Crescendo Artistic Director Christine Gevert wants you to stop thinking of Baroque music as coming only from Germany, Italy, and France. So she has put together a program of works by Baroque-era composers from Poland, Latvia, and Czechia (Czech Republic). To this she has added contemporary choral works by composers from Latvia, Poland, and Czechia and, across the Atlantic, American composer Craig Courtney’s “Ukrainian Alleluia,” an homage to the Ukrainian choral tradition. All of this music falls under the heading “Music Across Borders,” the theme of Crescendo’s programs for October 29 at Trinity Church in Lakeville, Conn., and October 30 at Saint James Place in Great Barrington.
The most intriguing name on Crescendo’s program is that of Grzegorz Gorczycki, a Polish composer born around 1665 and ordained as a priest in 1692. Conductor and musicologist Włodzimierz Sołtysik writes: “He is revealing himself as a towering figure in vocal music a capella, as well as in concertante, vocal and instrumental compositions. For this reason Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki should be hailed today as one of the best composers of Early Polish Music.” Ms. Gevert calls Gorczycki “The Polish Handel.”
Crescendo will perform Gorczycki’s “Laetatus sum” and “Completorium” along with Johann Adam Hiller’s “Psalm 100,” Kryštof Harant’s “Confiderunt in Domine,” Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský’s “Laudetur Jesus Christus,” and two Baroque solo works: Jan Dismas Zelenka’s “Christe eleison” and Johann Valentin Meder’s “Jubilate Deo omnis terra.”
The highlight of this program’s contemporary choral works is the music of Latvia’s Ēriks Ešenvalds. Crescendo will perform his work “Stars,” accompanied by tuned musical glasses and Tibetan bowls. Rounding out the contemporary works are sacred motets by Paweł Łukaszewski of Poland and Zdeněk Lukáš of Czechia.
Łukaszewski is regarded as the successor of such composers as Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Krzysztof Penderecki, Arvo Pärt, and John Tavener. His works on the program include “Ave Maria” (for double choir) and “Crucem tuam adoramus Domine.”
Crescendo engages some of the most prominent early music specialists. Among them this month will be German countertenor Nicholas Tamagna, bass-baritone Peter Becker, sopranos Christina Kay and Jordan Rose Lee, countertenor Augustine Mercante, tenor Dan Foster, and bass-baritone Peter Becker. Crescendo Artistic Director Christine Gevert will conduct the Crescendo Chorus and period instrument orchestra of brass, timpani, strings, and basso continuo.
Christine Gevert is Music Director at Trinity Church in Lime Rock. She holds a master’s degree in organ and early music performance from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hamburg, Germany, and a degree in music theory from the Conservatorio Nacional de Chile. She studied choral and orchestral conducting in Berlin and harpsichord in London. She has authored more than eighty historical basso continuo realizations for the Swiss publisher Amadeus Verlag.
Hear Baroque and contemporary Eastern European choral works from Crescendo on Saturday, October 29 at 4 p.m. at Trinity Church, 484 Lime Rock Road, Lakeville, CT or on Sunday, October 30, at 4 p.m. at Saint James Place, 352 Main St., Great Barrington, MA. Tickets are $40 general admission, $75 premium (preferential seating), and $10 for youth under 18 years. Face coverings required. More information and tickets here.
