8PM | First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, Cambridge, MA
Phili
WELCOME
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to welcome you to the second half of our 35th Anniversary Season, with two notable BEMF concert series débuts taking place in the space of a week. The first of these is by keyboard virtuoso Francesco Corti, who performed at our June 2023 Festival, both with recorder sensation Erik Bosgraaf and in a harpsichord recital. He has garnered critical acclaim for his performances both as a keyboard soloist and conductor, in concerts throughout Europe, the United States and Canada, Latin America, Asia, and New Zealand. He joins with the incomparable Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble, directed by Robert Mealy, in a program of keyboard masterpieces for harpsichord and organ by George Frideric Handel, featuring the magnificent Richards, Fowkes & Co. Opus 10 organ at the First Lutheran Church of Boston, on Saturday, February 8. BEMF is honored to have this concert included in the proceedings of the biennial American Handel Society Conference, which is being held February 6–9 in Boston.
A mere six days later, on Friday, February 14, we welcome rising star and multiple-Grammynominee countertenor Reginald Mobley, alongside Grammy-nominated ensemble AGAVE in their BEMF début, to First Church in Cambridge, Congregational. They are presenting a fascinating program titled “Rum and Rebellion,” which explores through music the complex and contradictory intersection of revolution, the rum industry, and the transatlantic slave trade in Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. This unique and compelling event is not to be missed.
We hope you will join us for the final three concerts of our 24/25 Season, beginning on Friday, March 28 at St. Paul Church in Cambridge, when we present the luminous artists of Stile Antico, who are celebrating the group’s 20th anniversary year with a program of their favorite works titled “The Golden Renaissance.” Exactly one week later, on Friday, April 4 at NEC’s Jordan Hall, Les Arts Florissants returns to BEMF, in collaboration with superstar violin soloist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, for a blockbuster program which includes Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and other Venetian masterworks. Our 35th Anniversary Season ends on Sunday afternoon, April 13, again at Jordan Hall, with the much-anticipated return of Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI in a glorious and eclectic program of folías, variations, and improvisations, titled “Music of Fire and Love.”
All five concerts will be available for virtual viewing starting two weeks after they are performed live.
Thank you for joining us for tonight’s performance, whether live or virtually, and as always, please accept our heartfelt thanks for your continued enthusiastic support of the Boston Early Music Festival.
Kathleen Fay Executive Director
wildly gifted group” - The Boston Musical Intelligencer Season 27
February 22-23, 2025 at First Church in Boston
Darius Milhaud La création du monde: Suite de concert pour piano et quatour à cordes
George Rochberg Between Two Worlds (Ukiyo-e III) for flute & piano
Pavel Haas Wind Quintet, Op. 10
Alban Berg Adagio from Kammerkonzert for violin, clarinet & piano
Erich Korngold Suite for two violins, cello & piano left-hand, Op. 23
Boston Early Music Festival
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Maria van Kalken, Assistant to the Executive Director
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Corey King, Box Office and Patron Services Director
“I scheduled a trip from Philadelphia around the Festival. It met all my hopes.” 2024 audience member
OCTOBER 10 - 26
Plan a trip to the UK this fall with 20 concerts of early music in Brighton on England’s South Coast. Join the mailing list to receive full programme info when available at bremf.org.uk
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Ellen Zetcher
† deceased
Boston Early Music Festival
24/25 NAMED GIFT SPONSORSHIPS
Boston Early Music Festival extends sincere thanks to the following individuals for their leadership support of our 2024/25 Season:
David Halstead and Jay Santos
Sponsors of the October 2024 performance by Vox Luminis
George L. Hardman
Sponsor of the virtual presentation of AGAVE with Reginald Mobley, countertenor Sponsor of Jordi Savall, Director & viol, for his April 2025 appearance with Hespèrion XXI
Andrew Sigel
Sponsor of the virtual presentations of Vox Luminis and The Tallis Scholars
Harold I. Pratt
Sponsor of Sarah Darling, violin, for her February 2025 appearance with the BEMF Chamber Ensemble
Donald E. Vaughan and Lee S. Ridgway
Sponsors of Reginald Mobley, countertenor, for his February 2025 performance with AGAVE
Jean Fuller Farrington
Sponsor of the virtual presentation of Stile Antico
Lorna E. Oleck
Sponsor of the virtual presentation of Francesco Corti, harpsichord & organ, with the BEMF Chamber Ensemble
Not only do Named Gifts help provide the crucial financial support required to present a full season of extraordinary performances, but they are doubly meaningful in that they send a message of thanks to your most beloved artist, musicians, and directors—that their work means something to you.
You can help make this list grow. For more information about investing in BEMF performances with a Named Gift, please email Kathleen Fay at kathy@bemf.org, or call the BEMF office at 617-661-1812. Your support makes a difference. Thank you.
Boston Early Music Festival PRESENTS AGAVE
REGINALD MOBLEY, countertenor
Rum and Rebellion
Bayle del Chimo Anonymous, from Codex Martinez Compañon, Peru, ca. 1780
Tonada El Congo
Lanchas para baylar
Te, Christe, solum novimus
José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767–1830)
Overture in D major, CPM232 Nunes Garcia
Chanson nègre (Lisette quitté la plaine)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
Beijo a mão que me condena Nunes Garcia
Desde el dia em que eu nasci Joaquim Manoel da Câmara (ca. 1769–1835), Ouvi montes arvoredos transcribed by Sigismund Neukomm (1778–1858) m INTERMISSION n
Anacreon Ode XIII
Ignatius Sancho Air — Hornpipe — All of One Mind (ca. 1729–1780)
Taedet animam meam Esteban Salas (1725–1803)
Pueri Hebraeorum (instrumental)
Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611), arranged by Salas
¡Tú, mi Dios entre pajas! Salas
The Boston Early Music Festival thanks DONALD E. VAUGHAN and LEE S. RIDGWAY for their leadership support of tonight’s performance by Reginald Mobley, countertenor and GEORGE L. HARDMAN for his support of the virtual presentation of AGAVE with Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Quartetto II
Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges from Six quartetto concertans, “Au gout du jour” (1779) (1745–1799)
Adagio
Jouissés de l’allegresse from L’Amant anonyme Boulogne
Continuo Organ by Bennett & Giuttari, Rehoboth, Massachusetts, Op. 6, 1996.
LIVE CONCERT
Friday, February 14, 2025 at 8pm
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts
VIRTUAL CONCERT
Friday, February 28, 2025 – Friday, March 14, 2025
BEMF.org
AGAVE
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Aaron Westman & Anna Washburn, Baroque violin
Katherine Kyme, Baroque viola
William Skeen, Baroque violoncello
Kevin Cooper, theorbo & Baroque guitar
Henry Lebedinsky, organ
Program subject to change.
Ball Square Films & Kathy Wittman, Video Production
Antonio Oliart Ros, Recording Engineer
Boston Early Music Festival
2024 CHAMBER OPERA SERIES
NAMED GIFT SPONSORSHIPS
Boston Early Music Festival extends sincere thanks to the following individuals and organizations for their leadership support of the 2024 performances of Don Quichotte:
Glenn A. KnicKrehm and Constellation Charitable Foundation Principal Production Sponsors
Andrew Sigel
Sponsor of Christian Immler, Don Quichotte, Emily Siar, Quiteria, Richard Pittsinger, Grisostomo, and Julian Donahue, dancer
David Halstead and Jay Santos
Sponsors of Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
Lorna E. Oleck
Sponsor of the BEMF Dance Company
Diane and John Paul Britton Sponsors of Gwen van den Eijnde, Costume Designer
Bernice K. Chen
Sponsor of Gilbert Blin, Stage Director
Harriet Lindblom
Sponsor of Michael Sponseller, harpsichord in honor of Daniel Lindblom, harpsichordist and builder
Michael and Marie-Pierre Ellmann
Sponsors of Jason McStoots, Sancho Pansa
Joanne Zervas Sattley
Sponsor of Sarah Darling, viola
PROGRAM NOTES
“Rum was the liquid embodiment of both the triumph and the oppression of the first era of globalization.” —Tom Standage, A History of the World in 6 Glasses
At the end of the first millennium A.D., Córdoba, the capital of al Andalus (Andalusia) in southern Spain, was the cultural and scientific hotbed of Europe, having kept alive much of the knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome which had been lost in Christian Europe’s so-called Dark Ages. Four centuries later, the Christian empires were still playing cultural catch-up while at the same time racing each other to establish global trade routes to compete with the Arabs—or simply take them by force, as they did during the Crusades. The goal was to meet growing demand among European upper classes for spices from the East Indies, including the increasingly popular and valuable cane sugar. But growing sugar cane required tropical climates with lots of water, and production was extremely labor intensive. This required the use of another Arab innovation: the importation of enslaved people from West Africa. By the mid-1400s, the Portuguese and Spanish plantations on Madeira, the Azores, and the Canary Islands relied on kidnapped and enslaved Africans to grow their sugar. Christopher Columbus introduced sugar production to the Caribbean islands in 1493 using enslaved indigenous people, and when they succumbed to introduced European diseases, the Caribbean plantation owners started to buy and import African slaves from the Portuguese. The transatlantic slave trade was born.
