January 29, 2008
For immediate release
CLIBURN CONCERTS PRESENTS A SPECIAL PROGRAM OF BAROQUE MUSIC WITH
THE WORLD-RENOWNED ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
FEATURING FAMED HARPSICHORDIST/DIRECTOR RICHARD EGARR
One of the finest period-instrument ensembles in the world,
performing Baroque masterpieces in the setting in which they were
first meant to be heard
At First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, with a special
appearance by the Texas Camerata
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, January 29, 2008--Cliburn Concerts will
present the world-renowned Academy of Ancient Music in its Cliburn
Concerts debut on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at First
Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth (1000 Penn Street, Fort
Worth).
Directed by acclaimed harpsichordist and conductor Richard
Egarr, the Academy of Ancient Music is now in its fourth decade as
one of the world's finest period-instrument ensembles. Dedicated to
giving audiences an experience of music as it might have sounded at
the time it was written, the twelve-member ensemble features
Baroque- and Classical-era specialists playing the instruments
first developed for this repertoire.
The program will include works by baroque masters Bach, Handel,
and Telemann, performed in the sanctuary at First Presbyterian
Church of Fort Worth--a setting similar to one in which these works
would first have been played. At 6:30 p.m. there will be a special
opening performance by the Texas Camerata, Fort Worth's own
early-music group, followed by a pre-concert interview with Mr.
Egarr. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Since its formation in 1973 under the direction of Christopher
Hogwood, the Academy of Ancient Music has presented concerts across
six continents and has made more than 250 recordings, to universal
acclaim. The Washington Post calls the Academy's playing
"vibrant...sparkling and fresh, filled with rarely heard details
and an unflagging sense of forward motion."
For more information about the Van Cliburn Foundation, please
visit
www.cliburn.org.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION: general seating tickets to this special
Cliburn Concerts performance are $35. Tickets are available online
or by calling 817.335.9000. More information is available at
www.cliburn.org.
ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn
Foundation. American Airlines, Bank of America, City of Fort Worth,
Eastman Kodak Company, JPMorgan Chase, Star- Telegram, Steinway
& Sons, and XTO Energy Inc. are Official Corporate Sponsors,
and Clear Channel Communications and RadioShack are the Cliburn's
Corporate Sponsors. Official Sponsors are the Arts Council of Fort
Worth and Tarrant County, The Burnett Foundation, Once Upon a
Time..., and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Star-Telegram is the
principal media partner and WRR 101.1 FM is the official radio
station of Cliburn Concerts.
ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC
Richard Egarr, Music Director
Paul Goodwin, Associate Conductor
Christopher Hogwood, Director Emeritus
VIOLIN I
Pavlo Beznosiuk
Pierre Joubert
Persephone Gibbs
VIOLIN II
Rodolfo Richter
Joanna Lawrence
Iwona Muszynska
VIOLA
Trevor Jones
CELLO
Joseph Crouch
DOUBLE BASS
Tim Amherst
THEORBO
William Carter
FLUTE
Rachel Brown
HARPSICHORD
Richard Egarr
Concerts across six continents and more than 250 recordings
since its formation by Christopher Hogwood in 1973 demonstrate the
AAM's preeminence in music of the Baroque and Classical
periods.
Richard Egarr succeeded Maestro Hogwood as music director in
September 2006, and his inaugural season won glowing praise from
critics and audiences alike. His first tour of the United States as
AAM music director in April 2007 included a critically acclaimed
debut with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall. His first recording with
the AAM (Handel's Opus 3 sonatas) won warm praise on both sides of
the Atlantic and won the 2007 Gramophone Award for baroque
instrumental music.
The vitality of the AAM's music-making continues to be fostered
by a range of guest directors. This season, Maestro Hogwood-- now
director emeritus--conducts the second of his series of three
Handel operas leading up to the composer's anniversary of death in
2009; the renowned baroque expert Masaaki Suzuki and violinists
Giuliano Carmignola and Pavlo Beznosiuk will lead projects; and the
AAM continues to work with Polyphony and the Holst Singers and with
the choirs of King's College Cambridge and Trinity College
Cambridge.
