Grand Harmonie Announces Fourth Season
2015-2016
Grand Harmonie announced its 2015-2016 season today, marking four years of groundbreaking period-instrument performances throughout the Northeast. The season features seven concerts in Greater Boston and Princeton, NJ, and includes the first semi-staged performance of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio in the United States on period instruments.
Tickets range from $12-$30 and may be purchased online at www.grandharmonie.org beginning July 27.
The season opens with Mozart’s “Gran Partita” on Friday, October 16, 2015 at 7:30pm at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 838 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139. The program repeats Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 7:30pm at The Memorial Church, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138. Cherished among classical music lovers, Mozart’s “Gran Partita” features 12 wind instruments with string bass to form a complete Harmoniemusik – music for wind band. Performed on instruments from the Classical period, the evening-length work features seven movements which range from light and playful to deep and introspective.
Mozart’s Requiem with the Harvard University Choir will be performed on Sunday, November 1, 2015 at 4pm at The Memorial Church, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138. Mozart’s last unfinished masterpiece, the Requiem Mass in D minor, is one of the most beloved choral and orchestral works in the classical repertoire. Unfinished at the time of Mozart’s death, this performance will feature the 1991 completion by noted Harvard scholar and pianist Robert Levin. Grand Harmonie will perform in collaboration with the Harvard University Choir, a quartet of vocal soloists, and Maestro Edward Elwyn Jones.
Through the Looking Glass features German Romantic favorites in unconventional chamber settings on Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 8pm at Distler Performance Hall at Tufts University, 20 Talbot Ave., Medford, MA 02155. Rarely heard on historical instruments, the program includes Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Brahms’s Serenade no. 1 in a premiere performance of a new reconstruction by Grand Harmonie ensemble members Yoni Kahn (natural horn) and Thomas Carroll (clarinet), a set of French dances for winds by German composer Scherrer, and a period arrangement for string quintet of Brahms’s Liebeslieder waltzes.
Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera, will be presented in a semi-staged production with period instruments for the first time in the United States by Grand Harmonie and Princeton University on Saturday, January 23, 2016 at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall, 68 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ 08542. This historically-informed performance will allow the audience to experience the operatic sounds and colors just as Beethoven heard them. It will be conducted by Geoffrey Andrew McDonald, music director of the Longy Conservatory Orchestra, and directed by Julia Mintzer, who has directed opera scenes programs at the Tanglewood Institute, Opera for Humanity, and University of Dayton Early Music Ensemble. The performance will feature soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra as Leonore in her role debut and tenor John Packard as Florestan.
Grand Harmonie explores the relationship between student and teacher in Student/Mentor: Neukomm, the Haydns & Mozart on February 19, 2016 at 7:30pm at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 838 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139. The program repeats February 20, 2016 at 7:30pm at Second Church, 60 Highland St, West Newton, MA 02465. Both Mozart and Austrian composer Sigismond Neukomm were mentored by brothers Joseph and Michael Haydn, and counted them among their most important musical influences. The program examines the role between these three composers and traces the musical threads from the Haydns through Mozart and Neukomm. The program includes Octet by Neukomm; J. Haydn’s String Trio Hob V: C3; Mozart’s Flute Quartet in G Major; M. Haydn’s Divertimento in C Major, MH 27; and Neukomm’s Nonet.
Closing the Grand Harmonie season is Brass Menagerie, featuring music for 18th and 19th century brasswinds on May 26-27, 2016, locations to be determined. The program includes the rarely performed Grand Quartet of Jacques-Francois Gallay, a natural horn virtuoso from 19th century France, and Beethoven’s Drei Equali (three equal parts) for four trombones. Rounding out the program are two of Mozart’s popular Divertimenti, fanfares by C.P.E. Bach, Salieri, and more.
About Grand Harmonie:
Grand Harmonie brings vibrant, historically-informed, period-instrument performances of Classical and Romantic music to audiences across the Northeast. Founded in 2012 by a group of wind players interested in exploring the repertoire of Harmonie bands of the 18th century, the scope of the ensemble rapidly expanded to encompass a vast array of concert settings. Now in its fourth season, performances have included Harmoniemusik, salon concerts with fortepiano, mixed chamber music with brass and strings, full symphony orchestra, and both concert and fully-staged opera. A key player in the arts community, Grand Harmonie enjoys collaborations with numerous organizations and universities, and appears on multiple concert series in both Boston and New York.
Recent collaborations include performances with Harvard University Choir, Boston Opera Collaborative, Lorelei Ensemble, Bach Vespers NYC, GEMS Midtown Concerts, Met Museum Gallery Concerts and more. The ensemble, a proven educational resource, has been invited to give performances and master classes in historical performance practice at Harvard University, The Longy School of Music of Bard College, NYU, the University of Washington, and Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Grand Harmonie is supported by a George Henschel Community Award grant from the Harvard Musical Association, and the Princeton Friends of Opera.
For more information visit www.grandharmonie.org.
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