At first, the preferred currency of the trade was Portuguese fortified wine, but the African slavers preferred stronger drink such as brandy, which was also used as currency among the sailors and merchants on both sides of the Atlantic. When the English started to make their mark on the New World in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, they brought to the island of Barbados a Brazilian innovation—a drink distilled from the waste products of sugar production, which they
called Rumbullion, shortened to simply “rum.” This cheap and strong drink soon became the lubricant which greased the wheels of global colonialism for the next two centuries. Sugar was grown by enslaved people, who were given rum as a reward for their work, to either drink or exchange for food. Sailors were given rum, often mixed with lime juice, to prevent scurvy and as a reward for their work. Slaves themselves were exchanged for rum. And when the French banned the making of rum in their colonies to protect their domestic brandy industry, the British imposed a tariff on French molasses (generally considered to be a superior product), the first of a series of very unpopular tariffs and taxes which would eventually lead to the American Revolution. The end of the transatlantic slave trade and the age of abolition would soon follow, although the taint of slavery and its bitter legacy has yet to completely vanish from our midst.
On one level or another, the rum industry links together all the music on this program. The Codex Martinez Compañon, also known as the Codex Trujillo, is a major work of ethnography compiled around 1785 by Baltasar Jaime Martinez Compañon (1737–1797), a cleric and polymath who served as bishop of Trujillo, Peru, from 1779 to 1790. Its nine volumes contain over 1400 watercolor illustrations depicting life in the prosperous and extremely socially stratified city and the culture, rituals, and dress of its inhabitants—Spanish, indigenous, and enslaved and free Africans. At the end of the work are twenty examples of folk music from the region. Bayle del Chimo references the coastal Chimú region of Peru, home of the pre-Inca Chimor empire. The tonada (a type of
BALTASAR JAIME MARTINEZ COMPAÑON
folk song not related to the seventeenth-century Spanish tonado humano) called El Congo is unique in the collection in that it is told from the point of an enslaved African, lamenting his kidnapping and heartbreak at being separated from his beloved mother—likely to work on one of the many sugar plantations in the area. Lanchas para baylar probably references a lively dance traditionally performed on a flatbottomed boat.
José Maurício Nunes Garcia was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of two mixed-race parents and grandson of sugar plantation slaves. He showed prodigious talent at an early age, and by twelve worked as a professional harpsichord teacher. He took holy orders and was ordained a priest in 1792. A prolific composer, he composed a significant amount of sacred music as well as secular songs, overtures, symphonies, and an important treatise on playing the piano. Nunes Garcia was the master of music for the See of Rio de Janeiro when the Portuguese Royal Family arrived in 1808, fleeing Napoleon’s advance on Lisbon. The Prince Regent appointed him Master of Music of the Royal Chapel. Because of the poor quality of the local musicians, the Prince summoned the members of the Royal Chapel in Lisbon to Rio, which considerably raised the quality of Nunes Garcia’s orchestra and inspired him to write some of his greatest works. The Portuguese musicians resented being led by a person they considered to be of inferior race and conspired against him. Despite this adverse climate, Nunes Garcia continued to be a significant player in Brazilian musical culture until his death in 1830 and beyond.
The motet Te, Christe, solum novimus dates from 1800, when Nunes Garcia was serving
as chapel master for the See of Rio de Janeiro. Originally written for soprano with orchestral accompaniment, it has been arranged by Henry Lebedinsky for alto, strings, and basso continuo for this performance. The influence of Viennese classicism, especially the works of Mozart and Haydn, are apparent throughout the work, from the bold unison statement of the opening theme to the elegant and fluid vocal lines, calling to mind Mozart’s early masterpiece Exsultate, jubilate. Nunes Garcia’s joyful and optimistic Overture in D major has also been arranged by Henry Lebedinsky.
The lyrics to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Chanson nègre were written around 1755, likely by Jérôme Duvivier de la Mahautière, a white French colonist living in Saint-Domingue, the Caribbean island which would later be known as Haiti. The earliest known poem in the developing language of Haitian Créole, it tells of an enslaved person’s grief at his beloved Lisette being forced by her master to leave their sugar plantation and go to the city. The text was already in circulation set to a popular French tune, but Rousseau, with his Swiss Calvinist upbringing, chose to set it to a different tune based on Psalm 42 from the Genevan Psalter, a psalm of mourning, separation, and hope which could be conceived as a musical condemnation of the institution of slavery.
In 1817, the French explorer Louis-Claude de Freycinet (1779–1841) visited Rio de Janeiro. Writing about his time there, he noted, “Nothing seemed to me more astonishing than the singular talent, on guitar, of the mixed-race Joaquim Manoel of Rio de Janeiro. Under his fingers, the instrument had an inexpressible charm that I have never found among our most distinguished European guitarists.” (Voyage
JOSÉ MAURÍCIO NUNES GARCIA
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Around the World, Vol. 1, Part 2 (Paris: 1828), p. 216). The blind Joaquim Manoel, most likely a descendant of plantation slaves, was known to sit on a corner in Rio and improvise Modinhas, a type of love song popular in the early decades of the nineteenth century. His music would have been completely lost if it were not for Sigismund Neukomm (1778–1858), an Austrian composer who worked in Rio from 1817 to 1821 and who, in Paris in 1824, notated twenty of Joaquim Manoel’s modinhas with piano accompaniment.
According to his autobiography, Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship in or around 1729, although that account has been questioned by historians. After his parents died, the young Sancho was given to three sisters in Greenwich, and eventually met the Duke of Montagu, who helped get the young man an education. In 1749, Sancho ran away and was taken in by the Duchess of Montagu, whose husband had just passed away. He was employed as a butler, and upon the death of the Duchess in 1751, he was granted an annuity. After serving as valet to the new Duke of Montagu, Sancho and his wife opened a grocery store in Westminster, where he sold rum and other goods produced by enslaved people in the West Indies. He became the first Black person to vote in a British parliamentary election and wrote numerous letters, articles, and plays, as well as instrumental and vocal music, and was a friend and correspondent with many of the leaders of the Abolitionist movement on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1769, he published A Collection of New Songs / Composed by / AN AFRICAN, which includes the cheeky anonymous translation of Anacreon’s Ode XIII on tonight’s program. Sancho published (at his own expense) three
collections of dance music. The Air and Hornpipe are from the second collection, Minuets &c., &c, for the Violin, Mandolin, German Flute, and Harpsichord (ca. 1770), and All of One Mind is from Twelve Country Dances for the Year 1779.
Esteban Salas, who was born in Havana in 1725, was the first known native-born Cuban Classical composer. While his music has enjoyed almost uninterrupted performance in Cuba, it is just now beginning to be recognized outside of his native country. Salas served most of his life as maestro de capilla at the cathedral in Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second largest city and the country’s former capital, where the first cathedral was built in 1528. The sugar and rum industries brought great wealth to the area, and it was in that city where Facundo Bacardi started the company which still bears his name. Because of the cathedral’s abundant financial resources, Salas had the luxury of writing for large modern forces while simultaneously enjoying a lifelong interest in the polyphony of Spanish Renaissance composers, especially Tomás Luis de Victoria and Francisco Guerrero. He transcribed, adapted, and borrowed from these composers, and was as comfortable writing in the stile antico as he was in the Classical idiom. As a result, Salas’s music is full of contradictions—alternatively conservative and forward-looking, heavily influenced by prevailing trends in Italian music yet incorporating native Cuban poetical and musical elements, and effectively adapted to the performing forces he had at his disposal.
Born on the French Caribbean colony of Guadeloupe, Joseph Boulogne, was the son of a white French sugar plantation owner and one of his Créole slaves. He was educated in France and became an exceptional swordsman,
IGNATIUS SANCHO
LE CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES
horseman, and violinist. At nineteen, he was granted the title Chevalier, and became known as le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, taking the name of one of his father’s properties in Guadeloupe. He became known throughout Paris as a virtuoso violinist, ladies’ man, and fencing champion, and by the 1770s was appointed conductor of the largest orchestra in Paris, Le Concert de la Loge Olympique, which commissioned Haydn’s Paris symphonies (numbers 82–87); the orchestra premiered them with Saint-Georges directing. He would have become director of the Royal Opera if not for a group of singers who refused to perform under the baton of a “mulatto.” After the
ARTIST PROFILES
Revolution, he was appointed the first black colonel of the French Army (commanding a thousand free black volunteers), although he was later denounced and jailed because of his aristocratic lineage. He continued to conduct until his death, although he never regained the money or prestige he enjoyed before the Revolution. Saint-Georges composed five operas, a ballet, many violin concerti, chamber works, and keyboard music. The two pieces on the program this evening show his elegant Classical style, influenced by French tastes of the time. n
Grammy-nominated ensemble AGAVE is “an energized, free-spirited group” (EMAg), based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and specializing in string chamber music of the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. AGAVE has received numerous awards and accolades and gained local and national attention for its “brilliant and knowing” (Gramophone UK), “profound” (EMAg), and “precise and stylish” (American Record Guide) playing, “a certain let-down-your-hair quality” (AllMusic), as well as its growing discography, which recently garnered the comment, “One comes away from the release believing there’s nothing musically AGAVE […] can’t do.”
Now in its fifteenth season, AGAVE continues its fruitful affiliations with star countertenor Reginald Mobley, phenomenal soprano Michele Kennedy, and the Acis record label, and continues to be a unique and innovative voice in the historical performance and chamber music communities nationally.
