SEATTLE FAITH LUTHERAN
CHURCH
· 8208 - 18th Avenue NE
(206) 523-9636 www.faithseattle.org
Thursdays at 7:30 PM
Suggested
Donation:
$20 to $30
(a free will offering - everyone
welcome)
•
18
and under FREE • SSEMF
presents outstanding early chamber music in
Seattle thanks to your support
The Salish Sea Early Music Festival is a
501(c)3 organization and all donations
are fully tax deductible in accordance
with the law. Your donations are
welcomed at
https://www.salishseafestival.org/donate
.
✣
With special thanks
✣ to
Faith Lutheran Church
2025 Salish Sea Early Music Festival in Seattle ~
Period Instrument chamber music from six centuries in
Seattle and around the Salish Sea ~
~ Presented in
collaboration with Faith Lutheran Church ~
~ Please note that our next concert takes
place on June 12 and not on
June 5. ~
~
Mostly Thursdays (except
March 30 and April 11) at
7:30 PM
★ download updated
flyer here ~
Thursday,
June 12 (not
June 5 as originally
scheduled),
2025 at 7:30 PM:
—FOLK
SONG FROM THREE CENTURIES II
Renaissance
Psalms, Scottish Baroque &
Folk
· Oleg Timofeyev,
renaissance lute, English guitar
& 7-string guitar (1820)
· Jeffrey
Cohan, renaissance,
baroque & 8-keyed flutes
(London, 1820)
Renaissance Psalms (~1620), Irish
and Scottish baroque (~1720) and
folk music as interpreted during
Beethoven's lifetime (~1820) in
part II, a 100% new program of
innovative renditions of settings
from three centuries based on
popular and folk music, performed
on 5 transverse flutes and three
plucked instruments.
In the early 17th century Flutist
Jacob Van Eyck and lutenist
Nicolas Vallet both wrote settings
of and variations on many of the
Psalm tunes from the Geneva
Psalter of the mid-16th century
that were widely sung in churches
100 years later. These are
juxtaposed simultaneously in a
manner that sheds new light on
early 17th-century practice.
James Oswald's "Airs for the
Seasons" consists of four
collections, one for each season,
of about 24 airs or multi-movement
suites, each dedicated to a
particular flower of the season
and radiating the charming
character of the folk melodies of
Oswald's native Scotland. The wire
strung English guitar, so rarely
to be heard today, emerged around
this time as one of the most
prominent instruments of home life
in England, and Oswald's airs
beautifully suit Oleg's instrument
made in 1767 alongside the
one-keyed baroque flute. Likewise,
settings of the popular tunes
written specifically for the
English guitar by Scotsman Robert
Bremner and others are to be
heard, following settings from
several decades earlier of Irish
and Scottish popular melodies by
Burk Thumoth and Francesco
Barsanti on baroque flute and
lute.
Finally, an Eastern European
7-string guitar made in 1820 in
Russia and an eight-keyed flute
made in London in the same year
resonate to variations on popular
tunes by Englishman Charles
Nicholson, American Joseph
Kennedy, Austrian Anton Diabelli
and other virtuoso flutists and
guitarists of Beethoven’s day.
LISTEN:
Oleg Timofeyev
and Jeffrey Cohan play Drouet's God
Save the Queen on
SoundCloud:
Thursday, July 10
at 7:30 PM: — THE
18TH-CENTURY HARPSICHORD IN SPAIN
· Irene
Roldàn, harpsichord
Step into the heart of 18th-century
Iberia, where the vibrant court of
Madrid stood as a focal point for
the flourishing of the rich keyboard
music of Domenico Scarlatti,
Sebastian de Albero, Jose de Nebra,
and the Portuguese Carlos Seixas.
Thursday, July 17 at
7:30 PM: — JOHANN
SEBASTIAN BACH
· Irene Roldàn,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey Cohan,
baroque flute
Spanish harpsichordist Irene Roldàn
from Basel and Jeffrey interpret
Bach's phenomenal music for flute and
harpsichord.
