Chatham Baroque announces the Chatham Baroque + Renaissance & Baroque 2024/2025 Concert Series, a bold and ambitious lineup of Baroque period and early music performances spanning ensemble configurations, eras, and the globe. The season makes the music of the past present by including a tantalizing mix of performances by Chatham Baroque with critically-acclaimed guest artists, as well as an amazing array of world-renowned visiting ensembles with virtuosic musicians from around the world.
The season opens on September 27 through 29 with Chatham Baroque: A Garden of Harmony: Austrian & German Music for Strings featuring highly regarded Chatham Baroque members Andrew Fouts, violin, Patricia Halverson, viola da gamba, and Scott Pauley, theorbo, and four superb instrumental guest artists.
Chatham Baroque co-artistic director Scott Pauley says, “The program highlights virtuosic music from 17th-century Austria and Germany by composers such as Biber, Schmelzer, and Schein, written for a lush array of bowed string instruments. This music is rich with ingenious invention, counterpoint, and mellifluous harmony.”
A Garden of Harmony is followed by 3 other Chatham Baroque programs.
“We offer something new and dynamic with the duo concert In the Loop with Fouts & Pauley – Popular Music Across the Centuries, where Andrew and I explore connections and similarities in music from the 16th through 20th centuries,” says Scott Pauley. “Our instruments will be lightly amplified, and we’ll make use of loop pedals to layer our sound, as if we are a full band. Louis, Louis – Songs & Dances of the French Baroque looks at French Music in the time of Kings Louis XIII and XIV, with soprano Pascale Beaudin and a sumptuous ensemble of violins, viols, and lutes. Finally, we return to Chatham Baroque’s original quartet formation with Quintessential Chatham Baroque, featuring former ensemble member Julie Andrijeski joining Co-Artistic Director Andrew Fouts on violins. The quartet will perform trio sonatas of Corelli, Vivaldi, Purcell, Matteis and more.”
The upcoming season also boasts the world premiere of Bach’s lost masterpiece, Markus Passion. Audiences can experience the resurrection of this lost work in a groundbreaking semi-staged rendition by Concert Theatre Works, led by visionary Artistic Director Bill Barclay. The inaugural staged production uses celebrated Bach scholar Malcolm Bruno’s recently published reconstruction. Chatham Baroque will team up with NYC-based ensemble The Sebastians, and 4 vocal soloists, bolstered by the captivating narration of acclaimed British actor Joseph Marcell. Markus Passion is Commissioned by The Oregon Bach Festival.
“Our upcoming 2024-2025 Season is full of great music brought to life by some of our favorite guest artists and ensembles, both familiar and new to Pittsburgh,” said Chatham Baroque’s co-artistic director Andrew Fouts. “This is a rare opportunity to bring to Pittsburgh a world-premiere performance of a lost work by J.S. Bach. Staged by the intrepid Bill Barclay of Concert Theatre Works, with actor Joseph Marcell speaking the role of Evangelist in English, this performance is not to be missed.”
Fouts continued, “For our additional two guest ensembles, we welcome back the sensational group Twelfth Night, with superstar singers Nola Richardson and Roderick Williams OBE, who infuse the music of Handel’s Apollo e Dafne with their vibrant enthusiasm and virtuosic style. And after too long a hiatus we are pleased to bring back Philadelphia’s legacy Renaissance wind ensemble, Piffaro, now under the direction of wind-playing polymath Priscilla Herreid, for a fascinating look at how musical styles and cultures elided with the immigration of the famed Bassano brothers from Italy to the Tudor courts of England.”
The Chatham Baroque season continues to present programs at concert venues across the Pittsburgh region, bringing Baroque and early music to audiences throughout the city, with performances at Teutonia Männerchor, Calvary Episcopal Church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Hicks Memorial Chapel at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church, Rodef Shalom’s Levy Hall and Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Oakland.”
2024/2025 CHATHAM BAROQUE + RENAISSANCE & BAROQUE SERIES CONCERTS
Chatham Baroque: A Garden of Harmony – Austrian & German Music for Strings
Friday-Sunday, September 27-29, 2024
Friday Sept 27, 7:30 p.m., Calvary Episcopal Church
Saturday Sept 28, 7:30 p.m., Teutonia Männerchor
Sunday Sept 29, 4:00 p.m., Calvary Episcopal Church
The virtuosic compositions for string band from late 17th-century Austria and Germany sit squarely in Chatham Baroque’s programmatic wheelhouse. Written for a lush array of bowed string instruments, this music is rich with ingenious invention, counterpoint, and mellifluous harmony. Joined by some of our favorite string-playing guests, this program features rarely performed music of composers Heinrich Biber, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Antonio Bertali, Johann Hermann Schein, Johann Casper Ferdinand Fischer, and Georg Muffat.
Andrew Fouts violin
Patricia Halverson viola da gamba
Scott Pauley theorbo & baroque guitar
With guest artists:
Carmen Johnson-Pajaro violin
Paul Miller viola
Keats Dieffenbach voila
Justin Wallace keyboard
Twelfth Night Ensemble: Love & Laurels – Handel’s Apollo e Dafne
Sunday, October 20, 2024, 4:00 p.m.
Calvary Episcopal Church
Led by virtuoso violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and harpsichordist David Belkovski, the dynamic ensemble Twelfth Night returns to Pittsburgh with a program featuring British baritone Roderick Williams OBE and American soprano Nola Richardson centered around George Frideric Handel’s fabulous cantata Apollo e Dafne. Based on the mythological tale of vain, amorous pursuit, Apollo e Dafne showcases the operatic flair of a very young Handel, where we see his incredible talent for drama, orchestration, and heartrendingly beautiful melody.