During its initial season, AGAVE was selected by Early Music America to perform in a showcase concert at the APAP Convention in New York. In 2009, The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles commissioned Cold Genius: The music of Henry Purcell, which AGAVE premiered at the MJT in 2010, and
subsequently recorded. In 2011, EMA selected AGAVE as one of five finalists in the NAXOS/ EMA Recording Competition. In 2012, the San Francisco Early Music Society chose AGAVE to present a main stage concert on the 2012 Berkeley Early Music Festival, about which Early Music America magazine said, “Rapturous music and impressive playing… [AGAVE] kept the audience entranced.” Later in 2012, EMA selected AGAVE to compete in New York as one of six finalists at their Baroque Performance Competition. AGAVE received their first grant from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music (now Intermusic SF) to record Friends of Ferdinand, which VGo Recordings released in 2013. For the 2014–2015 season, AGAVE became an ensemble in residence at the Presidio Trust’s new concert series Presidio Sessions, collaborated with Los Angeles new music concert series Jacaranda: Music at the edge, and embarked on a Southeastern U.S. tour with Reginald Mobley.
In 2015, AGAVE released Queen of Heaven: Music of Isabella Leonarda, their first of three albums with Mr. Mobley, a countertenor “destined to make his mark in the early music world” (Chicago Tribune). In 2018, Mr. Mobley and AGAVE collaborated on a second album, Peace in Our Time, whose release marked the 400th anniversary of the start of the Thirty Years’ War, when conflict and The Plague ravaged much of Europe. The album features sublime, heartfelt music, which brought people above the conflict and provided much needed comfort and expression of sorrow. A review of their 2018 run of performances of the same program for the San Francisco Early Music Society said, “the interaction between AGAVE and Reginald Mobley…created the real magic” (San Francisco Classical Voice). In May of 2018, AGAVE and Reggie performed the first-ever Baroque program and the first to feature a singer on the Chamber Music at the Clark Library series at UCLA. Their third album with Mobley, American Originals: A new world, a new canon, was released in September 2021 on the Acis label, and celebrates four centuries of music of mostly Black and brown composers from the United States, Mexico, Cuba, and South America, including new transcriptions of songs by
the remarkable Florence Beatrice Price. The album received a Grammy nomination in the Best Classical Compendium category, got rave reviews in Gramophone magazine (UK), EMAg, American Record Guide, MusicWeb International, The WholeNote, and textura, was a BBC Music Magazine Brief Notes pick in December 2021, WCLV Cleveland’s 2022 Album of the Year, and received a feature in the New York Times’ article about Florence Price’s 135th birthday.
AGAVE recently received their second grant from Intermusic SF as well as a generous grant from the California Arts Commission to record In Her Hands featuring soprano Michele Kennedy, their sixth commercial album, as well as to complete a year-long workshop and residency in rural Cedarville, California, working with local artists and featuring the repertoire from this program. Recent appearances include Chattanooga Chamber Music, Noe Valley Chamber Music, Sonoma Bach, La Jolla Athenaeum, Fresno City College, Fresno Pacific University, The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Jacaranda, The Arizona Early Music Society, Early Music Seattle, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Appalachian State University, and several main stage performances at the Berkeley Early Music Festival. On-air appearances include public radio stations across the U.S. as well as numerous features on the Sunday Baroque and Harmonia radio programs. n
American countertenor Reginald L. Mobley fully intended to speak his art through watercolors and oil pastels until circumstance demanded that his own voice should speak for itself. Since reducing his visual color palette to the black and white of a score, he’s endeavored
to open up a wider spectrum onstage. Mobley is highly sought after for his interpretations of Baroque, Classical, and modern repertoire. He regularly appears as guest with a wide range of Baroque ensembles, festivals, and orchestras in the United States, appearing at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall with organizations including AGAVE, Seraphic Fire, Bach Collegium San Diego, San Francisco Early Music Society, Opera Lafayette, Chatham Baroque, Washington Bach Consort, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Vancouver, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Seattle, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, and New York Philharmonic. In Europe, Mobley has been invited to perform with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Holland Baroque, Academy of Ancient Music, OH! in Poland, and Orchester Wiener Akademie. He recently performed the role of Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s production at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Müpa Budapest, and at Teatro di Vicenza. Reginald Mobley’s recordings have received great acclaim. In 2021, he released American Originals with AGAVE on the Acis label. It received a Grammy nomination. In 2023 he released his solo recording début with Alpha Classics, which also received a Grammy nomination. n
Violinist and violist Aaron Westman was a “metal-head” growing up in Santa Rosa, California. Described as “expressive and virtuosic” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and a “brilliant virtuoso violinist” (Early Music America magazine), he has performed since 2006 as a chamber, principal player, or soloist with all of the major gut string ensembles in California, and toured extensively throughout
the world. As a principal or chamber player, Aaron works with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (since 2006), American Bach Soloists, Ars Minerva, Bach Collegium San Diego, El Mundo, New Hampshire Music Festival, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Harmonia Stellarum Houston, Live Oak Baroque Orchestra (LOBO), Long Beach Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Musica Angelica, Opera Neo, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and Tesserae, and he has toured extensively with Orchester Wiener Akademie, including for four seasons with the actor John Malkovich. He also plays with both the Oregon and Carmel Bach Festival Orchestras, and has worked with Vox Luminis and the Mark Morris and Martha Graham Dance Companies.
As a co-director of AGAVE, Aaron has recorded eight albums, edited all of them, and engineered four of them, including the Grammy-nominated American Originals. His work with AGAVE has been featured in the New York Times, Gramophone magazine, BBC Music Magazine, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and San Diego UnionTribune. AGAVE regularly collaborates with star singers Reginald Mobley––with whom they have three albums––sopranos Michele Kennedy and Jennifer Paulino, and mezzosoprano Cecilia Duarte. Their 2024–2025 season takes them on tour again with Mr. Mobley. Aaron is also Associate Director of LOBO, and was the violist in the Sylvestris Quartet, which was a finalist for the American Prize.
Aaron holds an MM from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His principal teachers were Stanley Ritchie, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Geraldine Walther, Alan de Veritch, and Theodore Arm. Aaron has been on the faculty at Sonoma State University and previously taught at Mills College and CalArts. He directs the Santa Rosa Symphony’s Young People’s Chamber Orchestra, and teaches in Italy each summer at the Music Adventure program. In his spare time, he is an audio engineer and producer. Aaron and his wife, fellow AGAVE violinist Anna Washburn, have a four-year-old daughter. n
Hailed by the Miami Herald for his “superb continuo…brilliantly improvised and ornamented,” historical keyboardist, composer, and conductor Henry Lebedinsky has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, Sonoma Bach, and the Cantata Collective, among others. Recent conducting engagements include the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Sonoma Bach’s Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. As part of a career built on collaboration, he serves as co-Artistic Director of the San Francisco Bay Area’s AGAVE and, with Stephen Stubbs, was co-Artistic Director of Seattle’s Pacific MusicWorks from 2018 to 2023. With countertenor Reginald Mobley, he has introduced listeners on three continents to music by Black composers from Baroque to modern, including recent appearances at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and Festival Printemps Musical des Alizés in Morocco. In 2014, he founded Seattle’s Early Music Underground, which brought Baroque music to brewpubs, wineries, and other places where people gather, and presenting it in multimedia contexts which both entertain and educate.
Lebedinsky’s compositions for choir and organ are published by Paraclete Press, Carus-Verlag Stuttgart, and CanticaNOVA, and he is currently working on new editions of sacred music and the unpublished songs of Queen Lili‘uokalani of Hawai‘i. He has written program notes for London’s Wigmore Hall and CD liner texts for the Alpha Classics and Acis Productions labels. Lebedinsky holds degrees from Bowdoin College and the Longy School of Music, where he earned a Master of Music in historical organ performance as a student of Peter Sykes. He is also the owner of The Harpsichord Shop, the West Coast’s largest historical keyboard brokerage. Currently in his third decade as
a church musician, he serves as Missioner for Music at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church on Washington’s beautiful Whidbey Island. n
William Skeen serves as Principal Cellist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Voices of Music, and was Principal Cellist of the American Bach Soloists for nearly two decades. He is a founding member of the New Esterházy Quartet, the Cantata Collective, and La Monica. William taught Baroque violoncello and viola da gamba at the University of Southern California for twenty years. Mr. Skeen has appeared as continuo cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Gustavo Dudamel), the Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon), and San Diego Opera (Kenneth Montgomery). He’s been highlighted as viola da gamba soloist multiple times with the Dallas Symphony (Jaap van Zweden), Los Angeles Master Chorale, Carmel Bach Festival (Bruno Weil and Paul Goodwin), Oregon Bach Festival (Matthew Halls), American Bach Soloists, and the Orquesta Nacional de México (Carlos Miguel Prieto). He has also performed the role of Principal Cellist with Pacific MusicWorks, Seattle Baroque, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Musica Angelica, the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, and Bach Collegium San Diego. William was twice nominated for a Grammy Award: in 2012 for Best Small Ensemble Performance for The Kingdoms of Castille with El Mundo, and again in 2022 for Best Classical Compendium for American Originals with AGAVE. Mr. Skeen has toured and recorded with many early music ensembles including Smithsonian Chamber Players, Musica Pacifica, El Mundo, Galanterie, Con Gioia, the New Esterházy Quartet, La Monica, and Philharmonia Chamber Players. William has served on the faculty of the American Bach Soloists Academy, the Berwick Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival, the San Francisco Early
Music Society’s Baroque Workshop, and cofounded the SFEMS Classical Workshop.
