New blog posts on our new blog...

Check them out:

We've been Fall Arts Previewed!

September Program Notes

Videos: Levin on Mozart

What I did on my summer vacation, pt. 1

Thank you for following this blog. Please keep up with us on facebook and our new website.

Frederica von Stade interview from Houston PBS

Tired of reading some pretty gloomy posts on "Orchestra R/Evolution," we decided to cheer ourselves up. And Flicka can certainly do that! Here's a clip from Ernie Manouse's interview with her for Houston PBS's InnerVIEWS from this past December:

Musicianship, sensitivity, dramatic flair... grace, elegance, personal warmth

Joining us in March of 2011, Flicka has begun touring the country to say farewell to her adoring audiences before retirement. In case you missed it, here is the article about her Carnegie Hall farewell.

Great photos from our March Concert with Jordi Savall!

Until last week, we didn't know that our friend Frank Wing stopped by in March to snap photos of Jordi working with the orchestra during rehearsal. Check them out.

"Scintillating" and "spectacular"

This past weekend, the orchestra played the first three concerts of our March concert set "The French Suite in Europe" with guest conductor Jordi Savall. While one string player confessed at intermission on opening night that the musicians had not been so nervous about performing a concert in a very long time – the spectacular results were best described by San Francisco Classical Voice reviewer Jonathan Rhodes Lee: "left me grinning from ear to ear." We still have two more concerts this week in Palo Alto and Lafayette!

Read SFCV's review.

Read SFCV's interview with Jordi.

Like the human voice...

Though Toronto indie rocker Charles Spearin's Happiness Project is one the most touching explorations of humanity through sound in recent memory, he is not exploring a new idea – musicians and composers have long tried to replicate the beauty of the human voice and patterns of speech instrumentally. In particular, bowed stringed instruments have always been admired for their ability to mimic the human voice.

In anticipation of our concerts this weekend and next, Philharmonia Baroque players David Wilson and Maria Caswell, as well as guest artist Jordi Savall, talk about the voice of early stringed orchestral instruments: Listen to our audio concert prelude.

How's your Catalan?

TV3 (Televisió de Catalunya) has posted its full documentary about Jordi Savall and the Borgia Dynasty. Jordi will conduct the orchestra and perform viola da gamba next week!

As staffer David Challinor wrote when he alerted us to the documentary:

"My Catalan is non-existent, but this is fascinating. It shows rehearsals in the castle he records in and him working on the Borja family project that will probably be the next release after Le Royaume Oublie (The Albigensian Crusade)."

The full description (translated into English) and the video are posted below. If your French is better than your Catalan, here are some clips from Sur France3's Culturebox.

"For the first time in a documentary, Jordi Savall discusses his music and his craft. Coinciding with the 500th anniversary of St. Francis Borgia, fourth Duke of Gandia, the documentary follows Savall and his closest collaborators as they research the Borgia dynasty and try to recreate the music from during the family's reign, from Pope Alexander VI and his children, Cesare and Lucrezia, as far as Francis Borgia, the Jesuit priest who may have also been a songwriter."

Announcing 2010-11 – Our 30th Anniversary Season

Today, we announced our 30th Anniversary Season!

Current subscribers can renew their subscriptions now! General public subscriptions go on sale March 15th! Single tickets go on sale August 5th. Keep checking our website, more information will be up in the coming weeks. If you can't wait... you can always join us this weekend for Brahms (just in time for Valentine's)!

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale's

2010-11 Season

* – Philharmonia Baroque premiere

† – Philharmonia Baroque debut

September – Robert Levin plays Mozart

Friday 24 September Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Saturday 25 September First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 26 September First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 28 September Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Wednesday 29 September Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Robert Levin, fortepiano (below)

MOZART

Incidental Music from Thamos, King of Egypt *

Concerto for Fortepiano No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 *

Fragments of newly found works for Fortepiano and Orchestra (U.S. Premiere)

Symphony No. 41 in C major, KV 551 “Jupiter” (Last performed by Philharmonia Baroque on March 2001)

October – Bach’s Wedding Cantata

Friday 15 October Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Saturday 16 October First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 17 October First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 19 October Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Lars Ulrik Mortensen, conductor and harpsichord (below) †

Maria Keohane, soprano †

BACH

Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066

Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor, BWV 1052

“Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten,” Wedding Cantata, BWV 202 (February 1982 – Philharmonia Baroque’s first public concert)

Concerto for Harpsichord in D major, BWV 1054


November – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

Friday 5 November Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Saturday 6 November First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 7 November First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 9 November Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Wednesday 10 November Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin (concertmaster)

VIVALDI The Four Seasons, Op. 8, Nos. 1-4 (March 1991)

