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September 20, 2014 (San Diego)—In its 33rd year, San Diego Early Music Society (SDEMS) is significantly expanding its program of concerts by world-class artists, adding a new Adventure Series to its regular International Season, and offering concerts in San Diego’s East County for the first time.
“Our patrons have made it clear that there is a need to be filled for world-class classical music performances in East County,” said SDEMS board president Mark Lester. “The Performing Arts Theater at Cuyamaca College has excellent acoustics and is an intimate, comfortable venue that we think is going to be a great fit for our concerts and very attractive to new audiences.”
SDEMS’ season begins with “O How Glorious,” a concert by the Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble New York Polyphony, on Friday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m., at St. James-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 743 Prospect Street in La Jolla. The program is centered on Victoria’s Missa O quam gloriosum and works by Guerrero, Morales, and Palestrina. This performance marks New York Polyphony’s SDEMS series debut.
Praised for a “rich, natural sound that’s larger and more complex than the sum of its parts,” (National Public Radio) New York Polyphony is regarded as one of the finest vocal chamber ensembles in the world and is currently on a North America tour that includes Washington, D.C. and New York.
Countertenor Geoffrey Williams, tenor Steven Caldicott Wilson, baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert, and bass Craig Phillips “sing with intelligence, subtlety and consummate artistry,” (Richmond Times-Dispatch) applying a distinctly modern touch to repertoire that ranges from austere medieval melodies to cutting-edge contemporary compositions. New York Polyphony released its third album, endBeginning, on BIS Records in early 2012. Featuring rare and never-before recorded works from the Franco-Flemish Renaissance, the album has amassed substantial critical acclaim.
The ensemble has toured extensively, participating in major concert series and festivals throughout North America and Europe. They have been featured on Performance Today for American Public Media, Footprints to Paradise: A Medieval Christmas for Public Radio International, and BBC Radio 3’s In Tune. In December 2011, New York Polyphony made its national television debut on The Martha Stewart Show.
Later that month, SDEMS inaugurates its East County Performances with Quatuor Mosaïques on Friday, October 31, 7:30 p.m. at Cuyamaca College’s Performing Arts Theater, 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway in El Cajon.
Quatuor Mosaïques is the first of three concerts in SDEMS’ new Adventure Series. “Many musicians now perform on both modern and baroque instruments, play romantic music or even contemporary music on period instruments or baroque music on modern instruments,” said SDEMS artistic director Laurent Planchon. “While still presenting the best of what the early music world has to offer in our International Series, we want to cross these bridges too.”
The award-winning Quatuor Mosaïques, arguably the finest string quartet performing 18th- and 19th-century literature on original instruments, will present Haydn’s op. 103 quartet, Mozart’s KV 421 in d-minor, and the Quartet op. 41, no.3 in A, by Robert Schumann. The ensemble uses gut-stringed instruments which, combined with its celebrated musicianship, has cultivated a unique sound.
Formed in 1985, the group is comprised of Austrians Erich Höbarth (violin), Andrea Bischof (violin), and Anita Mitterer (viola), and French cellist Christophe Coin. Quatuor Mosaïques has appeared in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Japan and regularly performs in Vienna, London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and Berlin’s Philharmonic Hall. The group is often featured at such prestigious European festivals as Edinburgh, Salzburg, Luzern, Bremen, Bath, Styriarte Graz, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, and Oslo, among others.
International Series
New York Polyphony: “O How Glorious”
Friday, October 3, 2014
St. James-by-the-Sea
Piffaro: “Fortune My Foe: Ballads, Songs and Dances from Elizabethan England”
Sunday, November 23, 2014
St. James-by-the-Sea
Tapestry: “Song of Songs: Return to the Garden”
Sunday, January 11, 2015
St. James-by-the-Sea
Les Voix Humaines with Charles Daniels: “Perchance to Dream”
Monday, February 16, 2015
St. James-by-the-Sea
Musica ad Rhenum: “Bach Cantatas, Plus”
Friday, March 6, 2015
St. James-by-the-Sea
Concerto Köln: “Baroque Concertos for Harp, Mandolin and Flute”
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College
All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m.
Adventure Series
Quatuor Mosaïques: “Quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Schumann”
Friday, October 31, 2014
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College
The Myriad Trio: “Baroque Rethought”
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College
Eric Hoeprich (clarinet), Tanya Tomkins (cello), Eric Zivian (fortepiano)
“19th-Century Clarinet Trios”
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College
All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets for concerts at St. James-by-the-Sea are $28–$35; tickets for concerts at Cuyamaca College are $18–$25.
Season subscriptions are available, offering the best seats and substantial savings over single-ticket prices.
Student discounts are available throughout the season, subject to availability. Details are on the SDEMS website. Subject to availability, $10 rush tickets in the last two rows of the venue are sold in the last two weeks before a concert. Rush tickets must be booked by phone or purchased at the door. Groups of 10 or more are eligible for 20 percent off regular ticket prices.
Tickets, subscriptions, and information: 619-291-8246 or on the website, www.sdems.org.
About SDEMS
The San Diego Early Music Society is a nonprofit organization founded to showcase the musical treasures of Europe’s medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods, as performed on period instruments and in accordance with historical practice. The Society was established in 1981 and has presented concerts in churches, small halls, museums, and homes—settings for which the music was composed.
SDEMS currently produces the International Series, which brings artists internationally renowned for their performances and recordings in concert each season. World-class vocal and instrumental soloists, ensembles, and chamber orchestras perform an exciting repertoire from various periods and countries.
This year SDEMS has added the Adventure Series, featuring world-class ensembles and soloists performing repertoire from a little later in history, pushing into the Classical and even Early Romantic repertoire.
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