A Year-End Letter from MCB Artistic Director
Murray Somerville
"Incandescent performances" … "resplendent rendition" – music to our ears at Music City Baroque! With these enthusiastic reviews of our fall concerts, MCB looks back on a splendid year of bringing Historically Informed Performance to Middle Tennessee, thanks to the inspired performances of our "early music virtuosos" and the generosity of you, our patrons, supporters and friends.
With performances of choral music (with sackbuts) at Belmont, chamber music at Blair and Fisk, and our annual Messiah sing-along downtown, we have brought a wide variety of baroque repertoire to a variety of locations in and around Music City. Our audiences continue to grow, and for the second year in a row we have won a "Best of Nashville" critic's pick from the Nashville Scene.
Now, as my tenure as Artistic Director draws to a close at the end of this season, we look forward to more wonderful musical challenges in the year ahead. In March we undertake our biggest project to date - a period-instrument performance of Bach's great B minor Mass, a work close to my heart since I first sang it under Karl Richter in Germany as a teenager. Using Christoph Wolff's superb new edition, we have assembled an ensemble of our own fine period players, a hand-picked chorus of our area's finest baroque singers led by Rebecca Davis and Mareike Sattler, and familiar visitors including Angela DeBoer on natural horn and natural trumpet superstar Brian Shaw. And there's more chamber music in February, and the next installment of the Fiddling Project in April.
Thus as 2011 draws to a close, we write to invite your continued support of the work of Music City Baroque. No donation is too small or too large; all contributions will be gratefully acknowledged in our printed programs (if you wish.) To make this as easy for you as possible, we have included a link below to make a secure online donation, or you may send a check to the listed address.
The Board and musicians of Music City Baroque are once again proud of our group's accomplishments this year, and grateful for the generous support of Nashville's musical community. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help us continue to provide Middle Tennessee with the finest period performances possible in the remainder of this season and beyond.
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Review: Music City Baroque delivers a resplendent rendition of ‘Messiah’
“Messiah sing-alongs have become a popular holiday diversion throughout much of the English-speaking world. But Nashville’s emerging Handel tradition is different from many others in two important ways: First, Music City’s sing-along is performed in authentic Baroque style using period instruments; and second, the choral singers in the audience are amazingly good.”
“Music City Baroque's period ensemble performed with a sound that was revelatory. The gut-string violins, violas, cellos and bass produced timbres that were bright but gentle, and the period bows bounced off these strings with remarkable lightness. That helped the performers create the springy rhythms that are a signature of authentic Baroque music.”
Read John Pitcher's full review at ArtNowNashville.com.
For Second Year in a Row, MCB is Writer's Pick for Best of Nashville
BEST EARLY MUSIC GROUP: MUSIC CITY BAROQUE
Legendary choral conductor Robert Shaw once described J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor as "God's favorite piece of music." No doubt, the Almighty is mighty pleased with Music City Baroque and its artistic director, Murray Somerville. The ensemble will present a rare period-instrument performance of the Mass in B minor — surely the crowning achievement of history's greatest composer — on March 25 at St. George's Episcopal Church. Since its founding in 2003, Music City Baroque has quickly emerged as the leading interpreter of Bach's music in Nashville. It has also become the go-to group for annual holiday sing-alongs of Handel's Messiah.
— JOHN PITCHER
Review: Music City Baroque opens its 2011-12 season with incandescent performances
“There was absolutely nothing dry, stodgy or academic about the way these period-instrument virtuosos made music on Sunday. Nashville’s premier early-music group was at Blair for the opening of its 2011-12 season, and…this top-notch ensemble played the music of Bach and other composers with immediacy, passion and a welcome degree of lyrical warmth.”
Read John Pitcher's full review at ArtNowNashville.com.
MCB Announces 2011-2012 Concert Season
Bach's Mass in B minor; Guest Director Matthew Dirst; Fiddling Project II
Music City Baroque is excited to announce its concert series for 2011-2012. Join us October 23 to kick off the season with guest artist Matthew Dirst, the Grammy-nominated director of Ars Lyrica in Houston, with a program of chamber music at the Blair School of Music. Then on December 5, join us for music from Handel's Messiah, including Nashville's only early music sing-along, guest vocalists, and other instrumental works.
After an afternoon of chamber music in downtown Nashville on February 26, make sure not to miss the opportunity to hear an early music performance of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor, on March 25 at St. George's Episcopal Church. Composed late in his life, this incredible work is one of the greatest that Bach ever composed.
Finally, MCB continues its Fiddling Project, with a performance at the Loveless Barn that will trace Tennessee's musical roots, finding the ties between fiddling and early "classical" violin playing. Mark your calendar now and we hope to see you at this year's performances.