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Baroque Concert Celebrates Motherhood |
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At 8:00 p.m. on Friday, May 9—beginning the weekend of Mother’s Day—St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and the Academy of Early Music will co-sponsor "Sancta Maria: 17th-Century Songs and Sonatas Celebrating Motherhood."
Well-known Ann Arbor early music specialists Deborah Friauff, Kiri Tollaksen, and Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra will be joined by Canadian baroque trombonist Linda Pearse in this concert celebrating the sanctity of motherhood. The program of 17th-century Italian devotional music to Mary, the mother of Christ, features Monteverdi, Cima, Picchi, Castello, and Cozzolani. It includes selections from Monteverdi's Marian Vespers of 1610 and two pieces by the Benedictine nun Chiara Margarita Cozzolani. To support the concert theme, the first 25 mothers to attend the concert will receive corsages with roses, the flower most closely connected with the Virgin Mary. Responding to the popularity of a similar exhibit at the February Academy of Early Music concert, the University of Michigan Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments will display its 17th century cornetto. During intermission, the audience may examine and compare it with modern instruments. About the Program Perhaps the best-known Italian baroque composer, Claudio Monteverdi is represented in this concert by two settings of Salve Regina, a two-part Sancta Maria, and three songs from Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1610). A leading musical figure in Milan, Giovanni Paolo Cima published Concerti ecclesiastici in 1610. His sonatas for instruments with continuo include the earliest known examples of solo sonatas, as well as early examples of trio sonata texture. Venetian composer Giovanni Picchi was influential in the development of instrumental forms which were just beginning to appear, such as the sonata and the ensemble canzona. The Canzona Terza is from his collection of 19 ensemble canzonas published in 1625. Dario Costello applied the new Baroque ornamental and dramatic vocal style to instrumental writing. The concert includes the Sonata sesta from Book 2 of his Sonate concertate in stil moderno. Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was abbess of the Milanese convent of Santa Radegonda, one of the most celebrated ensembles of women musicians in 17th century Italy. Two songs are included from her largest collection, Salmi a otto voci concertati, published in Venice in 1650.
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About the Performers Deborah Friauff is Music Director and Organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor. A native of Traverse City, she graduated with honors from Interlochen Arts Academy. After completing Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Organ at the University of Michigan under Marilyn Mason, Dr. Friauff was awarded the Georges Lurcy Fellowship for study in France. There she studied with renowned recitalist Marie-Claire Alain at the Conservatoire Nationale de Région, and was awarded the Premiers Prix d’Orgue. Dr. Friauff completed her DMA degree at the University of Michigan under Robert Glasgow.
Dr. Friauff has
performed across the country in venues such as the San Anselmo Organ
Festival in California and the Piccolo Spoleto Arts Festival in South
Carolina. She has sung soprano in the professional early music ensemble
VOX and is the Director of the Ann Arbor Grail Singers, a women’s chorus
devoted to early music. Most recently, she has been serving as Adjunct
Professor of Organ at Eastern Michigan University, where she also
directed the University’s Collegium Musicum. She resides in Ann Arbor
with her husband and two daughters. Kiri Tollaksen enjoys a varied career as a performer and teacher. She has been praised for her "stunning technique, and extreme musicality," (Journal of the International Trumpet Guild). Kiri has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe with numerous groups such as Apollo's Fire (Cleveland), Piffaro (Philadelphia), Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), New York Collegium (NYC), Concerto Palatino (Italy), La Fenice (France), and the Huelgas Ensemble (Belgium). Kiri is a founding member of the quartets La Gente d'Orfeo and Anaphantasia, both based in Ann Arbor. Kiri is currently Adjunct Lecturer in Music at the Early Music Institute at Indiana University. She also maintains a teaching studio in Ann Arbor, and teaches cornetto at the Amherst Early Music Festival. Kiri holds performing degrees in trumpet from Eastman, Yale, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. For upcoming concerts, please visit www.KiriTollaksen.com. She resides in Ann Arbor with her husband Ron and two cats. A native of Vancouver Island, Canada, Linda Pearse grew up in a community with a strong jazz tradition and attended McGill University, Montreal, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in jazz performance. A move to Trossingen, Germany, followed, where she completed a KA (Soloists diploma) in trombone. In Germany, she played with the Stuttgart Philharmonic and became acquainted with baroque trombonist Charles Toet, with whom she then studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland.
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While in Europe, Linda performed with a variety of ensembles including the Stuttgart State Theatre, Basel Theatre, La Cetra, and the Basel Symphony Orchestra. Recent activities include playing with the Malaysian Philharmonic in Kuala Lumpur and a one-year stint (2006) with the Macau Symphony Orchestra, China. She is presently pursuing a doctor of music degree at Indiana University where she also teaches Baroque trombone. In her free time, Linda enjoys scuba diving with her husband, swimming, reading, eating well, and watching grand slam tennis tournaments. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra's passion for early music, historical instruments, and improvisation coalesce in her performances as organist, harpsichordist, clavichordist, and conductor, as well as her publications, recordings, and teaching throughout North America and Europe. As Professor of Music and University Organist at Bethany College (Lindsborg, KS) and Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI) for 19 years, Ruiter-Feenstra developed successful improvisation pedagogy methodology, and aural-oriented performance practice by directing the Collegium Musicum and other early music ensembles. Ruiter-Feenstra’s musicological experience led to her decision to publish a series of improvisation pedagogy tutors, the first of which is Bach and the Art of Improvisation (available 2009 from www.organsociety.org). She serves as Director of the American Guild of Organists' National Competition in Organ Improvisation. Her CD of Froberger works recorded on the 17th-century De Zentis harpsichord will appear in 2008. Ruiter-Feenstra's recordings and live performances have been broadcast on Pipedreams, The Organ Loft, Swedish National Radio, and the British Broadcasting Network (BBC). Mark Your Calendars "Sancta Maria: 17th-Century Songs and Sonatas Celebrating Motherhood" will take place at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, May 9th, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 306 North Division, Ann Arbor. Concertgoers have permission to park in the Community High School and Ann Arbor News parking lots, each just a block away. (See the parking map on our Downloads page) Open seating tickets, available at the door from 7:30, are $15 general admission, $12 for seniors and Academy of Early Music Members, $5 for students. For more information, call 663-0518 x205.
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