Mr. Skeen can be viewed on countless highdefinition videos produced by Voices of Music. He has taken the stage as soloist, continuo cellist, and chamber musician at many summer festivals including Carmel Bach, Oregon Bach, Tanglewood, Caramoor, Mostly Mozart, Mendocino, Valley of the Moon, Ravinia, Ryedale, and most recently performed back-to-back memorized concerts of the complete Bach Cello Suites at the Whidbey Island Music Festival. William holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Southern California, with mentors Alan Harris and Ronald Leonard. He performs with his two Baroque celli: a Giovanni Grancino from 1725, and an anonymous Italian five-string cello from the 1680s. He lives with his wife, virtuoso violinist Kati Kyme, in the Oakland Hills. Talia and Liam, his accomplished musical children, are just beginning promising professional musical careers. While not performing, William enjoys learning new languages. Currently he is gaining proficiency in Spanish, Russian, and Italian. n
Kevin Cooper is a guitarist from central California and a founding member of the Grammynominated early music group, AGAVE. He has performed with numerous groups including Ensemble Mirable, Musica Angelica, Musica Pacifica, Tesserae, Fresno Philharmonic, and Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. Gramophone has praised him saying, “Kevin Cooper excels,” while Early Music America and the San Francisco Classical Voice have said his playing is “stylish” and “a blast!” Kevin’s recent publications include original guitar compositions like Precious Stones and Sting of the Blood Orange (Doberman-Yppan). His recordings include several projects with AGAVE
as well as Night of Four Moons, a CD of modern music with mezzo-soprano Catherine Cooper. The Fresno Arts Council honored him with the 2022 President’s Award for exceptional cultural contribution to the community and in 2006 he was named the Outstanding Doctoral Graduate in Music from the University of Southern California where he studied with William Kanengiser and James Tyler. Currently, he chairs the music program at Fresno City College. n
Anna Washburn grew up with folk roots in a vibrantly musical community in rural Maine, and began her career performing and teaching in Boston after studying with Peter Zazofsky at Boston University. In 2008, she was drawn to the wild grandeur of the Bay Area where she completed her masters at the San Francisco Conservatory as a student of Bettina Mussumeli. After hearing Philharmonia Baroque play Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony in a masterclass at the Conservatory, she knew she wanted to perform so passionately on gut strings, and has pursued that goal ever since. She performs and records with Philharmonia Baroque, Bach Collegium San Diego, Cantata Collective, Oregon Bach Festival, Tesserae, and Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, as well as with opera companies Ars Minerva and Opera Neo, and the Mark Morris and Martha Graham Dance companies.
In recent years Anna has also been known to appear on stage with a variety of other ensembles, from recording and performing with Minna Choi’s pop-orchestra Magik*Magik Orchestra with artists like Sting, Chicago, John Vanderslice, Third Eye Blind, Hauschka, Christina Vantzou, and Gregory Porter, to hip hop/opera group Ensemble Mik Nawooj, to regular performances with San Jose Chamber Orchestra and the Santa Rosa Symphony, and as a founding member of Sylvestris Quartet. She occasionally enjoys performing as a soloist with
local orchestras, is devoted to her wonderful handful of students, and spends a few weeks every summer teaching at Music Adventure in Tuscany with her husband, AGAVE member Aaron Westman, and their young daughter. n
Kati Kyme enjoys a rich musical life full of chamber music. In addition to her work with AGAVE as violinist and violist, she is founder of and violinist with the Cantata Collective which has completed performances of 50 of Bach’s 200-plus cantatas. She is founding member of the New Esterházy Quartet which specializes in the music of Haydn; the NEQ has given performances of all 68 Haydn Quartets twice. She enjoys frequent collaboration with Voices of Music and the Mark Morris Dance Company and has participated in festivals all over the world, including the Spoleto Music Festival, the Teton Music Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Caramoor Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Whidbey
Island Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Ryedale Festival in England, the Mendocino Chamber Music Festival, the Gualala Music Festival, the Valley of the Moon Festival, and has performed the complete Ring Cycle of Wagner as a member of the Seattle Symphony six times. She was founding member of the Artaria Quartet, the Sierra String Quartet, the Arcadian Academy with conductor/ harpsichordist Nicholas McGegan, and Il Complesso Barocco conducted by Alan Curtis.
Her orchestral experience includes her three years as violinist with the Seattle Symphony, a couple of decades as violinist and violist with the American Bach Soloists, and she has been a member and a frequent concertmaster of Philharmonia Baroque for many years. As a teacher and chamber music coach, she has worked at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Cornish School of Allied Arts in Seattle, the University of Puget Sound, and Sonoma State University. As a conductor, she currently leads the two string orchestras of the California Youth Symphony and the thirty-member string orchestra called Berkeley Baroque Strings. She shares many musical activities with her husband, cello virtuoso William Skeen, and they share their Oakland Hills home with two cats and a piano laden with violin and cello bows. n
TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Tonada El Congo — Anonymous
A la mar me llevan sin tener razón
Dejando a me madre de mi corazón.
¡Ay! que dice el Congo
Lo manda el Congo
Cu su cu van ve
Están cu su cu.
Vaya está, no hay novedad.
Que el palo de la jeringa
Derecho va a su lugar.
To the sea they take me without any reason, And I must leave my mother, my heart.
Ah, what does the Congo say, What does the Congo say?
Where will the Congo send me, Cu su cu, they are going…
Go then, we have no news.
Ah, how the stick of the needle
Goes straight to the heart.
Te, Christe, solum novimus — José Maurício Nunes Garcia
Te, Christe, solum novimus.
Te mente pura et simplici,
Flendo et canendo quaesumus
Intende nostris sensibus,
Decantabo in aeternum, alleluia.
Chanson nègre — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Lisette quitté la plaine
Moi perdi bonheur à moi.
Yeux a moi semblent fontaine
Dipis moi pas miré toi.
Le jour quand moi couper canne
Moi penser à l’amour moi
La nuit quand moi dans cabanne
Dans dormir moi quimbé toi.
Quand toi zaller à la ville,
Toi trouver jeune cangnion
Que gagné pour tromper fille,
Parler doux comme sirop,
Toi semble bouche sincère,
Tandis coeur yo coquin trop:
C’est serpent qui contrefaire
Crier “rat” pour tromper yo.
Maigrir moi tant comme souche, Jambe à moi comme roseau;
Sirop n’a pas doux dans bouche,
Taffiat même est comme d’lau;
Plus danser dimanche et fête,
Plus chanter siffler oiseau,
Manier mois venir tout bête
Tant chagrin monté moi.
You alone, O Christ, do we know,
To you, with a pure and simple mind
We cry out and sing, beseeching you—
Quicken our senses
And we will sing your praises forever. Alleluia.
Lisette left the plain I lost my joy.
My eyes look like fountains
Since I last saw you.
By day, when I cut sugar cane, I miss my beloved; By night when I lay in bed, In sleep I hold you.
If you go to the city, You’ll find there young playboys Who deceive women
With their mouths sweeter than syrup, You’ll think they are sincere
While they are very cunning: They are deceptive serpents Who cry “Rat” to deceive them.
I am skinny as a stem
My leg is like a reed
Food is not sweet to my mouth
Booze is like water.
When I think of you Lisette Tears fill my eyes.
My manners have become stupid
From the force of my despair.
Lisette, à moi toi nouvelle
Toi qu’aller bientôt venir, Venir donc toujours fidelle
Va bon passé tems ici;
N’a pas tardé d’avantage,
Toi moi faire assez chagrin
Si coeur à toi pas volage,
Toi doit souvenir Colin.
Text attributed to Jérôme Duvivier de la Mahautière
Lisette, I heard news You intend to return soon Come then still faithful. Seeing is better than hearing. Delay no more You’ve made me sad enough I am like a bird stuck in a cage When they starve it to death.
Beijo a mão que me condena — José Maurício Nunes Garcia
Beijo a mão que me condena a ser sempre desgraçado, Obedeço ao meu destino; respeito o poder do fado.
Que eu a me tanto sem ser amado, sou infeliz, sou desgraçado.
Desde o dia em que eu nasci — Joaquim
Desde o dia em que eu nasci,
Naquele funesto dia,
Veio bafejarme o berço
A cruel melancolia.
Fui crescendo e nunca pude
Ver a face de alegria,
Foi sempre a minha herança
A cruel melancolia.
Protestou seguir meus passos
Té levarme à campa fria; Macerou minha existência
A cruel melancolia.
I kiss the hand that condemns me to be forever disgraced, I obey my destiny; I respect the power of fate. That I love so much, without being loved, I am unhappy, I am disgraced.
Manoel da Câmara
From the day I was born, On that dreadful day, To my cradle came Cruel melancholy.
As I was growing up, I could never see the face of joy, My constant inheritance Was cruel melancholy.
It committed to following my steps, To take me to the frozen wasteland; Reducing my existence To cruel melancholy…
Ouvi montes, arvoredos — Joaquim Manoel da Câmara
Ouvi montes, arvoredos o meu queixume amoroso; Padeci mas sou agora o pastor mais venturoso.
Isto é segredo, não ouça gente.
Eco somente diz no rochedo: “segredo, segredo.”