The orchestra's pioneering recordings under Maestro Hogwood for
Decca's L'Oiseau-Lyre label cover much of the Baroque and Classical
orchestral canon, including the first recordings on period
instruments of many works, such as Mozart's complete symphonies and
prizewinning opera recordings of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart with
Emma Kirkby, Cecilia Bartoli, and Joan Sutherland, among other
acclaimed soloists. The AAM has also recorded for the EMI, Chandos,
Erato, and harmonia mundi labels. These recordings include discs of
Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell (with the Choir of King's College
Cambridge), Pergolesi, English coronation music, Handel's Messiah
(with the Choir of New College Oxford), and several discs for
harmonia mundi of music from Bach to Tavener under associate
conductor Paul Goodwin, Maestro Egarr, and Andrew Manze.
The AAM is orchestra-in-residence at the University of
Cambridge. Visit www.aam. co.uk for
more details.
RICHARD EGARR
Director and Harpsichord
Richard Egarr is one of the most versatile musicians performing
today. He has worked with all types of keyboards and performed
repertoire ranging from fifteenth- century organ intabulations to
Dussek and Chopin on early pianos to Berg and Maxwell Davies on
modern piano. Mr. Egarr enjoyed his musical training as a choirboy
at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as
organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge. His study with Gustav
Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical
performance. Today he is director of the Amsterdam-based Academy of
the Begijnhof and the Academy of Ancient Music.
As a conductor, Richard Egarr has worked with specialized
ensembles and modern orchestras alike, directing a wide range of
repertoire from Bach's St. Matthew Passion to John Taverner's Ikon
of Light. Recent guest productions include Handel's Esther; Acis
& Galatea; Alcina; many performances of the Messiah; L'Allegro,
Il Penseroso ed il Moderato; Haydn's The Creation; Purcell's Fairy
Queen; Bach's B minor mass; Telemann's St. Matthew Passion; and
Stokowski arrangements with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Last season, Mr. Egarr directed a staged version of Purcell's
Dido & Aeneas--a production that will be revived in 2008. His
debut at the Flemish Radio Orchestra (conducting Berlioz's
Symphonie Fantastique) prompted a second invitation, and he also
appeared with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and at Glyndebourne,
where he recently conducted a staged version of Bach's St. Matthew
Passion.
As a soloist, Mr. Egarr has performed extensively in the major
music festivals throughout Europe and Japan. He toured the United
States in 2006 with Bach's Goldberg Variations to great critical
acclaim. He has also appeared as orchestral soloist, recently with
the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth
Century, and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble.
In chamber music, Mr. Egarr and violinist Andrew Manze form an
"unequalled duo for violin and keyboard" (Gramophone). They have
toured Europe and North America with music from the Stylus
Phantasticus and late Baroque. They have recently turned to later
repertoire with performances of Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, and
Hubert Parry.
Richard Egarr records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa. His
solo discs include works by Frescobaldi, Gibbons, Couperin,
Purcell, and J.S. Bach, and the complete recording of the keyboard
works of Johann Jakob Froberger. Recent recordings include "Per
Cembalo Solo" (Gramophone Editor's Choice), Bach's Goldberg
Variations, and a disc with Fantasies & Rondos by Mozart. Many
of his recordings with violinist Andrew Manze have been awarded
international prizes, including a Gramophone award, a Grammy
nomination, a Prix Caecilia, and an Edison Award. With the Academy
of Ancient Music he has recorded the complete Bach harpsichord
concerti and Handel's Concerti Grossi Op. 3.
TEXAS CAMERATA
Proudly based in Fort Worth, Texas Camerata continues its
fifteen-year tradition of performing the music of the Baroque and
early Classical eras with an emphasis on historical style by
presenting an annual subscription series and additional concerts
throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Under the leadership of
artistic director Kristin Van Cleve, Texas Camerata's programs
combine a captivating mix of familiar and less well-known vocal and
instrumental chamber music. Introducing its audience to "hidden
gems" while simultaneously providing fresh interpretations of the
Baroque "classics" remains the primary focus of Texas Camerata.
PROGRAM
JS BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
HANDEL Concerto Grosso in A minor, Op. 6, No. 4, HWV 322
TELEMANN Concerto in D major for Flute, TWV 51:D2
JS BACH Concerto in G minor for Harpsichord, BWV 1058
HANDEL Sonata Ã5 in B-flat major, HWV 288
TELEMANN Concerto in A major for Flute, Violin, and Obbligato
Cello from Tafelmusik, TMV 53:A2
Contact: Sevan Melikyan Dir. of P.R.
email: sevan@cliburn.org
phone: 817.738.6536
web:
