Peter Richard Conte & Polyphonia at Longwood Gardens

Friday, 13 March 2020
8:00 p.m.

Saint Clement’s Choral Artists-in-Residence
The Polyphonia Society
under the direction of Peter Richard Conte

Polyphonia presents sacred & secular choral music spanning four centuries, including works by Howells, Wood, Dyson, Willan, Marenzio, Allegri, Brahms, Croce, and Dvořák, and Organist & Choirmaster of Saint Clement’s and Principal Organist of Longwood Gardens, Peter Richard Conte performs Marcel Dupré’s epic Symphonie-Passion, Op. 23, a masterpiece rarely heard in its entirety.

The Longwood Organ has the distinction of being the largest residential Aeolian ever constructed. Newly restored in 2011, it is a stunning specimen of American Art Deco organ design and engineering, and captures an orchestral sound like no other. 

Concert tickets include all-day Gardens Admission, and Longwood Gardens’ “Orchid Extravaganza” takes place now through March 22, 2020. Tickets available below:

A Journey to Twelfth Night

Music from Advent to Epiphany

Saint Clement’s Choral Artists-in-Residence
The Polyphonia Society
under the direction of Peter Richard Conte

Choral works by Byrd, Malcolm, Edwards, Dvořák, Howells, Palestrina, Lassus & Berlioz.
Organ solo works by Duruflé & Dupré

Sunday, 5 January 2020, 4:00 p.m.
Reception & Silent Auction to follow
Ticket Donation: $20.00

Please join us.

The Couperin family taught and inspired the French royals for generations. Not only were they instrumental in the shaping of their students, but in that of their contemporary colleagues and future countrymen. The program will reflect on the genius of the dynastic family and how their artistic presence shaped a broad musical landscape.

Michael Sponseller — harpsichord

Admission: $35
Students and Seniors: $15 with a valid ID

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)
Resurrection Historia
With the Core Singers of Choral Arts Philadelphia

Louis Couperin (1626-1661)
Lecons de Tenebre
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Lent Motets
With the Core Singers of Choral Arts Philadelphia and The Bach Collegium

J.S. Bach
Cantata BWV 125 Mit Fried und Freud fahr ich dahin
Chelsea Komschlies 
Nunc Dimittis
World Premiere
With Choral Arts Philadelphia and The Bach Collegium

The partnership of keyboard and solo instrument is a long-standing relationship that is well understood and enjoyed. His six Sonatas for harpsichord and violin are grouped among the “obbligato” sonatas written for various solo instruments where keyboard has an extensive “written-out” part and the two instruments are in equal contrapuntal partnership with each other.

Robert Mealy — baroque violin
Leon Schelhase — harpsichord

Admission: $35
Students and Seniors: $15 with a valid ID

The partnership of keyboard and solo instrument is a long-standing relationship that is well understood and enjoyed. His six Sonatas for harpsichord and violin are grouped among the “obbligato” sonatas written for various solo instruments where keyboard has an extensive “written-out” part and the two instruments are in equal contrapuntal partnership with each other.

Robert Mealy — baroque violin
Leon Schelhase — harpsichord

Admission: $35
Students and Seniors: $15 with a valid ID

The Choral Arts Philadelphia tradition of giving a New Year’s Eve concert was born in December 2014, thanks to the resounding success of that year’s experiment with Bach’s rarely heard complete Christmas Oratorio.

This year, Choral Arts will present two masterpieces of the Baroque era.

J.S. Bach’s Magnificat
We will perform one of Bach's most popular vocal works with the Christmas hymn "interpolations" (laudes) that composer originally included for Magnificat's first Christmas performance in Leipzig in 1723. 

During Bach's time In Leipzig, Magnificat became a regular part of Sunday services, sung in German on ordinary Sundays but more elaborately, and in Latin, on the high holidays (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost). 

Handel’s Coronation Anthems 
One of the last acts of King George I before his death in 1727 was to sign "An Act for the naturalizing of George Frederic Handel and others." Handel's first commission as a naturalized British citizen was to write the music for the coronation later that year. The four anthems Handel composed for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline on 11 October 1727 have never lacked popular favour. They were repeatedly performed at concerts and festivals during his life and since, and he incorporated substantial parts of them, with little change except to the words, in several oratorios, notably Esther and Deborah.