A minha Nise dormia encostada a um tronco anoso; Seu lindo gesto encantava o pastor mais venturoso.
Isto é segredo…
Listen, O hills and groves, to my lament of love.
I suffered, but now I’m the most blessed of shepherds. This is a secret, do not listen, you people. The rocks only echo: “Secret, secret…”
My Nise slept leaning against an aged log, Her beautiful visage charmed the most blessed of shepherds. This is a secret…
Um ligeiro beijaflor voa a seu peito mimoso; Quer de repente imitálo o pastor mais venturoso. Isto é segredo…
Nise acorda, apanha e beija o pastorzinho mimoso; Não sofre então o silêncio o pastor mais venturoso. Isto é segredo… m
A tiny hummingbird flies to her tender bosom. He wants to do likewise, that most blessed of shepherds. This is a secret…
Nise wakes, gets up, and kisses the little shepherd. He need not suffer in silence any longer, the most blessed of shepherds.
This is a secret…
INTERMISSION
n
Anacreon Ode XIII — Ignatius Sancho
If the treasur’d gold could give Man a longer time to live, I’d employ my utmost care
Still to keep and still to spare
And when death approach’d would say, “Take thy fee and go away.”
But since riches cannot save Mortals from the gloomy grave, Why should I myself deceive, Vainly sigh and vainly grieve?
Death will surely be my lot Whether I am rich or not.
Give me freely while I live
Generous wine in plenty give Soothing joys my life to cheer Beauty kind and friend sincere. Happy! Could I ever find Friends sincere and beauty kind.
Taedat animam meam — Esteban Salas
Taedet animam meam vitae meae; dimittam adversum me eloquium meum, loquar in amaritudine animae meae.
Dicam Deo: Noli me condemnare; indica mihi cur me ita judices.
Numquid bonum tibi videtur, si calumnieris me, et opprimas me opus manuum tuarum, et consilium impiorum adjuves?
Numquid oculi carnei tibi sunt? aut sicut videt homo, et tu videbis?
Numquid sicut dies hominis dies tui, et anni tui sicut humana sunt tempora, Ut quaeras iniquitatem meam, et peccatum meum scruteris,
I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the plans of the wicked? Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a strong man, That you must search out my faults and probe after my sin—
Et scias quia nihil impium fecerim, cum sit nemo qui de manu tua possit eruere.
Job 10:1–7
¡Tú, mi Dios entre pajas! — Esteban Salas
Recitativo
¡Tú, mi Dios entre pajas!
¡Tú entre brutos!
¡Tú pobre! ¡Tú desnudo!
¡Tú eladito!
¡Tanto ocultar, Señor, tus atributos!
¡Reducir a tan poco lo infinito!
¿Es ello Magestad?
¿Ser Dios es esso?
¡Ay mi bien!
Que es amarme con excesso.
Y como en todo Summo
Es tu cariño
Más rico, y grande
Quando pobre, y Niño.
Aria. Andante
La cuna en que se humilla
De tu Deydad el Sol
Esfera es en que brilla
El fuego de tu amor.
¡Jesús! ¡Jesús qué llama!
Qué ardiente resplandor
En él se abraza el alma;
Se enciende el corazón.
Jouissés de l’allegresse — Joseph Boulogne
Jouissés de l’allegresse,
Que vous voyez parmi nous,
C’est l’effet de la tendresse
Que nous ressentons pour vous.
L’amour, pour être cherie,
A pris soin de vous former.
Le vrai bonheur de la vie
Est de savoir bien aimer.
Depuis longtemps en silence
Pour vous on brûle d’amour.
Tant de soins, tant de constance
N’auront-ils aucun retour ?
Faite pour être cherie,
Ne peut-on vous enflamer !
Le vrai bonheur de la vie
Est de savoir bien aimer.
Though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand?
Recitative
You, my God, amid the straw!
Surrounded by beasts!
So poor and naked!
You little frozen one!
So obscured, Lord, are your attributes, The infinite is reduced to so little!
Is that Majesty?
Is that being God?
O my goodness!
That is to love me in excess.
And as it is the Highest of all, Your love is Richer and greater When in the form of a poor child.
Aria. Andante
The cradle in which The Sun of your divinity is abased
Is the world in which The fire of your love shines.
Jesus! Jesus what a flame!
What an ardent radiance!
In it the soul is embraced, And the heart is kindled.
Rejoice in the happiness
Which you see among us. It is the result of the tenderness
That we feel for you.
Love, in order to be cherished, Took care to train you.
Life’s true happiness Is to know how to love well.
For a long time, in silence
Did we burn with love for you. Such care, such constancy…
Will it not be reciprocated?
Made to be cherished, Can we not inflame your passion?
Life’s true happiness
Is to know how to love well.
Make a Difference
Boston Early Music Festival PLANNED GIVING
Play a vital and permanent role in BEMF’s future with a planned gift. Your generous support will create unforgettable musical experiences for years to come, and may provide you and your loved ones with considerable tax benefits.
Join the BEMF ORPHEUS SOCIETY by investing in the future of the Boston Early Music Festival through a charitable annuity, bequest, or other planned gift. With many ways to give and to direct your gift, our staff will work together with you and your advisors to create a legacy that is personally meaningful to you.
To learn more, please call us at 617-661-1812, email us at kathy@bemf.org, or visit us online at BEMF.org/plannedgiving.
BEMF’S 2023 PRODUCTION OF DESMAREST’S CIRCÉ
Boston Early Music Festival
The Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) is universally recognized as a leader in the field of early music. Since its founding in 1980 by leading practitioners of historical performance in the United States and abroad, BEMF has promoted early music through a variety of diverse programs and activities, including an annual concert series that brings early music’s brightest stars to the Boston and New York concert stages, and the biennial weeklong Festival and Exhibition, recognized as “the world’s leading festival of early music” (The Times, London). Through its programs BEMF has earned its place as North America’s premier presenting organization for music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods and has secured Boston’s reputation as “America’s early music capital” (Boston Globe).
INTERNATIONAL BAROQUE OPERA
One of BEMF’s main goals is to unearth and present lesser-known Baroque operas performed by the world’s leading musicians armed with the latest information on period singing, orchestral performance, scenic design, costuming, dance, and staging. BEMF operas reproduce the Baroque’s stunning palette of sound by bringing together today’s leading operatic superstars and a wealth of instrumental talent from across the globe to one stage for historic presentations, all zestfully led from the pit by the BEMF Artistic Directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, and creatively reimagined for the stage by BEMF Opera Director Gilbert Blin. Biennial centerpiece productions feature both the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra and the Boston Early Music Festival Dance Company.
The twenty-second biennial Boston Early Music Festival, A Celebration of Women, was held in June 2023 and featured Henry Desmarest’s 1694 opera Circé from a libretto by Louise-Geneviève Gillot de Saintonge. The twenty-third Festival, in June 2025, will have as its centerpiece Reinhard Keiser’s 1705 opera Octavia.
BEMF introduced its Chamber Opera Series during its annual concert season in November 2008, with a performance of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and MarcAntoine Charpentier’s Actéon. The series features the artists of the Boston Early Music Festival Vocal and Chamber Ensembles and focuses on the wealth of chamber operas composed during the Baroque period, while
International Baroque Opera • Celebrated Concerts • World-Famous Exhibition
PHOTO: KATHY WITTMAN
providing an increasing number of local opera aficionados the opportunity to attend one of BEMF’s superb offerings. Subsequent annual productions include George Frideric Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, combined performances of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, a double bill of Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Livietta e Tracollo, a production titled “Versailles” featuring Les Plaisirs de Versailles by Charpentier, Les Fontaines de Versailles by Michel-Richard de Lalande, and divertissements from Atys by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Francesca Caccini’s Alcina, the first opera written by a woman, a combination of Telemann’s Pimpinone and Ino, joint performances of Lully’s Idylle sur la Paix and Charpentier’s La Fête de Rueil, John Frederick Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley, and most recently Telemann’s Don Quichotte. Acis and Galatea was revived and presented on a four-city North American Tour in early 2011, which included a performance at the American Handel Festival in Seattle, and in 2014, BEMF’s second North American Tour featured the Charpentier double bill from 2011.
