Sedona AZ (February 28, 2013) – March Musical Magic for Chamber Music Sedona the week of March 6th through 10th will include three unique live performances in three different community venues.
THE MET: LIVE IN HD
WAGNER’S PARSIFAL
Saturday, March 9 at 10am The Met: Live in HD continues with Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal, presented at the Sedona Performing Arts Center, 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road. The Associated Press said, “A Parsifal to treasure, elevated to the highest musical level by the solemnity and sweep of Daniele Gatti’s conducting and the dedication of a dream cast of singing actors.” The Sedona performance is made possible with support from Dr. Ronald Krug.
Star tenor Jonas Kaufmann sings the title role in a new production of Wagner’s final masterpiece Parsifal, staged by acclaimed French Canadian director Francois Girard in his Met debut. Director Francois Girard’s timeless new vision for Wagner’s final masterpiece explores the many facets of this mystical score, while designer Michael Levine (Eugene Onegin) creates a surreal landscape. The extraordinary cast of Wagnerians assembled for the deeply meditative opera about sin, redemption, pain, and healing includes German bass Renee Pape as the wise knight Gurnemanz; Swedish soprano Katarina Dalayman as the wayward temptress Kundry; Swedish baritone Peter Mattei as the wounded king Amfortas; and Russian bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin as the evil wizard Klingsor. Italian maestro Daniele Gatti conducts Wagner’s powerful and complex score. American bass-baritone Eric Owens hosts the transmission and conducts backstage interviews with the stars.
A popular feature of the Sedona presentation includes a pre-opera “Curtain Raiser” lecture, presented this time by Russell Fox from 8:45-9:30am in the SPAC theatre. A second feature includes opera box lunches that must be ordered on-line no later than Thursday noon before the Saturday opera. No outside food or beverage is permitted in the theater. Tickets, $23 reserved and $19 general admission are available on the web and at SPAC the day of the opera only. The Met Live in HD continues March 16th with Riccardo Zandonai’s opera Francesca da Rimini.
MUSICA PACIFICA
MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE
SUNDAY, March 10 @ 2:30pm
The acclaimed baroque ensemble Musica Pacifica will make its Sedona debut 2:30pm Sunday, March 10 at St. John Vianney Church, 180 St. John Vianney Lane when the quartet of baroque instrumentalists will perform its program “Dancing in the Isles.” The concert is made possible with support from the Chamber Music Sedona Advisory Council.
Since its founding in 1990, Musica Pacifica has become widely recognized as one of America’s premier baroque ensembles, lauded for both the dazzling virtuosity and the warm expressiveness of its performances. They have been described by the press as “some of the finest baroque musicians in America” (American Record Guide) and “among the best in the world” (Alte Musik Aktuell). At home in the San Francisco Bay area, the artists perform with Philharmonia Baroque and American Bach Soloists, and appear with many other prominent early music ensembles nationally and abroad. The afternoon concert will feature music of William Byrd, Nicola Matteis, Matthew Locke, James Oswald, Henry Purcell, Nicola Matteis and others.
The quartet includes Judith Linsenberg, recorder, baroque violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, viol da gambist Josh Lee and harpsichordist Charles Sherman. Linsenberg is one of the leading exponents of the recorder in the US and has been acclaimed for her “virtuosity,” “expressivity,” and “fearless playing.”
Blumenstock is widely admired as a performer of interpretive eloquence and technical sparkle. She is a frequent soloist, concertmaster, and leader with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, the Italian ensemble Il Complesso Barocco, and the Goettingen Handel Festspielorchester. Josh Lee is frequently cited for his “stylish and soulful playing.” Lee performs on viols and double bass with some of the world’s leaders in early music. Lee is an alumnus of the Peabody Conservatory and the Longy School of Music where he studied double bass with Harold Hall Robinson and viol with Ann Marie Morgan and Jane Hershey. Charles Sherman is founder of the ensemble Ostraka and is recognized as one of the leading harpsichord soloists and continuo players in the country and has been called a “fluent virtuoso” by the Los Angeles Times. Since 1997, he has been a member of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Musica Pacifica.
Tickets to the concert, $40 reserved and $19 general admission are available on line, and general admission tickets may be purchased at Bashas’-Sedona, Rycus’ Corners-VOC, and in Cottonwood at Planet Video & Music. Tickets may also be purchased at the door the day of the concert. No pre-concert lecture will take place for this program.
CHAMBER MUSIC AT THE LIBRARY
WEDNESDAY MARCH 6 @ 7pm
To Benefit Community Food Bank
“Pianist Joseph Tapia kicks off the week with a 7pm Wednesday March 6th recital at the Sedona Public Library,” said CMS executive director Bert Harclerode. “Joseph is a wonderful artist and Manhattan School of Music grad. We’re pleased he could fill in for the originally scheduled NAU Piano Studio recital. His program includes some of the most beloved music by composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, Paganini-Liszt, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Ludwig van Beethoven. We expect this to be a very popular program,” said Harclerode. No one will be turned away at the door. The concert is made possible by Chamber Music Sedona and the Sedona Public Library.
Admission is two cans of food and $5 all of which will be donated to the community food bank.
Chamber Music Sedona’s 30th Anniversary Season is made possible with underwriting support from Aspey, Watkins & Diesel, P.L.L.C., Attorneys at Law. Additional support comes from The City of Sedona, The Arizona Commission on the Arts with funding from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Verde Valley Medical Center, The Margaret T. Morris Foundation and WESTAF.