ITALIAN TRIO SONATAS HIGHLIGHTED AT FOURTH ASTON MAGNA SUMMER CONCERT IN BARD COLLEGE SERIES July 27 concert features violinist Stanley Ritchie and harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright, joined by violinist and artistic director Daniel Stepner and gambist Laur
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-Two favorite artists of Aston Magna audiences, violinist Stanley Ritchie and harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright, are the featured artists for the fourth concert of the five-concert Aston Magna series on Friday, July 27, at Bard College. The program, presented by The Bard Center, also features performances by artistic director and violinist Daniel Stepner and viola da gambist Laura Jeppesen. The concert will begin at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall, with a preconcert talk at 7:00 p.m.
The program, titled "The Italian Trio Sonata," includes Dario Castello's Sonata XII; Salomone Rossi's Sonata Sopra "Porto celato il mio nobil pensiero"; Biagio Marini's Sonata Senza Cadenze; Pietro Locatelli's Sonata in D Minor, Op. 5, No. 5; Lelio Colista's Sonata in C Major, W-K 13; Alessandro Stradella's Sinfonia XVIII in F Major; Arcangelo Corelli's Sonata in D Major, Op. 3, No. 2; Antonio Vivaldi's Variazioni Sopra "La Folia"; and a group of works by Girolamo Frescobaldi, including the Tocatta in G Minor for harpsichord solo, Canzona IV in G Minor, and Canzon Seconda in C Major for two trebles and continuo.
Currently under the artistic direction of Daniel Stepner, the Aston Magna series has been a highlight of the month of July at Bard College since 1983. Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times that the series "has been bringing together some of the best American early music players . . . [to perform] in the highly polished, texturally transparent style for which they have been known since the festival's early days."
The 2001 season concludes on August 3 with the program "Bach and Purcell,"which will include J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 and a performance of the cantata Ich habe Genug, as well as excerpts from Henry Purcell's Indian Queen. Featured artists include sopranos Nancy Armstrong and Roberta Anderson, tenor William Hite, and baritone David Ripley, performing with an instrumental ensemble led by Daniel Stepner.
Aston Magna at Bard is made possible, in part, by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and through the generosity of the Homeland Foundation and The Leon Levy Foundation at Bard College. Single tickets cost $15. For information on the concert series and to order tickets, call The Bard Center at 845-758-7425.
About the Artists:
Laura Jeppesen performs in Boston as viola da gambist with the Boston Museum Trio and Charivary, and as violist with the Handel & Haydn Society and Boston Baroque. She has played in music festivals and concert series in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Japan with a number of early music ensembles, including the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Sequentia, Aston Magna, and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist under conductors Christopher Hogwood, Martin Pearlman, Edo de Waart, and Seiji Ozawa. Her extensive discography includes music for solo viola da gamba; the gamba sonatas of J. S. Bach; Buxtehude's Trio Sonatas, Opus 1 and 2; Telemann's Paris Quartets; and Marais's La Gamme et autres morceaux de symphonie. Jeppesen is a recipient of awards from the Woodrow Wilson and Fulbright foundations, is a former fellow of the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, and is currently on the faculty of Wellesley College.
Violinist Stanley Ritchie is a founding artist of Aston Magna. He is recognized as a leading exponent of baroque and classical violin playing. Since 1982 he has been a professor of violin at the Indiana University School of Music, where he also directs the Baroque Orchestra. He has lectured and given master classes at The Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School, The Peabody Conservatory, The Sydney Conservatorium (Australia), and The Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen. Ritchie performs as a member of Duo Geminiani, with Elisabeth Wright, and the Mozartean Players, and was one of the artists featured on the Granada Television series Man and Music. He has been guest director and soloist with the Academy of Ancient Music, Handel & Haydn Society, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Recent recordings include Vivaldi's Op. 11 Violin Concertos with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, the complete piano trios of Mozart and Schubert (as a member of the Mozartean Players), and 17th-century music for three violins and continuo titled Three Parts upon a Ground, with John Holloway, Andrew Manze, Nigel North, and John Toll.
Daniel Stepner, artistic director, is a distinguished violinist of great versatility, who has performed and recorded contemporary music with the Boston Musica Viva; the sonatas of Charles Ives with pianist John Kirkpatrick; and solo works, chamber works, and concertos from the baroque and classical eras on period instruments. He is first violinist of the Lydian String Quartet and has served as concertmaster of the Handel & Haydn Society, Banchetto Musicale, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, and New Haven Symphony, and as associate concertmaster of Frans Brüggen's Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Stepner has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the Longy School of Music. He currently teaches at Brandeis and Harvard Universities.
Harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright began to specialize in baroque music while she was a pupil of Joel Spiegelman at Sarah Lawrence College and subsequently studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt and continuo realization with Veronika Hampe at the Sweelinck Conservatory. Active as a soloist and chamber player on harpsichord and fortepiano, she formed the Duo Geminiani with Stanley Ritchie in 1974, and the two have joined Daniel Stepner and Laura Jeppesen to create Les Sonatistes. She also performs frequently with Anner Bylsma and has performed in numerous festivals, including Mostly Mozart, Chamber Music Northwest, Vancouver Baroque Workshop, Abbey Bach Festival, Sydney Festival, E. Nakamichi Baroque Festival, and Festivale dei Saraceni in Pamparato, Italy. She is on the faculty of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University. Wright has given lecture-demonstrations and master classes throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia, and has recorded on the Focus label.
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(7.11.01)