BEMF has a well-established and highly successful project to record some of its groundbreaking work in the field of Baroque opera. The first three recordings in this series were all nominated for the Grammy Award
for Best Opera Recording, in 2005, 2007, and 2008: the 2003 Festival centerpiece Ariadne, by Johann Georg Conradi; Lully’s Thésée; and the 2007 Festival opera, Lully’s Psyché, which was hailed by BBC Music Magazine as “superbly realized…magnificent.” In addition, the BEMF recordings of Lully’s Thésée and Psyché received Gramophone Award Nominations in the Baroque Vocal category in 2008 and 2009, respectively. BEMF’s next three recordings on the German CPO label were drawn from its Chamber Opera Series: Charpentier’s Actéon, Blow’s Venus and Adonis, and a release of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers and La Couronne de Fleurs, which won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and the 2015 Echo Klassik Opera Recording of the Year (17th/18th Century Opera). Agostino Steffani’s Niobe, Regina di Tebe, featuring Philippe Jaroussky and Karina Gauvin, which was released in January 2015 on the Erato/ Warner Classics label in conjunction with a seven-city, four-country European concert tour of the opera, has been nominated for a Grammy Award, was named Gramophone’s Recording of the Month for March 2015, is the 2015 Echo Klassik World Premiere Recording of the Year, and has received a 2015 Diapason d’Or de l’Année and a 2015 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Handel’s Acis and Galatea was released in November 2015. In 2017, while maintaining the focus on
SCENE
PHOTO: KATHY WITTMAN
Baroque opera, BEMF expanded the recording project to include other select Baroque vocal works: a new Steffani disc, Duets of Love and Passion, was released in September 2017 in conjunction with a six-city North American tour, and a recording of Johann Sebastiani’s St. Matthew Passion was released in March 2018. Four Baroque opera releases followed in 2019 and 2020: a disc of Charpentier’s chamber operas Les Plaisirs de Versailles and Les Arts Florissants was released at the June 2019 Festival, and has been nominated for a Grammy Award; the 2013 Festival opera, Handel’s Almira, was released in late 2019, and received a Diapason d’Or. Lalande’s chamber opera Les Fontaines de Versailles was featured on a September 2020 release of the composer’s works; Christoph Graupner’s opera Antiochus und Stratonica was released in December 2020. BEMF’s recording of Desmarest’s Circé, the 2023 Festival opera, was released concurrently with the opera’s North American premiere, Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Livietta e Tracollo was released in December 2023, and the newest recording, Telemann’s Ino and opera arias for soprano featuring Amanda Forsythe, was released in October 2024.
CELEBRATED CONCERTS
Some of the most thrilling musical moments at the biennial Festival occur during one of the dozen or more concerts presented around the clock, which always include the acclaimed Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra led by Orchestra Director Robert Mealy, and which often feature unique, once-in-a-lifetime collaborations and programs by the spectacular
array of talent assembled for the Festival week’s events. In 1989, BEMF established an annual concert series bringing early music’s leading soloists and ensembles to the Boston concert stage to meet the growing demand for regular world-class performances of early music’s beloved classics and newly discovered works. BEMF then expanded its concert series in 2006, when it extended its performances to New York City’s Gilder Lehrman Hall at the Morgan Library & Museum, providing “a shot in the arm for New York’s relatively modest early-music scene” (New York Times).
WORLD-FAMOUS EXHIBITION
The nerve center of the biennial Festival, the Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in the United States, showcasing nearly one hundred early instrument makers, music publishers, service organizations, schools and universities, and associated colleagues. In 2013, Mozart’s own violin and viola were displayed at the Exhibition, in their first-ever visit to the United States. Every other June, hundreds of professional musicians, students, and enthusiasts come from around the world to purchase instruments, restock their libraries, learn about recent musicological developments, and renew old friendships. For four days, they visit the Exhibition booths to browse, discover, and purchase, and attend the dozens of symposia, masterclasses, and demonstration recitals, all of which encourage a deeper appreciation of early music, and strengthen relationships between musicians, participants, and audiences. n
THE BEMF ORCHESTRA AT THE JUNE 2023 FESTIVAL PHOTO: KATHY WITTMAN
BECOME A FRIEND OF THE
Boston Early Music Festival
Revenue from ticket sales, even from a sold-out performance, accounts for less than half of the total cost of producing BEMF’s operas and concerts; the remainder is derived almost entirely from generous friends like you. With your help, we will be able to build upon the triumphs of the past, and continue to bring you thrilling performances by today’s finest Early Music artists.
Our membership organization, the FRIENDS OF THE BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL, includes donors from around the world. These individuals recognize the Festival’s need for further financial support in order to fulfill its aim of serving as a showcase for the finest talent in the field.
PLEASE JOIN THE FRIENDS OF THE BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL BY DONATING AT ONE OF SEVERAL LEVELS:
• Friend
$45
• Partner $100
• Associate $250
• Patron $500
• Guarantor $1,000
• Benefactor $2,500
• Leadership Circle $5,000
• Artistic Director’s Circle $10,000
• Festival Angel $25,000
THREE WAYS TO GIVE:
• Visit BEMF.org and click on “Give Now”.
• Call BEMF at 617-661-1812 to donate by telephone using your credit card
• Mail your credit card information or a check (payable to BEMF) to Boston Early Music Festival, 43 Thorndike Street, Suite 302, Cambridge, MA 02141-1764
OTHER WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT:
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QUESTIONS? Please e-mail Kathleen Fay at kathy@bemf.org, or call the BEMF office at 617-661-1812. Thank you for your support!
Boston Early Music Festival
This list reflects donations received from June 1, 2023 to January 13, 2025
FESTIVAL ANGELS
($25,000 or more)
Anonymous (2)
Bernice K. Chen
Brit d’Arbeloff
Peter L. Faber
David Halstead & Jay Santos
George L. Hardman
Glenn A. KnicKrehm
Jeffrey G. Mora, in memory of Wendy Fuller-Mora
Miles Morgan†
Lorna E. Oleck
Susan L. Robinson
Andrew Sigel
Joan Margot Smith
Piroska Soos†
Donald E. Vaughan & Lee S. Ridgway
Marilee Wheeler Trust
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS’ CIRCLE
($10,000 or more)
Anonymous (5)
Katie & Paul Buttenwieser
Susan Denison
Tony Elitcher & Andrea Taras
Marie-Pierre & Michael Ellmann
Jean Fuller Farrington
Lori Fay & Christopher Cherry
Clare M. S. Fewtrell†
James A. Glazier
Donald Peter Goldstein, M.D., in memory of Constance Kellert Goldstein
Ellen T. & John T. Harris
Barbara & Amos Hostetter
David M. Kozak & Anne Pistell, in memory of their parents
Robert E. Kulp, Jr., in memory of James Nicolson, Miles Morgan & Ned Kellogg
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas G. MacCracken
Bill McJohn
Joanne Zervas Sattley
David Scudder, in memory of Marie Louise Scudder
Elisabeth Thompson
Christoph Wolff
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
($5,000 or more)
Anonymous
Diane & John Paul Britton
Beth Brown, in memory of Walter R.J. Brown
Gregory E. Bulger & Richard Dix
Peter & Katie DeWolf
Susan Donaldson
Kathleen Fay, in memory of Dorothy Ryan Fay
Mei-Fung Kerley, in memory of Ted Chen
Alan M. King
Harriet Lindblom, in memory of Daniel Lindblom
Heather Mac Donald & Erich Eichman
Bettina A. Norton
Harold I. Pratt
Kenneth C. Ritchie & Paul T. Schmidt
Nina & Timothy Rose
Ruth W. Tucker
Maria van Kalken & Hal Winslow, in memory of Adrian van Kalken
BENEFACTORS
($2,500 or more)
Anonymous (2)
Annemarie Altman
Douglas M. & Aviva A. Brooks
Amy Brown & Brian Carr
Carla Chrisfield & Benjamin D. Weiss
Jeffrey Del Papa
David Emery & Olimpia Velez
John Felton & Marty Gottron
Phillip Hanvy
John S. Major & Valerie Steele
Victor & Ruth McElheny
Brian Pfeiffer
Catherine & Phil Saines, in honor of Barbara K. Wheaton
Paul L. Sapienza PC CPA
Raymond A. & Marilyn Smith
Richard K. & Kerala J. Snyder
Adrian & Michelle Touw
Will & Alexandra Watkins
Allan & Joann Winkler
Ellen & Arnold Zetcher
GUARANTORS
($1,000 or more)
Anonymous (11)
A.M. Askew
Ann Beha & Robert Radloff
Mary Briggs & John Krzywicki
The Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema & Mr. John R. Brinkema
Pamela & Lee Bromberg
James Burr
Betty Canick
John A. Carey
Robert & Elizabeth Carroll
David J. Chavolla
Bernice Chen & Mimi Kerley, in memory of Ted Chen
Peter S. Coleman
Dr. & Mrs. Franklyn Commisso
