Great Barrington — If you think sacred music can’t be festive, you should check in with Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of the Crescendo Music Program based at Trinity Church in Lakeville, Conn., which will present a program of festive Baroque music for chorus, soloists, and period instrument orchestra in Great Barrington on October 28 and in Lakeville on October 29. With just a few polychoral motets and a couple of oratorio excerpts, Ms. Gevert et al. will show you all you need to know about festive sacred music. Then comes an assortment of choruses from some of the most famous Baroque operas, and these, too, engender a festive (if occasionally naughty) atmosphere.
Christine Gevert is Music Director at Trinity Church, where she leads the Crescendo Chorus and Period Instrument Orchestra, whose performances have earned critical praise for over two decades. However, it was Crescendo’s programming that in 2014 earned it an award for innovation from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). The innovation continues, with regular performances of rarely heard early music, because Gevert is an indefatigable curator of obscure musical gems, and she keeps coming up with unexpected repertoire that you will hear almost nowhere else on earth.
On October 28 at Trinity Church in Lakeville and October 29 at Saint James Place in Great Barrington, Crescendo will perform music from Italy, Germany, France, England, and the New World—works that gave Baroque music its distinctive texture and flavor. These pieces were written to be performed on especially solemn or celebratory occasions.
Here are a few program highlights:
- Double choir pieces by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Manuel de Zumaya (Mexico)
- J.S. Bach’s “Gloria”
- Works by Domenico Zipoli (Paraguay/Argentina)
- Works by Antonio Vivaldi and Georg Philipp Telemann
Following these mostly sacred works, the group will perform excerpts from celebrated Baroque operas by
- Henry Purcell
- Peruvian composer Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco (author of the the first Latin American opera)
- Jean-Philippe Rameau
- Christoph Willibald Gluck
Performing this program will be Crescendo Chorus and Period Instrument Orchestra, sopranos Christina Kay (New York City) and Jewish early music specialist Alicia DePaolo (Philadelphia), countertenor Augustine Mercante (Philadelphia), tenor Gregório Taniguchi (New York City), and bass-baritone Anicet Castel (Paris/New York City), with Ms. Gevert conducting.
Gevert says, “The program is intended to touch upon a wide range of emotions and topics; and the fast-paced change between works, genres, composers, and styles should offer something for everyone to enjoy.”
Hear the Crescendo Chorus and Period Instrument Orchestra in Lakeville, Conn. and Great Barrington, performing festive Baroque music on Saturday, October 28, 4 p.m., at Saint James Place, Great Barrington, and on Sunday, October 29, 4 p.m., at Trinity Church, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville, CT (parking through Dugway Rd. entrance). A reception with the performers will follow both concerts.
For more information, visit Crescendo’s website or call (860) 435-4866.
