Tempesta di Mare, the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, continues its 20th anniversary season with three programs that look back on and forward to the orchestral and chamber music that the ensemble has been introducing to been introducing to American audiences over the years.
First up is Season XX: Chamber | Highlights from Twenty Years of Discovery, with in-person performances Jan 28-30, 2022 and on-demand video from Feb 20 – Mar 19, 2022. Season XX: Chamber features music that Tempesta’s series first brought to this country: a lute concerto by Silvius Leopold Weiss, the composer with whom they founded their series here in Philadelphia twenty years ago; a rediscovered flute quartet by Johann Gottlieb Janitsch from the collection of the Jewish salonnière, Sara Levy, which will have its first performance on this program, and a pair of string sonatas by Philipp Jakob Rittler from the ensemble’s latest obsession, a collection of seventeenth music in the Czech Republic. The program also includes two of Tempesta’s signature adaptations: an organ sonata by Johann Sebastian Bach reimagined as a recorder concerto, and François Couperin’s “Ritratto dell’ Amore” (Portrait of Love).
The Tempesta di Mare Chamber players will perform with flute, 2 violins, 2 violas, cello, lute, and harpsichord.
Three in-person performances of Season XX: Chamber will take place in January:
Friday, Jan 28, 7:00 pm – Wilmington, DE
Saturday, Jan 29, 8:00 pm – Center City
Sunday, Jan 30, 4:00 pm – Chestnut Hill
In-Person performances require proof of vaccination and masking. For the latest health & safety requirements, visit: https://tempestadimare.org/covid-19/.
Season XX: Chamber will be recorded live and produced in HD audio and video for the online experience. The filmed version of the project will be available on-demand, starting February 20, 2022 through March 19, 2022.
While Tempesta di Mare is recognized worldwide most often as a baroque orchestra, its core is a chamber ensemble full of nimble and spontaneous expressiveness. The chamber players have been performing for 25 years, starting out as a touring and recording ensemble in 1996.
Three of the works on this program can also be heard on some of Tempesta’s acclaimed recordings on Chandos Records: the premiere recording of Silvius Leopold Weiss’ Lute Concerto in B-flat, Weiss SW 57—reconstructed by Richard Stone, who also plays the solo on CHAN0707; the re-imagined recorder concerto after Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ trio sonata VI, BWV 530, on CHAN0803, and other Janitsch flute quartets in their modern premieres on CHAN0820.
Alongside Season XX: Chamber, the artist recital Founders’ Picks and the mainstage Season XX: Orchestra form a three program focus from Tempesta di Mare’s twenty years of rediscovery and championing rarely played masterworks that continues to the present day.
Artist Recital: Founders’ Picks includes music by the other “founding” Tempesta composer, Francesco Maria Veracini, alongside more by Silvius Leopold Weiss, plus works by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, William Babell, Giovanni Paolo Cima and a rarity by Georg Philipp Telemann. In-person concerts for Founders’ Picks will take place February 26-27.
Tempesta di Mare’s final project, Season XX: Orchestra, brings the 20th anniversary celebration to a close with large orchestral scores by Fasch, Reutter, Janitsch, Telemann and Couperin, performed at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on May 21, 2022. The on-demand film premieres on June 20, 2022 and streams through July 19, 2022.
TEMPESTA DI MARE PHILADELPHIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHAMBER PLAYERS
Fanfare magazine has hailed Tempesta di Mare for its “abundant energy, immaculate ensemble, impeccable intonation, and an undeniable sense of purpose.” Led by directors Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone with concertmaster Emlyn Ngai, Tempesta performs baroque music on baroque instruments with a repertoire that ranges from staged opera to chamber music. The group performs all orchestral repertoire without a conductor, as was the practice when this music was new. Tempesta’s Philadelphia Concert Series, noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer for its “off-the-grid chic factor,” emphasizes creating a sense of discovery for artists and audiences alike. Launched in 2002, the series has included over 35 modern world premieres of lost or forgotten baroque masterpieces, leading the Inquirer to describe Tempesta as “an old-music group that acts like a new-music group, by pushing the cutting edge back rather than forward.” Its supporters include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the William Penn Foundation, the Presser Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In a marketplace dominated by European ensembles, Tempesta is the only American baroque music group to record for the prestigious British-based Chandos label, where it has released 13 titles, including first recordings and premieres. Live performances have been broadcast nationally on SymphonyCast, Performance Today, Sunday Baroque and Harmonia. Tempesta di Mare’s concert recordings are distributed worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union, the world’s foremost alliance of public service media organizations, with members in 56 countries in Europe and beyond.
Tempesta’s international appearances have included the Prague Spring Music Festival, the Göttingen Handel Festival, the Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin and the International Fasch Festival in Zerbst. Notable North American presenters have included the Frick Collection, the Oregon Bach Festival, Abbey Bach Festival, Whitman College, Cornell Concerts, the Yale Collection, the Flagler Museum, and the Indianapolis Early Music Festival. In spring 2016, the orchestra performed on the Miami Bach Festival. A five-concert orchestral Germany tour is scheduled for March 2022.
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For further information, image or interview requests please contact Candace Herbert, (215) 755-8776, candace@tempestadimare.org.
For further information about Tempesta di Mare | Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, please visit http://tempestadimare.org.
Tickets:
Preferred: $39.00
General Admission and On-Demand*: $29.00
Student (w/ ID): Free
*Pay-what-you-can options available for On-Demand streaming
Performance Information:
Season XX: Chamber: Highlights from Twenty Years of Discovery.
In-Person:
Friday, January 28, 2022 – 7:00 pm
Christ Church Christiania Hundred, 505 Buck Road, Wilmington DE.
Saturday, January 29, 2022 – 8:00 pm
American Philosophical Society, Ben Franklin Hall, 427 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA.
Sunday, January 30, 2022 – 4:00 pm
Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia PA.
On-Demand:
Sunday, February 20, 2022 @ 7:00 pm; streaming On-Demand through March 19, 2022. Virtual Concert Hall.
Visit the How to View Tempesta Concerts webpage to stream on computer and mobile devices. https://tempestadimare.org/concert-viewing-details/
Program:
- Bach: Recorder Concerto, after BWV 520, arranged by R. Stone
- Couperin: Ritratto dell’amore
- Janitsch: Sonata da camera in D, op.5 No 29, from Sara Levy Collection, Berlin Sing-Akademie
- Rittler: Two Sonatas à 5
- Weiss: Lute Concerto, SC 57, reconstructed by R. Stone
- Telemann: Concerto in E Minor for Flute and Violin, TWV 52:e3
FIND OUT MORE:
Blog Post about Tempesta’s 20th Anniversary Season by Anne Schuster Hunter: https://tempestadimare.org/blog/dancing-with-those-who-brought-you-happy-20th-anniversary-tempesta/
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