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Opera Lafayette Connects Marie-Antoinette, Music, Slavery, & Revolution

EMA Features, News

Inspired by the woman who remains an icon and a cautionary tale over 200 years after her death, Opera Lafayette’s ‘The Era of Marie Antoinette Rediscovered’ will shed light on the French queen’s extraordinary education in music and dance, her early embrace of opéra comique, and her legacy as a champion of modern composers in pre-Revolutionary France. But the series goes further, exploring ‘progressive’ philosophies that were in direct opposition to the atrocities being committed against enslaved people on sugar, coffee, and tobacco plantations in the Caribbean, the source of much of France’s wealth.

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CD Review: Vivaldi Cantatas, Thrilling and Intimate

EMA Recording Reviews, News

‘Vivaldi: Cantate per soprano I’ is the first of two volumes dedicated to Vivaldi’s chamber cantatas for soprano, part of Naïve’s colossal Vivaldi Edition. This new recording of six cantatas, composed between 1718 and 1735, reveals the depth of Vivaldi’s ingenious ability to shape moods, timbres, and emotions. Italian soprano Arianna Vendittelli and Abchordis Ensemble, led by Andrea Buccarella, have imbued this music about love with their own sense of drama, daring, and intimacy.

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Bobby Horton, HIP to American Folk Music

EMA Features, News

Alabama folk musician Bobby Horton takes a historically informed approach to folk music from many American genres. He’s worked closely with popular documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, whose ‘The Civil War,’ ‘Baseball’ and other PBS programs bear Horton’s mark as a performer, collector, composer, and adviser. His contributions to more than 20 National Park Service films reflect his intense interest in conservation and centuries past. Horton is on the soundtrack for Ken Burns’ latest project, ‘Benjamin Franklin,’ which airs on PBS starting April 4.

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Discovering Baroque Music with the HBCU Early Music Initiative

EMA Press Releases, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, News

To inaugurate the HBCU Early Music Initiative Project, two of Early Music America’s IDEA Taskforce members, harpsichordist Joyce Chen and viola da gambist Patricia Ann Neely, gave an engaging demonstration on baroque performance practice at Delaware State University. This outreach event was presented to a diverse group of student and community members, including non-majors taking intro to music courses and music majors who are planning on pursuing graduate degrees.

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CD Review: How Much ‘Historical’ Performance Do We Really Want?

EMA Recording Reviews, News

A new recording of Debussy’s opera raises complicated and interesting questions on issues of vocal sound and the attitude towards performance style. Do we want to adopt every aspect of Debussy’s sound world into our own? Do we prefer to call upon the highly refined and skilled vocal qualities that are prevalent today, or are we obliged to adhere to the styles of the past?

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