Arcadia Players 2007-2008 Season

BAROQUE AND BEYOND IN THE PIONEER VALLEY: ARCADIA’S 19TH SEASON

Discover the madrigals of Salamone Rossi. Hear Vivaldi’s splendid Gloria, and witness four harpsichordists playing Bach together at Smith College’s Sweeney Concert Hall. Come to St. Mary’s Church in Northampton for Arcadia’s unique Messiah, which some have called life-changing. Let Arcadians drive the cold winter away with the dulcet chamber music of Baroque England. Rediscover Haydn. Arcadia Players’ 19th season promises all that and more!

Arcadia Players is an ensemble of instrumentalists and singers whose careers are based in the Pioneer Valley. Each year Artistic Director Ian Watson leads several large-scale concerts; this season’s expanded offerings feature Bach and Vivaldi on September 16, Handel’s Messiah on December 15 and 16, and all-Haydn on March 29. In the other concerts of our 19th season, soloists and small groups will delve into the treasury of Baroque chamber music, performing as viol consorts, accompanied madrigal ensembles, quartets and trios.

Our aim in building each concert season is to let you encounter the vitality, intensity and beauty of this music in knowledgeable, deeply committed performances given in venues that not only house but enrich your concert experience. This season we offer a Subscription Series of seven concerts, as detailed in the ticket order form, available at our Tickets Page. If you attend all seven, you will hear:

Music of Bach and Vivaldi including the Vivaldi Gloria and the Concerto for 4 harpsichords which Bach arranged from a Vivaldi concerto
The Five College Consort of Viols in Purcell’s Fantasies for four viols and some of the contrapuncti from Bach’s Art of Fugue
The vocal ensemble Cantabile and friends in madrigals, dances and Psalm settings by Salamone Rossi
Arcadia’s powerful performance of Handel’s Messiah
Dana Maiben, Tina Chancey, Alice Robbins and Gregory Hayes in English Baroque chamber music, with contemporary readings by Ian Watson
Ian Watson playing Bach arrangements of Vivaldi for organ at First Church of Deerfield
Arcadia playing—and singing—Haydn: Symphony No. 49, the Piano Concerto in D major with fortepianist Monica Jakuc, and the Missa in Angustiis, or “Lord Nelson” Mass

You may subscribe to a series of 4, 5 or 6 concerts and receive a ticket to Ian’s organ recital as a Subscriber Bonus. See details on the Tickets Page.

For more details on all of these programs, go to the Season Concert Calendar or read the Season Press Release. Arcadia Players makes every attempt to provide accurate information, but reserves the right to make program changes.

Besides our subscription concerts Arcadia is honored to co-sponsor with the American Guild of Organists Ian Watson’s recital on Sunday, September 9, at 3:00 PM at South Congregational Church, Springfield, and to present chamber music of Haydn, Beethoven and Weber in the magnificent Skinner Chapel of United Congregational Church, Holyoke, on Friday, May 9, at 7:30 PM. Both events are benefit concerts for Arcadia Players, with admission by suggested donation at the door.

Come, listen and enjoy!

Go to detailed concert calendar

ARCADIA PLAYERS’ 19TH SEASON PRESS RELEASE

The Italian Connection concert on September 16 begins Arcadia Players’ 19th season of subscription concerts. Ten performances of seven programs, offering a variety of large-scale and small chamber performances with vocal and instrumental music selected from the treasures of the 17th and 18th centuries include:

“Fugues and Fantazias” – On Saturday, October 20, 2007, at 7:30 PM at Caswell Library, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield. The Five College Viol Consort —Robert Eisenstein, Alice Robbins, Meg Pash and Kivie Cahn-Lipman—will perform Henry Purcell’s Fantasies for four viols (1683) and some of J.S. Bach’s Contrapuncti from The Art of Fugue, as well as music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Concert sponsor: Deerfield Academy.

“Cantabile and Friends in Music of Salamone Rossi” – On Saturday, November 3, 2007, at 7:30 PM at Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke, and Sunday, November 4, 2007, at 3:00 PM at First Church of Deerfield (“Brick Church”). The vocal chamber ensemble Cantabile with instrumentalists from Arcadia Players will perform madrigals, canzonets, sonatas, dances and Psalm settings by Salamone Rossi, Jewish contemporary and colleague of Monteverdi. Deerfield concert sponsor: Deerfield Academy.