The forces that he used were substantial for the time period: an augmented Chapel Royal Choir of 47 voices and an orchestra that may have numbered as many as 160 instruments. The chorus is divided from time to time into 6 or 7 parts (the tenors remain united) and a large body of strings includes three (not the usual two) violin parts.

Program Details

J.S. BACH: 
Magnificat, BWV 243.1

G.F. HANDEL: 
Coronation Anthems:
1. Zadok the Priest
2. The King shall rejoice
3. Let thy hand be strengthened
4. My heart is inditing

Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703): Motet Meine Freundin, Du bist schön
J.S. Bach: Double Violin Concerto in D Minor
J.S. Bach: Wedding Cantata 196 Der Herr denket an uns
With the Core Singers of Choral Arts and The Bach Collegium

Ravensong and Kleine Kammermusik present internationally acclaimed baroque dancer Hubert Hazebroucq and violinist Stefan Plewniak of Il Giardino d’Amore in a concert of music and dance from the court of Louis XIV. The dances, reconstructed by Hazebroucq from their original notation, are set to music of Couperin, Lully, and more. Don't miss this rare opportunity to indulge in an evening of charm, grace, and delight!

Hubert Hazebroucq, Dancer
Stefan Plewniak, violin
Members of Kleine Kammermusik

Admission: $30
Students and Seniors: $15

Fortepianist Sylvia Berry joins Leon Schelhase in a program of duo and solo works by three of J.S. Bach's sons: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Johann Christian. 

Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
Leon Schelhase, harpsichord

Admission: $35

MAY 16*
Chamber program with Philadelphia Bach Collegium:
"Counterpoint from Bach to Zelenka: Kleine Kammermusik in Concert"

"The Reformation: Influence and Inspiration"

APRIL 18
"The Art of the Chorale: Matthew Glandorf in Recital"
Organ works by Pachelbel, J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Max Reger. Improvisation on themes submitted by the audience.

"The Reformation: Influence and Inspiration" 

MARCH 21
Felix Mendelssohn: Jesu, meine Freude
J.S. Bach: Cantata BWV 93 Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten
Felix Mendelssohn: Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten

FEBRUARY 21
Chamber program with Philadelphia Bach Collegium, a chamber ensemble of period instruments, resident of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia., entitled:
"Voices from the North ~ Chamber Works from Germany, Denmark, and Sweden"

"The Reformation: Influence and Inspiration" 

JANUARY 31
J.S. Bach: Cantata BWV 1 Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
Kile Smith: Epiphany Vespers, selected movements

A program of French chamber music with focus on the harpsichord in its role as soloist and accompanist. Music by Rameau, F. Couperin, Marais and others.

Geoffrey Burgess, baroque oboe
Sarah Cunningham, viola da gamba
Leon Schelhase, harpsichord

Admission: $35

Our recently established tradition of a New Year’s Eve celebration continues!

Join us for the only performance in Philadelphia honoring Claudio Monteverdi’s 450th birthday with his breathtaking and revolutionary Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610). Be transported into the soaring strains of solemn vespers as Venetians would have in 1610 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Mark.
 
For this performance, we are joined by the members of Dark Horse Consort, an ensemble dedicated to the brass music of the early 17th century.

The splendor of Monteverdi’s dazzling instrumental writing will be revealed as the Vespers floods the mind and heart with music ranging from intimate love songs to rapturously grand double chorus settings.

TICKETS

Early bird:
$30 General Admission
$20 Seniors
$10 Students (with ID)

As of December 1, 2017:
$45 General Admission
$30 Seniors
$15 Students (with ID)

"The Reformation: Influence and Inspiration" 

NOVEMBER 15
J.S. Bach: Cantata BWV 79 Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild
David Carpenter: A Love So Still, a World Premiere
Sacred choral works from XVI-XX centuries
shaped by the Lutheran Reformation