Mary Cowden
Geoffrey Craddock
Richard & Constance Culley
Belden & Pamela Daniels
Mary Deissler
Carl E. Dettman
John W. Ehrlich
Charles & Elizabeth Emerson
Claire Fontijn, in memory of Arthur Fontijn & Sylvia Elvin
Bruce A. Garetz
Alexander Garthwaite
George & Marla Gearhart
Dr. Robert L. Harris
Rebecca & Ronald Harris-Warrick
H. Jan & Ruth H. Heespelink
Michael Herz & Jean Roiphe
James & Ina Heup
Jessica Honigberg
Jane Hoover
Thomas M. Hout & Sonja Ellingson Hout
Thomas F. Kelly & Peggy Badenhausen
Barry D. Kernfeld & Sally A. McMurry
Art & Linda Kingdon
Fran & Tom Knight
Neal & Catherine Konstantin
Kathryn Mary Kucharski
Robert & Mary La Porte
Amelia J. LeClair & Garrow Throop
John Leen & Eileen Koven
Dr. Peter Libby, in memory of Dr. Beryl Benacerraf
Lawrence & Susan Liden
Mark & Mary Lunsford
MAFAA
William & Joan Magretta
David McCarthy & John Kolody
Amy & Brian McCreath
Michael P. McDonald
Rebecca Nemser, in memory of Paul Nemser
Keith Ohmart & Helen Chen
Louise Oremland
Richard & Julia Osborne
Neal J. Plotkin & Deborah Malamud
Gene & Margaret Pokorny
Amanda & Melvyn Pond
Tracy Powers
Susan Pundt
Paul Rabin & Arlene Snyder
Christa Rakich & Janis Milroy
Alice Robbins & Walter Denny, in honor of Kathy Fay
Arthur & Elaine Robins
Sue Robinson
Jose M. Rodriguez & Richard A. Duffy
Patsy Rogers
Lois Rosow
Michael & Karen Rotenberg
Carlton & Lorna Russell
Kevin Ryan & Ozerk Gogus, in memory of Dorothy Fay
Lynne & Ralph Schatz
Susan Schuur
Laila Awar Shouhayib
Cynthia Siebert
Elizabeth Snow
Hazel & Murray Somerville
Ted St. Antoine
Catherine & Keith Stevenson
Theresa & Charles Stone
Carl Swanson
Lisa Teot
Paula & Peter Tyack
Louella Krueger Ward, in memory of Dr. Alan J. Ward, PhD, ABPP
Peter J. Wender
PATRONS
($500 or more)
Anonymous (6)
Morton Abromson & Joan Nissman
Nicholas Altenbernd
Brian P. & Debra K. S. Anderson
Eric Hall Anderson
Tom & Judy Anderson Allen
Louise Basbas
Michael & Sheila Berke
Susan Bromley
Julie Brown & Zachary Morowitz
Robert Burger
Frederick Byron
John Campbell & Susanna Peyton
Anne Chalmers & Holly Gunner
Mary Chamberlain
JoAnne Chernow
Joseph Connors
David Cooke
Eric & Margaret Darling
Kathryn Disney
Ellen Dokton & Stephen Schmidt
Ross Duffin & Beverly Simmons
Austin & Eileen Farrar
Mary Fillman & Mary Otis Stevens
Martin & Kathleen Fogle
Jonathan Friedes & Qian Huang
Sandy Gadsby & Nancy Brown
Sarah M. Gates
David & Harriet Griesinger
Laury Gutierrez & Elsa Gelin
Joan E. Hartman
Catherine & John Henn
Ian Hinchliffe & Marjorie Shapiro
Phyllis Hoffman
Wayne & Laurell Huber
Charles Bowditch Hunter
Jean Jackson, in memory of Louis Kampf
Paul & Alice Johnson
Richard Johnson & Annmarie Linnane
Robin Johnson
Patrick G. Jordan
Barbara & Paul Krieger
Frederick V. Lawrence, in memory of Rosemarie Maag Lawrence
Susan Lewinnek
Catherine Liddell
Roger & Susan Lipsey
James Liu & Alexandra Bowers
Mary Maarbjerg
Quinn Mackenzie
Marietta Marchitelli
Carol Marsh
Carol & Pedro Martinez
Anne H. Matthews
June Matthews
Marilyn Miller
Ray Mitzel
Paul Monsky & Beverly Woodward
Nancy Morgenstern, in memory of William & Marjorie Pressman
Alan & Kathy Muirhead
Robert Neer & Ann Eldridge
Clara M. & John S. O’Shea
Richard† & Lois Pace, in honor of Peter Faber
William J. Pananos
Henry Paulus
David & Beth Pendery
Joseph L. Pennacchio
Phillip Petree
Hon. W. Glen Pierson & Hon. Charles P. Reed
Martha J. Radford
Sandy Reismann & Dr. Nanu Brates
Michael Rogan & Hugh Wilburn
Ellen Rosand
Rusty Russell, in honor of Kathy Fay
Cheryl K. Ryder
Richard Schroeder & Dr. Jane Burns
Charles & Mary Ann Schultz
Wendy Shattuck & Sam Plimpton
Harvey A. Silverglate, in memory of Elsa Dorfman
Mark Slotkin
Lynne Spencer
Louisa C. Spottswood
Ann Stewart
Ronald W. Stoia
David & Jean Stout, in honor of Kathy Fay
Ralph & Jeanine Swick, in memory of Alan & Judie Kotok
Douglas L. Teich, M.D.
Mark S. Thurber & Susan M. Galli
John & Dorothy Truman
Reed & Peggy Ueda
Richard Urena
Patrick Wallace & Laurie McNeil
Robert Warren
Polly Wheat & John Cole
Scott & Barbara Winkler
Kathleen Wittman & Melanie Andrade, in memory of John Wittman
ASSOCIATES
($250 or more)
Anonymous (12)
Jonathan B. Aibel & Julie I. Rohwein, in honor of James Glazier
Elizabeth Alexander
Julie Andrijeski & J. Tracy Mortimore
Carl Baker & Susan Haynes
William & Ann Bein
Lawrence Bell
Helen Benham
Susan Benua
Noel & Paula Berggren
Barbara R. Bishop
Wes Bockley & Amy Markus
Deborah Boldin & Gabriel Rice
James Bowman
David Breitman & Kathryn Stuart
C. Anthony Broh & Jennifer L. Hochschild
David C. Brown
Darcy Lynn Campbell
Joseph Cantey
Peter Charig & Amy Briemer
Floyd & Aleeta Christian
Daniel Church & Roger Cuevas
Priscilla H. Claman
John K. Clark & Judith M. Stoughton
Sherryl & Gerard Cohen
Derek Cottier & Lauren Tilly
Tekla Cunningham & David Sawyer
Warren R. Cutler
Leigh Deacon
William Depeter
Michael DiSabatino, in honor of Nancy Olson
Charles & Sheila Donahue
Alan Durfee†
Chuck Epstein & Melia Bensussen
The Rev’d Richard Fabian
Gregg, Abby & Max Feigelson
Charles Fisk
Fred Franklin, in memory of Kaaren Grimstad
Elizabeth French
Fred & Barbara Gable
Monica & David Gerber
The Graver Family
Mary Greer
Thomas H. & Lori B. Griswold
Sonia Guterman, in memory of Martin Guterman
Dr. Joanna Haas
Eric & Dee Hansen
Deborah Haraldson
Rebecca & Richard Hawkins
Diane Hellens
Katherine A. Hesse
David Hoglund
Amy & Seamus Hourihan
Keith L. & Catherine B. Hughes
Brian Hussey
Francesco Iachello
Chris & Klavs Jensen
Michele Jerison
Edward & Kathleen Kelly
David P. Kiaunis
Robert L. Kleinberg
Forrest Knowles
Jay Carlton Kuhn, Jr.
Christopher Larossa
Jasper Lawson
David A. Leach & Laurie J. LaChapelle
William Leitch
Rob & Mary Joan Leith
Robert & Janice Locke
William Loutrel & Thomas Fynan
Sally Mayer
Donna McCampbell
Anne McCants
Andrew Modest & Beth Arndtsen
Stephen Moody
Agatha Morrell
Gene Murrow
Nancy Nuzzo
Nancy Olson
Eugene Papa
Jane P. Papa
John Parisi
Susan Pettee & Michael Wise
Elizabeth V. Phillips
Stephen Poteet
Anne & François Poulet
Lawrence Pratt & Rosalind Forber
Brandon Qualls
Virginia Raguin
Julia M. Reade & Robert A. Duncan
Rodney J. Regier
Hadley & Jeannette Reynolds
Marge Roberts
Paul Rutz
Susan Sargent
David Schneider & Klára Móricz
Mr. Terry Shea & Dr. Seigo Nakao
Jacob & Lisa Skowronek
David Snead & Kate Prescott
Jon Solins
Jeffrey Soucy
Victoria Sujata
Jonathan Swartz
Ken & Margo Taylor
Kenneth P. Taylor
Elizabeth Trumpler, in memory of Donald Trumpler
Peter & Kathleen Van Demark
Robert Viarengo
Robert & Therese Wagenknecht
Thomas & LeRose Weikert
Juanita H. Wetherell
Sarah Whittaker
Susan Wyatt
PARTNERS
($100 or more)
Anonymous (10)
Anonymous, in memory of Dorothy Ryan Fay
Anonymous, in memory of Thomas Roney
Vilde Aaslid
Anne Acker
Joseph Aieta III
Mr. Neale Ainsfield & Dr. Donna Sieckmann
Joanne Algarin
Druid Errant D.T. Allan-Gorey
Ken Allen
Neil R. Ayer, Jr. & Linda Ayer
Susan P. Bachelder
Eric & Rebecca Bank
Dr. David Barnert & Julie Raskin
Rev. & Mrs. Joseph Bassett
Alan Bates & Michele Mandrioli
Elaine Beilin
Alan Benenfeld
Judith Bergson
Larry & Sara Mae Berman
John Birks
Sarah Bixler & Christopher Tonkin
Moisha Blechman
Claire Bonfilio
Sally & Charlie Boynton
Sibel Bozdogan
Joel Bresler
Andrew Brethauer
Derek & Jennifer Brinkerhoff
Catherine & Hillel Shahan Bromberg
David L. Brown
Lawrence Brown
Margaret H. Brown
John H. Burkhalter III
Judi Burten, in memory of Phoebe Larkey
William Carroll
Bonnie & Walter Carter
Robert B. Christian
Deborah J. Cohen
Carol & Alex Collier
Anne Conner
Robert B. Crane
Elizabeth & David Cregger
Martina Crocker
Katherine Crosier, in memory of Carl C. Crosier
Gray F. Crouse
Donna Cubit-Swoyer
Alicia Curtis & Kathy Pratt
Ruta Daugela
Carl & May Daw
Jim Diamond
Forrest Dillon
Paul Doerr
Tamar & Jeremy Kaim Doniger
Ben Dunham & Wendy Rolfe-Dunham
John Dunton & Carol McKeen
Peter A. Durfee & Peter G. Manson
Jane Edwards
Mark Elenko
Anne Engelhart & Douglas Durant
David English
Jake Esher
Lila M. Farrar
Marilyn Farwell
Margot Fassler
Ellen Feingold
Grace A. Feldman, in honor of Bernice Chen
Annette Fern
Janet G. Fink
Carol L. Fishman
Dr. Jonathan Florman
Howard C. Floyd
Gary Freeman
Marica & Jeff Freyman
Friends
Michael Gannon
R. Andrew Garthwaite
Gisela & Ronald Geiger
Stephen L. Gencarello
William Glenn
The Goldsmith Family
Lisa Goldstein
Nancy L. Graham
Lorraine & William Graves
Winifred Gray
Judith Green & James Kurtz
Deborah Grose
John Gruver & Lynn Tilley
Peter F. Gustafson
Eric Haas, in memory of Janet Haas
Richard & Les Hadsell
Suzanne & Easley Hamner
Judith & Patrick Hanlon
Joyce Hannan
David J. Harris, MD
Sam & Barbara Hayes
Karin Hemmingsen
Marie C. Henderson, in memory of A. Brandt Henderson
Rebecca Henderson
Roderick J. Holland
Jackie Horne
Valerie Horst & Benjamin Peck
John Hsia
Judith & Alan Hudson
Constance Huff
Joe Hunter & Esther Schlorholtz
Susan L. Jackson
Karen Johansen & Gardner Hendrie
M.P. Johnson
Robert & Selina Johnson
Tim Johnson, in memory of Bill Gasperini
Judith L. Johnston & Bruce L. Bush, in memory of Daniel Lindblom
David K. Jordan
Marietta B. Joseph
David Keating
Mr. & Mrs. Seamus C. Kelly
Louis & Susan Kern
Joseph J. Kesselman, Jr.