“Handel’s Messiah” – No holiday season is complete without George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, and Arcadia Players Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, directed by Ian Watson, will present two performances in the Pioneer Valley. They will take place on Saturday, December 15, 2007, at 7:30 PM at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Northampton and Sunday, December 16, 2007, at 3:00 PM at Old First Church in Springfield. Springfield concert sponsor: Mass Mutual Financial Group and The Republican.

“The English Orpheus” – On Saturday, January 12, 2008, at 7:30 PM at Caswell Library in Deerfield and Sunday, January 13, 2008, at 3:00 PM at Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke, a program of English Baroque chamber music by Matthew Locke, Christopher Simpson, William Lawes, and Henry Purcell will feature violinist Dana Maiben, viola da gambist Alice Robbins, Tina Chancey playing violin and viol, and organist Gregory Hayes. Ian Watson will intersperse contemporary readings from Samuel Pepys, John Evelyn, Roger North, Christopher Simpson, and Henry Purcell. Sponsored by WFCR–Public Radio for Western Massachusetts.

“Organist Ian Watson at Deerfield’s Brick Church” – On Saturday, March 1, 2008, at 7:30 PM at First Church of Deerfield (“Brick Church”), organist Ian Watson will perform a program featuring arrangements by J.S. Bach of concertos by Vivaldi and music of three other Baroque composers, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Johann Jakob Froberger.

“All-Haydn Concert” – On Saturday, March 29, 2008, at 7:30 PM at Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, Arcadia Players Orchestra and Chorus, directed by Ian Watson, will devote the season’s final subscription concert to Franz Josef Haydn. On the program are his Symphony No. 49 in F minor, “La Passione,” the Concerto for fortepiano and orchestra in D Major, with fortepianist Monica Jakuc Leverett, and Missa in Angustiis (“Lord Nelson Mass”).

Season subscriptions for six, five, or four concerts are available at 413 534-8888 and at the first three concerts. Subscriptions represent a considerable savings and include a bonus ticket to Ian Watson’s organ concert on March 1, 2008. Individual tickets for all season concerts are $20 general admission, $30 preferred seating, and $10 for students when pre ordered. At door prices are $5 more except for students.

A special benefit concert for Arcadia Players will be given on Friday, May 9, 2008, at 7:30 PM at Skinner Chapel, United Congregational Church in Holyoke. Presented by United Church and Arcadia Playeers, the concert features the Arcadia Players Chamber Ensemble of Monica Jakuc Leverett, fortepiano, Peter W. Shea, tenor, Lisa Rautenberg, violin, Christopher Krueger, flute, and Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello. On their program are a trio by Franz Josef Haydn, a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, and Scottish song settings by Carl Maria von Weber. Admission is by a suggested donation of $10 at the door. This concert, in the magnificent Gothic-style chapel of United Church, celebrates Arcadia’s new headquarters in the church’s office space. This program will be given again on Sunday, May 11, 2008, at 4:00 PM, at Ashburnham Community Church, Ashburnham, Massachusetts, under the auspices of the Frederick Historic Piano Concerts. Tickets, available at the door, are $10, with children and students admitted free.

The season sponsor of Arcadia Players is WGBY. Arcadia Players 19th season of concerts is also supported in part by grants from the Agawam, Amherst, Deerfield, Erving, Granby, Hadley, Holyoke, Northampton, Northfield, Plainfield, Springfield, Whately, and Williamsburg Cultural Councils and the Northampton Arts Council, Inc.

Since 1989, Arcadia Players Baroque Ensemble has assembled the region’s finest professional instrumentalists and singers of Baroque music in performances throughout the Pioneer Valley. Arcadia Players draws from the broad Baroque repertoire 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.

Ian Watson, Artistic Director of Arcadia Players Baroque Ensemble, is a world renowned keyboard performer and conductor. A native of England, trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Mr. Watson leads an active concert touring and recording life in which he frequently travels to Europe to perform as organist, harpsichordist, and solo pianist and to conduct in major concert and opera venues. He was the featured keyboard player for the soundtracks of the films Amadeus and Mr. Holland’s Opus. In addition to shaping the artistic vision of Arcadia Players, Mr. Watson is music director of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester and founder and director of the St. Paul's Music Festival. He also directs the Worcester Collegium and Karlstad Baroque in Sweden.

Back to Arcadia Players Home Page