Folger Consort 2019-20 Season Brochure

Folger

Consort 2019/20 season of

early music

italia

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Photo: Mig Dooley

Christopher Kendall and Robert Eisenstein, Artistic Directors

Photo: Brittany Diliberto

Photo: Brittany Diliberto

AT ST. MARK’S In 2020, the Folger Shakespeare Library is embarking on an exciting expansion of amenities and improvements for audiences and visitors. Folger Consort looks forward to staying in the neighborhood, just around the corner in another beautiful and historic space. St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, with its ideal acoustics for early music, will serve as host venue— the Consort’s own San Marco.

Cover: Illustration of a Venetian gondola in Erckenprecht Koler’s friendship album, 1582-1612 (detail). British Library, UK.

ensemble in residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, delights audiences with a stunning array of early music—from masterpieces by the most renowned composers to hidden treasures that might otherwise be lost to history.

Folger Consort has received five awards for Best Classical Chamber Ensemble from the Washington Area Music Awards.

Photo: Mig Dooley

FOLGER CONSORT,

In 2019/20 Folger Consort

elebrates Italy

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featuring music of Machiavelli’s Florence, Vivaldi and Corelli at Christmas, masterworks by Palestrina and Monteverdi, and more— with renowned guest artists including Stile Antico and ModernMedieval.

Subscribe to enjoy all five concerts— along with the best ticket prices, best seats, and free exchanges.

Tickets to individual concerts are on sale beginning July 29.

202.544.7077

folger.edu/consort

Wednesday, Sept 25 at 6pm Join us for a special evening exploring Machiavelli’s The Prince, with the rare 1532 copy from the Folger collection on display.

Caspar, the youngest of the Magi, believed to be based on Lorenzo Di Medici (detail). Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Italy.

Photo: Brittany Diliberto

Special Event

September 27-29 Friday at 8pm Pre-concert discussion at 7pm Saturday at 4pm and 8pm Sunday at 2pm At St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill

Music for

machiavelli Florence Circa 1500 Perhaps best known as the author of The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli walked the streets of Florence 500 years ago. He was a true Renaissance man—a philosopher, playwright, diplomat, and a composer. Along with the carnival songs Machiavelli wrote for the Medici family and music for his two comedic stage plays, Folger Consort performs works by Josquin, Isaac, and native composers of Northern Italy.

With instrumentalists Larry Lipnik, Dan Meyers, Mark Rimple, and Mary Springfels, and soprano Emily Noël.

Florence

December 13-18

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Friday at 8pm Pre-concert discussion at 7pm Saturday at 4pm and 8pm Sunday at 2pm Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 7:30pm At St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill

A Baroque Italian Christmas Folger Consort journeys to Venice for the holidays with Vivaldi’s beloved Gloria in D, RV 589. Written around 1715, the piece was first performed by the all-female choir and orchestra of the orphanage in Venice that were directed by Vivaldi himself. Other seasonal music from the Italian High Baroque includes Scarlatti’s Christmas Cantata and Corelli’s magnificent Christmas Concerto.

With string orchestra, oboe, trumpet, and treble choir.

Venice

Photo: Brittany Diliberto

Angel from The Annunciation by Giovanni Bellini (detail). Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, Italy.

Photo: Brittany Diliberto

“ a joyful… utterly or eous celebration” –MD Theatre Guide

In association with University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

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Washington National Cathedral

Madonna of the Magnificat by Sandro Botticelli (detail). Uffuzi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

Photo: Mig Dooley

Photo: Marco Borggreve

“Perhaps the most ravishin sound I heard this year.”

–The New Yorker

Stile Antico

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February 7-8 Friday at 8pm Pre-concert discussion at 6:30pm Saturday at 8pm At Washington National Cathedral

Palestrina’ s Perfect Art With Stile Antico

The great nave of Washington National Cathedral is the perfect setting for the transcendent ars perfecta of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and other composers of the late Italian Renaissance. Splendid voices offer sacred motets, instruments perform canzone and dances, and all join forces in the sonorous polychoral works of Andrea Gabrieli and his nephew Giovanni, leading figures in Venetian music of the 17th century.