CORELLI Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 11 in B-flat major

PERGOLESI Sinfonia in F major *

DURANTE Concerto No. 5 in A major *

ZAVATERI Concerto decimo a Pastorale, Op. 1 *

December – Handel’s Messiah

Friday 3 December Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Saturday 4 December First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 5 December First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 7 December Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Daniel Taylor, countertenor

John McVeigh, tenor

Tyler Duncan, bass †

Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director

TBA soprano

HANDEL Messiah (December 2002)


January – David Daniels

Saturday 15 January First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 16 January First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 18 January Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Friday 21 January Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

David Daniels, countertenor (below)

VIVALDI Stabat mater, RV 621 *

HANDEL Arias from Giulio Cesare

TELEMANN Suite in F major, TWV 55:F11 “Alster Overture” *

February – Hummel’s Concerto for Keyed Trumpet

Friday 11 February Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Saturday 12 February First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 13 February First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 15 February Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Gabriele Cassone, keyed trumpet (below)†

SPOHR Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 49 *

HUMMEL Concerto for Keyed Trumpet in E major *

MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 *

March – Flicka!

Friday 4 March Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Saturday 5 March First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 6 March First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 8 March Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Wednesday 9 March Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano (below)†

REBEL Les Caractères de la danse *

Nathaniel STOOKEY Into the Bright Lights (poetry by Flicka) (U.S. Premiere)

RAMEAU Les Indes galantes suite d’orchestre

GLUCK Arias

April – Haydn’s Creation

Friday 8 April Herbst Theatre, San Francisco

Saturday 9 April First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Sunday 10 April First Congregational Church, Berkeley

Tuesday 12 April Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center, Atherton

Wednesday 13 April Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Dominique Labelle, soprano

Thomas Cooley, tenor

Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director

HAYDN The Creation (April 1994)

Celebrating 30 Years of Inspired Sound

When Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of the West played the first notes of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Wedding Cantata at Herbst Theatre on February 4, 1982, no one guessed what the future would hold. At the time, just having formed the first period instrument ensemble on the West Coast was a feat in itself. By the mid-1970s, a small community of musicians and craftsmen had converged on the Bay Area, all inspired by a countercultural phenomenon: the early music movement. It was not until a fateful moment in 1977 that the true power of this rediscovered period of music was realized at a summer camp on the Russian River—a roomful of these musicians played together as an ensemble, on period instruments, for the very first time. They produced a sound so full of life, expression, exuberance, clarity and subtlety that it seemed to vibrate from the hearts and minds of the composers.

The moment was so moving, so unique, that one musician—Laurette Goldberg—became obsessed with creating an orchestra that would be able to recreate the richness, brilliance, flexibility and articulation that the composers of the Baroque and early Classical periods intended. Laurette spent five years bringing together a group of people who would support the musicians who became Philharmonia Baroque. At thetime, her ideas were radical—a chamber orchestra, Baroque and early-Classical repertoire, period instruments, but her desire was not—to create something meaningful, affecting, transcendent.

Since the very beginning, Philharmonia Baroque has been about the love of a sound—a sound, once heard, that changes once and for all the way we want to experience music, whether on stage or in the audience. This inspiration has guided Philharmonia Baroque from the start, and the organization’s ultimate goal has remained constant since its inception 30 years ago: we want our music to delight, to inspire and to educate—to increase the level of beauty, sensitivity and joy in a complex world.

We hope to see you this season and next!

Congrats Jordi and Viktoria!

This just in: Viktoria Mullova, who plays with us in February, and Jordi Savall, who plays with us in March, both won awards for recent recordings on Tuesday at the MIDEM Classical Awards in Cannes, France.

Jordi Savall's Jerusalem Best Album of the Year?

Steve Hochman, rock critic for Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Spin and then some, declared Jordi Savall's Jerusalem the best album of the year (and maybe the decade) in his global music column "Around the World" on AOL's music blog Spinner.com. Jordi will be conducting and playing viola da gamba with the orchestra in March.

Behind the scenes of "The Passion of Dido:" Rehearsal at Walt Disney Hall

This is the last post about November's concert, we promise! Here are pictures from our rehearsal at Walt Disney Hall in L.A.!

Since the supertitles say, "but, ah! I fear, I pity his too much," we must be in the first act.

Let's skip ahead to our favorite parts: Jill Grove sings the SORCERESS: "Appear at my call, and share in the Fame/Of a Mischief shall make all Carthage flame./Appear!"

The Chorale sings the FAIRIES: "Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!"

William Berger sings AENEAS: "What shall lost Aeneas do?" (Of course, Susan Graham's DIDO doesn't buy the self pity. You can see in her face that she's about to deliver one of our favorite lines: "Thus on the fatal Banks of Nile,/ Weeps the deceitful Crocodile.")

