Organists.

Since 1989, Arcadia Players Baroque Ensemble has assembled the region’s finest professional instrumentalists and singers in performances throughout the Massachusetts Pioneer Valley. Arcadia Players draws from the broad Baroque repertory—and music of the late 18th & early 19th centuries—to present concerts ranging from large-scale orchestral works to intimate chamber music. In pursuing its goal of sharing the riches and authentic spirit of the Baroque era, Arcadia Players has been recognized as the finest Baroque ensemble in the Pioneer Valley.

This fall, as part of Arcadia Players' inaugural Concert Education Program, music teachers in Springfield's public schools were invited, as part of Arcadia Players inaugural Concert Education Program, to introduce their fifth-grade students to Handel's oratorio Messiah in preparation for Arcadia Players' December 16 December 23 performance at Old First Church in Springfield. The program offers a teacher development workshop, a seven lesson curriculum relating to the Baroque era and the concert, a rehearsal, specially designed for children, in preparation for concert day, and an opportunity for students, and their families, to hear a compelling concert performance of this musical masterwork.

Teachers have been introduced to the project and provided with curriculum outlines and visual materials prepared by Laurie Rabut and Jane Hershey, both of whom are professional musicians and experienced teachers. Arcadia Players has also distributed CDs of Handel's music, as well as musical scores for portions of Messiah that Springfield's students will learn to sing. The curriculum ranges through Baroque style in music and art, the story of Handel's life and his adaptation to changing musical times, the instruments that make up an 18th-century orchestra, and those features which that distinguish his music - what makes Handel sound like Handel.

Shortly before the December 16 December 23 concert, students will attend a rehearsal of Arcadia's Baroque-style performance. They will have a chance to hear those instruments, particularly instruments suited to the music of Handel's time, and conductor Ian Watson will talk with them about the ways that 21st-century musicians translate earlier scores into a fully realized, dynamic contemporary performance.

Students and their parents or guardians will attend Arcadia's performance of Handel's beloved oratorio on Sunday, December 16 December 23, at 3:00 PM at Old First Church, Court Square. Besides being the culmination of Arcadia's Pilot Concert Education Program, this concert and the reception that follows will be the final events at Old First Church, which expects to close at the end of December.

Concert tickets will be provided for students and their parents or guardians by Arcadia Players. Mass Mutual is a major sponsor of the program. Surrogate grandparents for students in the classrooms and at the concert will be arranged by the Foster Grandparent Program of The Urban League of Springfield. Other sponsors partners participating in Arcadia's Concert Education Program are The Old First Church, Court Square, the Melanie Kasparian Professional Development Center, American Guild of Organists and the Springfield Cultural Council. The Springfield performance of Messiah is sponsored by The Republican.

Anna Polesny Bartoli, President of Arcadia Players, is overseeing the project with Arcadia Players Board members Barbara Stroup and Charles Page.. Its planning stages were accomplished through by a collaboration between Arcadia and former Director of Visual and Performing Arts for the Springfield Public Schools, Vera Baker. Julie Jaron, current Director, believes that the project meshes well with Springfield's fifth-grade music and social studies curriculum and with the Massachusetts Music Curriculum Frameworks. The fifth graders are currently learning about Colonial history including the time of Handel's premier of Messiah in 1742.

Ian Watson, Arcadia's ebullient Artistic Director and fount of musical commentary, looks forward to the presence of students at the rehearsal and the concert: "We are very excited to have the opportunity to illuminate the great music of Handel's Messiah for the children of Springfield." Adds Arcadia's President, Anna Polesny Bartoli, "I am delighted that our children will be exposed to the music that we at Arcadia Players cherish, and that we are able to give the next generation a fine taste of this cultural heritage."

One of Arcadia's continuing goals is to enrich children's experience of Baroque music by giving them more connections to what they will hear, so they may make this music their own. We intend to have this be the experience of this year's students, and that this project will be a model for others other communitiesthat will bringing powerful music from centuries past to young people in the Pioneer Valley's cities and towns.

Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. pre-concert talk by Gregory Hayes at 7:00	Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. Cancelled due to winter storm Rescheduled for Sunday, Dec. 23, at 3:00 PM (same venue) Ticket holders: Please contact the Arcadia office by phone or email to confirm your attendance or ask for a refund 413-534-8888 info[at]arcadiaplayers.org pre-concert talk by Gregory Hayes at 2:30
St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 3 Elm St. Northampton MA Directions and maps	Old First Church, Court Square Springfield MA Directions (on the church's website) PDF map on website of Springfield District Court (church is unnamed rectangle above words "Elm St.")
Advance tickets: $20 general admission, $30 preferred seating, $10 students. Door price: $25 general, $35 preferred, $10 student. 413-534-8888 Ticket info and order form
Arcadia Players Orchestra and Chorus, Ian Watson, director (Photo by Bill Sitler)
Underwriters of Northampton performance	Underwriters of Springfield performance
Major sponsor of the Concert Education Program in the Springfield Public Schools: Other sponsors: Springfield Cultural Council, Old First Church, Court Square, the Melanie Kasparian Professional Development Center, the Urban League of Springfield’s Foster Grandparent Program, and the American Guild of Organists. Read more about this program.