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Devon Baroque's Spring and Summer Programme 2009: Directed by Margaret Faultless, the south west's leading Baroque ensemble celebrates Purcell, Handel and Haydn (M Ed)

Spring Concerts

Great Torrington, St. Michael & All Saints Church
7.30pm Friday 29th May 2009

Exeter, Barnfield Theatre
7.30pm Saturday 30th May 2009

Dartington, The Great Hall
3.00pm Sunday 31st May 2009

Anniversaries
Purcell (1659 – 1695)
Handel (1685 – 1759)
Haydn (1732 – 1809)

Director - Margaret Faultless
Cello Soloist - Sebastian Comberti

The Programme

Purcell:  Suite from Abdelazzer
Handel:  Water Music in F
Haydn:  Symphony no. 7 (Le Midi)
Haydn:  Cello Concerto in C major

2009 is a splendid year for anniversaries – of Purcell’s birth (350 years) and both Handel’s (250 years), and Haydn’s (200 years) deaths.  All three composers are celebrated in this concert including Handel’s Water Music and, expanding Devon Baroque’s repertoire and style into the classical era, a Haydn symphony and a cello concerto with Sebastian Comberti as soloist.

Henry Purcell  (1659 – 1695) :  350 years since birth. Suite from Abdelazzer

“'the Orpheus Britannicus . . . a greater musical genius England never had . . . Composer, organist, bass and countertenor singer. He was one of the greatest composers of the baroque period and one of the greatest of all English composers.” Roger North, celebrated writer and James II's Attorney-General

Georg Friedrich Handel  (1685 – 1759) : 250 years since death. Suite no.2 from The Water Music

"Handel is the greatest composer who ever lived. I would bare my head and kneel at his grave." Ludwig van Beethoven (1824)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) : 200 years since death. Cello Concerto in C Major and Symphony no. 7  (Le Midi)

“I discovered in Haydn as it were two physiognomies. One was penetrating and serious, when he talked about anything sublime, and the mere word ‘sublime’ was enough to excite his feelings to visible animation. In the next moment this air of exaltation was chased away as fast as lightning by his usual mood, and he became jovial with a force that was visible in his features and even passed into drollery. The latter was his usual physiognomy; the former had to be induced.” F.S. Silverstolpe (Haydn's collaborator on the Creation)

The Soloist

Sebastian Comberti, cello

Sebastian was born London 1955 and studied at the Conservatorio in Perugia, Italy and the Royal Academy of Music. Over the last twenty five years he has been at the forefront of many spheres of the London music scene. Since becoming a founder member of the Bochmann Quartet in the 1970s he is in great demand as a chamber player with several groups, and has recorded with Hausmusik, London Mozart Players Chamber Ensemble, and Divertimenti amongst others. As principal cellist and regular soloist with London's oldest chamber orchestra, the London Mozart Players for nearly two decades, he also appears frequently as guest principal with other orchestras. In the field of Period Instrument performance he has been a part of the Early Music movement since the early 1980s, working with all of the London groups. He is a principal player with the Hanover Band and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Research into 18th and 19th Century cello repertoire has led to many recitals and broadcasts of neglected masterpieces.

Mike Edwards

 

The Venues and Times

Great Torrington :7.30pm Friday 29th May 2009

St. Michael & All Saints Church,
Great Torrington> Tickets are priced £15  (juniors & students £5)  Ticket Agency to be announced

Exeter : 7.30pm Saturday 30th May 2009

Barnfield Theatre, Exeter EX1 1SN.  Tickets are priced £18 for one concert
or book for the series -  £33 for two concerts and £45 for all three  from Barnfield Box Office, Barnfield Road, Exeter EX1 1SN   phone 01392 270891.

Dartington 3.00pm Sunday 31st May 2009

The Great Hall, Dartington TQ9 6DE.  Tickets are priced £18 for one concert or book -for the series  £33 for two concerts and £45 for all three from Dartington Arts Box Office.

The Devon Baroque  web site is www.devonbaroque.co.uk


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