Susan Graham sings DIDO's lament: "Death is now a welcome guest."

More pictures on flickr.

Tonight's the night!

Tonight, our orchestra and chorale perform the first concert of our November program that features Dido and Aeneas and other works by the beloved English composer Henry Purcell. In celebration of the anniversary of the composer's birth (350 years ago this fall!), Music Director Nicholas McGegan conducts Susan Graham (left) and a stellar cast of singers at Herbst Hall in San Francisco. It would be an understatement to say that we are giddy with anticipation here in the office.

Here are a few distractions to help while away your afternoon:

If you haven't seen the cover story of the Chronicle's new "Ovation" section today, critic Joshua Kosman "hailed the queen" in his interview with Susan Graham.

Also out this week, interviews with Susan on Classical Voice and SFist.com.

The concert was also previewed by the Examiner and on Classical Voice.

See photos from the Susan and Nic's interview with the L.A. Times this past weekend... look for the article this weekend!

You can also read the program notes, listen to a preview of the concert, and learn about English opera's antecedent: the masque.

See you tonight!

Susan and Nic interviewed for the LA Times

This past Sunday before our first rehearsal of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Susan Graham and Nic sat down with L.A. Times writer Chloe Veltman at the Claremont Hotel. (You can read Chloe's post about the interview here.) This was the first time these two hams sat down together for an interview and let's just say that we can't wait to see it in print! The orchestra and chorale will be venturing down to Los Angeles with Nic to perform at Walt Disney Hall, where Susan will make her venue debut! Of course, you can also see us perform this set that celebrates Henry Purcell's 350th birthday in San Francisco on Thursday, Palo Alto on Friday and Berkeley on Saturday (sorry the Sunday concert is SOLD OUT). There will also be an encore performance at the Mondavi Center in Davis on November 14. Below are pictures from the interview:

La, la, la... Nic doesn't want to hear all the nice things Susan has to say about him.

Susan, Nic and Chloe all share a laugh (one of many) during the interview.

Nic just said something that won't be printed in the L.A. Times...

It looks like Nic's more excited about this performance than we are!

See more pictures on flickr!

Thank you Mickey and Keelin for setting us up with a beautiful view of San Francisco and the bay at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.

Learn more about our November concerts

"The Passion of Dido," Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's third concert of its 2009-10 "Season of the Stars," is THIS WEEK! Music Director Nic McGegan (pictured left) leads our orchestra and chorale in a program that honors the life of the English composer and songwriter Henry Purcell. Featured on the second half of the program is Dido and Aeneas with renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham singing the role of Dido and also William Berger, Cyndia Sieden, Celine Ricci, Jill Grove and Brian Thorsett. In it's last issue, Early Music America Magazine wrote about our recording of Dido and Aeneas:

What is, to my mind, the finest Dido and Aeneas recording currently available features an American cast and orchestra. The 1993 Harmonia Mundi recording with the late mezzo-soprano Lorranie Hunt Lieberson in the title role has it all. For sheer gorgeous vocalism wed to dramatic intensity, Lieberson is unsurpassed. Her every phrase and gesture carries weight. Lieberson's singing of the lament? I had to sit in silence afterward and collect myself... This recording, with [Nicholas] McGegan leading a remarkably responsive Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, cuts to the heart of the work. The Dido and Aeneas (sung by baritone Michael Dean) exchange in Act III seethes, and Lieberson's cry of 'By all that's good!' is shattering. For once, the roles of the Sorceress (mezzo-soprano Ellen Rabiner) and the Witches (sopranos Christine Brandes and Ruth Rainero) are colorful but not so broad as to descend into Monty Python parody."

As for the concert, it has named a top pick of the fall by critics and editors of the Chronicle, KQED, Mercury News, Examiner and Classical Voice. San Francisco Classical Voice previewed it in last week's enewsletter:

"McGegan and the orchestra are buoyed, not bowed down, by their specialist knowledge, and undaunted by the technical difficulties of some of the older instruments. They master intricate rhythmic and phrasing details that you don’t normally hear from modern instrument orchestras, yet play them with a conviction and ease that sounds natural. McGegan’s adrenaline-filled gestures transmit his excitement, and the orchestra normally responds by lifting you out of your seat. This is music-making by people who have been to the early-music revolution and come back enriched." Read more of Michael Zwiebach's preview.

To learn more about this concert, click the links below:

Click to listen to the audio preview with Nic and Chorale Director Bruce Lamott and stings musician Maria Caswell.

Click to read our program notes.

Click to read a note from Nic.

You can also listen to selections from our recording of Dido and Aeneas on November's concert page. Hint: when you click on "Learn more about these recordings," you can read about these works!

An don't forget: 45-minutes before every concert we offer free lectures to our ticket holders.