With Renaissance brass, organ, and British vocal ensemble Stile Antico.

Rome

March 6-8 Friday at 8pm Pre-concert discussion at 7pm Saturday at 4pm and 8pm Sunday at 2pm At St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill

The Three

Fountains Music for Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio

The lyrical art of Trecento composers was inspired by the poets known as Italy’s Three Fountains: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Musicians such as Gherardello da Firenze, Jacopo da Bologna, and Francesco Landini excelled in setting the poetry of these masters in a graceful and melodic style that was different from the music of their contemporaries.

Virtuoso instrumental music with fiddles, harp, lute, citole, and bagpipes accompanies the song.

With Dan Meyers, Mary Springfels, and vocal trio ModernMedieval.

Florence

Dante and Beatrice by Henry Holiday (detail). Walker Art Gallery, UK.

Photo: Brittany Diliberto

Photo: Mark Kwiatek

“lofty triadic harmony, like the ascent of a battalion of balloons” –The Washington Post

ModernMedieval

Portrait of a musician, believed to be Claudio Monteverdi (detail). Ashmolean Museum, UK.

Photo: Mig Dooley

“ intelli ent, racefully ornamented, and enormously appealin ”

–The Washington Post

Palma Choralis Duo

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April 24-26

Friday at 8pm Pre-concert discussion at 7pm Saturday at 4pm and 8pm Sunday at 2pm At St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill

Monteverdi

in Venice

The Birth of the Baroque

Just as Beethoven is the giant figure presiding over the transition from the Classical to the Romantic, Monteverdi is the great composer standing astride the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque, the new style dedicated above all to moving the passions of the listener. Heard here are Monteverdi’s madrigals, arias from his operas, as well as his rousing setting of Tasso’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, first performed in Venice in 1624. With harpsichord, strings, voices, and Marcello Mazzetti and Livio Ticli of Italy’s Palma Choralis Duo.

Venice

“ Harmonious and deli htful… a wonderful evenin of music.”

–Washington Life Magazine

St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill Host venue for the 19/20 season is St. Mark’s on Capitol Hill. This historic church is an example of Gothic Revival and Romanesque Revival architecture. Its stained glass window is one of the oldest and largest glass works produced

by Tiffany Studios. St. Mark’s is located around the corner from the Folger at 301 A Street, SE. Washington National Cathedral February concerts are held at Washington National Cathedral, a 20th-century structure modeled on the English Gothic style of the late 14th century. The Cathedral is located at 3101 Wisconsin Ave, NW. Pre-Concert Discussions—Free Robert Aubry Davis—host of WETA’s Around Town and of the national early music program Millenium of Music—leads informal pre-concert discussions with Robert Eisenstein and other artists. Offered for each program before a Friday evening performance.

Programs subject to change.

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oin us for five concerts of stunning early music from Italy.

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Subscribe!

Subscriber benefits include: Best seats at the best price Free ticket exchanges into a different performance time

Folger Magazine subscription Hill & Will discount card for area restaurants and businesses

Order Now Call 202.544.7077 Visit folger.edu/consort

Online folger.edu/consort Phone 202.544.7077

Special offer for 35-and-under New Special price for subscribers age 35 and under.

Individual Tickets Tickets to individual concerts are on sale beginning July 29.

Become a Member When you subscribe, you can also become a Friend of the Folger Consort. Our members provide fundamental support and enjoy an insider’s view of all that the Folger Shakespeare Library has to offer— with invitations to special receptions, talks, and gatherings, as well as discounts on tickets and merchandise.

Connect With Us For the latest Folger Consort news, content about early music, and curated playlists, follow us on

–WBJC-FM Baltimore

April 24-26, 2020

Monteverdi in Venice

March 6-8, 2020

The Three Fountains Music for Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio

February 7-8, 2020

Palestrina’s Perfect Art

December 13-18, 2019

Gloria! A Baroque Italian Christmas

September 27-29, 2019

Music for Machiavelli

2019/20

is the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world.

202.544.7077 folger.edu/consort

201 East Capitol Street, SE Washington, DC 20003

Consort

“ a superbly ifted roup”

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Folger

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Splendido!

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