Holly Ketron
Leslie & Kimberly King
Maryanne King
Pat Kline
Valerie & Karl KnicKrehm
George Kocur
Leslie Kooyman
Valerie Krall
Ellen Kranzer
Peter A. Lans
Claire Laporte
Bruce Larkin & Donna Jarlenski
Diana Larsen
Joanne & Carl Leaman
Alison Leslie
Drs. Sidney & Lynne Levitsky
Ellen R. Lewis
Laura Loehr
Sandra & David Lyons
Desmarest Lloyd MacDonald, in memory of Ned Kellogg
Dr. Bruce C. MacIntyre
Louise Malcolm, in memory of W. David Malcolm, Jr.
Jeffrey & Barbara Mandula
Anna Mansbridge
Robert & Traute Marshall
Timothy Masters
Dr. Arnold Matlin & Dr. Margaret Matlin, Ph.D.
Mary McCallum
Lee McClelland
Heidi & George McEvoy
Dave & Jeannette McLellan
Cynthia Merritt
Susan Metz, in memory of Gerald Metz
Eiji Miki†
Marg Miller
Nicolas Minutillo
Rosalind Mohnsen
David Montanari & Sara Rubin
Michael J. Moran, in memory of Francis D. & Marcella A. Moran
Stefanie Moritz
Rodney & Barbara Myrvaagnes
Debra Nagy
Cindy K. Neels
Arthur & Charlotte Ness, in memory of Ingolf Dahl
Nancy Nicholson
Jeffrey Nicolich
Caroline Niemira
Lee Nunley
Leslie Nyman
Michael & Jan Orlansky
Patricia T. Owen
David & Claire Oxtoby
John R. Palys
Theodore Parent, in memory of Ruth Parent
Susan Patrick, in memory of Don Partridge
Jonah Pearl
Elizabeth Pearson-Griffiths
John Petrowsky
Bici Pettit-Barron
Susan Porter & Robert Kauffman
George Raff
Deborah M. Reisman
Melissa Rice
Dennis & Anne Rogers
Sherry & William Rogers
Stephanie L. Rosenbaum
Paul Rosenberg & Harriet Moss
Peter & Linda Rubenstein
Charlotte Rutherfurd
Patricia & Roger Samuel
Mike Scanlon
Richard L. Schmeidler
Robert & Barbara Schneider
Clem Schoenebeck, in memory of Bill Schoenebeck
R. Scholz & M. Kempers
Lynn & Mary Schultz
Michael Schwartz
Alison M. Scott
David Sears
Jean Seiler
David Seitz & Katie Manty
Aaron Sheehan & Adam Pearl
Michael Sherer
Kathy Sherrick
Susan Shimp
Rena & Michael Silevitch
John & Carolyn Skelton
Elliott Smith & Wendy Gilmore
Jennifer Farley Smith & Sam Rubin
Richard Snow
William & Barbara Sommerfield
Scott Sprinzen
Gail St. Onge
Esther & Daniel Steinhauer
Barbara Strizhak, in memory of Elliott Strizhak
Richard Stumpf
Jacek & Margaret Sulanowski
Robert G. Sullivan & Meriem Pages
Richard Tarrant
John & Barbara Tatum
Lisa Terry
Meghan K. Titzer
Janet Todaro
Edward P. Todd
Peter Townsend
Pierre Trepagnier & Louise Mundinger
Konstantin & Kirsten Tyurin
Barbara & John VanScoyoc
Richard & Virginia von Rueden
Cheryl S. Weinstein
The Westner Family
The Rev. Roger B. White, in memory of Joseph P. Hough
Susan & Thomas Wilkes
David L. Williamson
Phyllis S. Wilner
John Wolff & Helen Berger
Jerome Yavarkovsky & Catherine Lowe
Paulette York & Richard Borts
David Yutzler
Ellen L. Ziskind
The Zucker Family
Lawrence Zukof & Pamela Carley
† deceased
FOUNDATIONS & CORPORATE SPONSORS
Anonymous (2)
Aequa Foundation
American Endowment Foundation
Appleby Charitable Foundation
Applied Technology Investors
BNY Mellon Charitable Gift Fund
Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund
The Barrington Foundation, Inc.
The Bel-Ami Foundation
The Boston Foundation
Boston Private Bank & Trust Company
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
Gregory E. Bulger Foundation
Burns & Levinson LLP
The Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Foundation
Cabot Family Charitable Trust
Cambridge Community Foundation
Cambridge Trust Company
Cedar Tree Foundation
Cembaloworks of Washington
City of Cambridge
The Columbus Foundation
Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
Connecticut Community Foundation
Constellation Charitable Foundation
The Fannie Cox Foundation
The Crawford Foundation
CRB Classical 99.5, a GBH station
Daffy Charitable Fund
The Dusky Fund at Essex County Community Foundation
Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation
Fidelity Charitable
Fiduciary Trust Charitable
French Cultural Center / Alliance Française of Boston
Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
GlaxoSmithKline Foundation
Goethe-Institut Boston
The Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund
The Florence Gould Foundation
GTC Law Group
Haber Family Charitable Foundation
Hausman Family Charitable Trust
The High Meadow Foundation
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Isaacson-Draper Foundation
The Richard and Natalie Jacoff Foundation, Inc.
Jewish Communal Fund
Key Biscayne Community Foundation
Konstantin Family Foundation
Maine Community Foundation
Makromed, Inc.
Massachusetts Cultural Council
Mastwood Foundation
Morgan Stanley
National Endowment for the Arts
Newstead Foundation
Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation
The Packard Humanities Institute
Plimpton-Shattuck Fund at The Boston Foundation
The Mattina R. Proctor Foundation
REALOGY Corporation
Renaissance Charitable
The Saffeir Family Fund of the Maine Community Foundation
David Schneider & Klára Móricz Fund at Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
Schwab Charitable
Scofield Auctions, Inc.
The Seattle Foundation
Shalon Fund
Kathy & Alexander Silbiger Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation
TIAA Charitable Giving Fund Program
The Trust for Mutual Understanding
The Tzedekah Fund at Combined Jewish Philanthropies
The Upland Farm Fund
U.S. Small Business Administration
U.S. Trust/Bank of America
Private Wealth Management
Vanguard Charitable
Walker Family Trust at Fidelity Charitable
Archie D. & Bertha H. Walker Foundation
Marian M. Warden Fund of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities
The Windover Foundation
Women On The Move LLC
MATCHING CORPORATIONS
21st Century Fox
Allegro MicroSystems
Amazon Smile
AmFam
Analog Devices
Aspect Global
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
Biogen
Carrier Global
Dell, Inc.
Exelon Foundation
FleetBoston Financial Corporation
Genentech, Inc.
Google
Grantham, Mayo, van Otterloo & Co. LLC
John Hancock Financial Services, Inc.
Community Gifts Through Harvard University
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
IBM Corporation
Intel Foundation
Investment Technology Group, Inc. (ITG)
Microsoft Corporation
MLE Foundation, Inc.
Natixis Global Asset Management
Novartis US Foundation
NVIDIA
Pfizer
Pitney Bowes
Salesforce.org
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Takeda
Tetra Tech
United Technologies Corporation
Verizon Foundation
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Xerox Foundation
The virtuous Empress Octavia is betrayed by her increasingly erratic husband, Nero, putting all of Rome on the brink of rebellion in Keiser’s monumental work for the famed Hamburg Opera in 1705.