In the Loop with Fouts & Pauley – Popular Music Across the Centuries
Saturday & Sunday, November 16-17, 2024
Saturday, November 16, 7:30 p.m., St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Sunday, November 17, 2:30 p.m., Hicks Memorial Chapel at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Popular music has been based on repeating, cyclical patterns since the get go. Songs from antiquity through today share harmonic and melodic forms with one another across the centuries. Chatham Baroque artistic directors Andrew Fouts (violin) and Scott Pauley (theorbo & baroque guitar) partner up for a plugged-in program that covers a whole lot of musical ground, from renaissance songs, baroque ground basses, and old-time tunes. Utilizing amplification, loop pedals, and playback, two players become a full band.
Andrew Fouts violin
Scott Pauley theorbo & baroque guitar
Chatham Baroque: Louis, Louis – Songs & Dances of the French Baroque
Friday-Sunday, December 6-8, 2024
Friday, December 6, 7:30 p.m., St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church
Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m., Calvary Episcopal Church
Sunday, December 8, 2:30 p.m., Hicks Memorial Chapel, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Chatham Baroque brings to life French vocal and dance music from the time of Louis XIII and XIV. Featuring Pascale Beaudin (soprano) and an array of superb instrumentalists playing the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully and his predecessors.
Pascale Beaudin, soprano
Andrew Fouts violin
Patricia Halverson viola da gamba
Scott Pauley theorbo
With guest artists:
Carmen Lavada Johnson-Pajaro violin
Paul Miller viola
Emily Eng viola
Dušan Balarin theorbo
Piffaro: The Bassanos – From Renaissance Italy to Tudor England
Friday, February 8, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Calvary Episcopal Church
America’s premiere Renaissance wind ensemble makes its triumphant return to Pittsburgh with a story of musical immigration. An Italian and likely Jewish family of wind players moves to England during the reign of Henry VIII, pushing instrumental music into a new frontier. The wind players of Piffaro look at one of the most potent examples of musical immigration in 16th-century Europe—the story of the Bassano family.
Quintessential Chatham Baroque
Friday-Sunday, March 14-16, 2025
Friday, March 14, 2025, 7:30 p.m., Teutonia Männerchor
Saturday, March 15, 2025, 7:30 p.m., Hicks Memorial Chapel at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Sunday, March 16, 2025, 2:30 p.m., Levy Hall
Since its founding, Chatham Baroque cut its teeth on the vast repertoire for two violins and continuo, developing its own distinctive sound. This program returns to their musical roots, with former ensemble member Julie Andrijeski (1996-2008) joining Andrew Fouts to share the melodic spotlight over the elegant continuo stylings of Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba), and Scott Pauley (theorbo & baroque guitar). Music of Corelli, Vivaldi, Purcell, Matteis and more.
Andrew Fouts violin
Patricia Halverson viola da gamba
Scott Pauley theorbo
With special guest artist:
Julie Andrijeski violin
Chatham Baroque is also honored to participate in and host the world premiere of:
Bach Markus Passion with The Sebastians, Chatham Baroque & Joseph Marcell
Friday, April 11, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Oakland
Music by J.S. Bach
Directed by Bill Barclay
Edition by Malcolm Bruno
Produced by Concert Theatre Works
Markus Passion was commissioned by The Oregon Bach Festival
Led by Artistic Director Bill Barclay, Concert Theatre Works has created a first-ever staged production of Bach’s long-lost Markus Passion. Chatham Baroque is excited to partner with Concert Theatre Works and NYC based ensemble The Sebastians for a world-premiere of this important work as reconstructed by Malcolm Bruno and published by Breitkopf & Härtel. With an ensemble comprising 14 players and 4 singers dramatically supporting acclaimed actor Joseph Marcell as the Evangelist, this musical treasure is brought to life in a gripping theatrical format.
Markus Passion was commissioned by The Oregon Bach Festival and is produced by Concert Theatre Works
TICKETS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscriptions, which include seven concerts plus one bonus ticket are $245 ($185 with senior (65+) discount).
Single Tickets, Early Bird Price: $40 General, $30 Senior (65+), $20 Students
Early Bird Price for Bach’s Markus Passion: $45 General, $35 Senior (65+), $20 Student
Full Price*: $45 General, $35 Senior Discount, $25 Student
Full Price for Bach’s Markus Passion*: $50 General, $40 Senior (65+), $25 Student.
*Full price charges are applied beginning on the Friday two weeks prior to each concert program. For more information, or to purchase subscriptions and tickets, visit www.chathambaroque.org/24-25-concert-series/.
2024/2025 Season is made possible in part by Anonymous, Allegheny Regional Asset District, Buhl Foundation, Calvary Episcopal Church, Classical WQED-FM 89.3, Heinz Endowments, Laurel Foundation, Opportunity Fund, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Benter Foundation, and many generous individuals and volunteers.
About Chatham Baroque:
Each year, Chatham Baroque presents a series of captivating, historically informed performances, drawing from a vast repertoire of classical music styles, eras, and locales from the Medieval Period through the early 19th Century.
As one of the country’s leading period instrument ensembles and early music presenters, each season features several concerts with the distinguished Chatham Baroque ensemble with artistic directors Andrew Fouts (violin), Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba), and Scott Pauley (theorbo and baroque guitar) as well as concerts by renowned touring ensembles specializing in music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical period.
Chatham Baroque concerts are performed with period instruments, which are restored or replica versions from the time when the music was written. Concerts are held in a variety of settings across Pittsburgh from churches to concert halls, and performers actively engage audiences with lively commentary and insights into the music. To learn more, please visit www.chathambaroque.org.
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