UKRAINE
Olena
Zhukova
It is a great honor to feature
Ukrainian harpsichordist Olena
Zhukova of Kyiv, Ukraine, a
leading harpsichordist and a
tireless ambassador of
early music in her country and
abroad during this
difficult period. She has performed
since the outbreak of full-scale war
in prominent performances sponsored
by distinguished institutions all
around Ukraine, Poland, Austria,
France, Switzerland and Czech
Republic for international festivals
and in collaboration with major
artists, orchestras and opera
productions. Ms. Zhukova is also an
accomplished scholar who published
and presented more than 20 articles,
while devoting herself to her
harpsichord class and chamber music
students as Associate Professor at
both the National Music Academy
of Ukraine and the Gliére
Academy of Music (Kiev), where
she founded the harpsichord class.
Recent engagements during the past
few months alone include Bach's
Goldberg Variations in the
prestigious Organ Hall in
Lviv, Ukraine; the first major
classical performance for the public
in Chernihiv,
Ukraine since the
outbreak of war entitled French
Music in Times of War
and sponsored by the Ambassador of
France, in a newly rebuilt
performance hall in Chernihiv that
had previously been extensively
damaged by a Russian strike at the
beginning of the conflict; and an
involved program, consisting
exclusively of new music in part
composed for her by today's
Ukrainian composers, for Columbia
University’s Global Center in
Paris and its Institute
for Ideas and Imagination.
Ms.
Zhukova will appear in the following
two programs:
Dates
to be announced: —
HARPSICHORD
MYSTERY
(Seattle,
Vancouver and Tacoma only)
· Elena
Zhukova,
harpsichord
The Ukrainian harpsichordist
deciphers mysterious and elusive
rarities as well as standards for
solo harpsichord by Byrd, Couperin,
Rameau and Scarlatti alongside
Ukrainian gems including a
harpsichord sonata by Dmitry
Bortnyansky. [only in Seattle,
Vancouver and Tacoma]
Dates
to be announced: — EUROPEAN
TOUR 1690-1790
· Elena Zhukova,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey Cohan,
baroque flute
An excursion through a century of
transformation and diversity by decade
and culture within the baroque and
classical periods, through the
perspective of composers for
harpsichord and flute from France,
Italy, Scotland, Germany and Ukraine.
~
Earlier concerts this 2025 season
~
Thursday,
January 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM:
— THE
CANZONA
· Vicki
Boeckman, renaissance
recorders
· Tina
Chancey, tenor viol
· Jeffrey
Cohan, renaissance
transverse flutes
· Anna Marsh,
dulcian (renaissance bassoon)
Featuring
special guest renaissance
specialist and innovative
improviser Tina Chancey from
Hesperus in Washington, DC,
this in-depth exploration of
the Italian four-part canzona,
which blossomed in print from
1577 through the mid 1600’s,
traces its development from
1533, when commercial music
printing was in its infancy in
Europe, through 1636 at which
point more “baroque” stylistic
forms such as the sonata and
the suite had begun to
emerged. Canzonas by
Florentino Maschera (1582),
Floriano Canale (1600),
Giovanni Dominico Rognoni
Taegio (1605), Antonio Troilo
(1606), Giovanni Gabrieli
(1608), Girolamo Frescobaldi
(1608), Giovanni Antonio
Cangiasi (1614), Giacomo Biumi
(1624), Nicolo Corradini
(1624), Giovanni Buonamente
(1636) and others are to be
included in the program along
with examples of the earlier
French and Flemish songs of
the early 1500's that inspired
them, including well known
chansons published
specifically for
instrumentalists in 1533, 1577
and 1588, among them Clement
Jannequin’s “Song of the
Birds”. Renaissance winds of
three distinct families along
with the fretted viols provide
an exciting blend and a
distinct character to each of
the four intertwining musical
lines.
Thursday,
February 27,
2025 at 7:30
PM:
— THE
CHACONNE with LES VOIX
HUMAINES
· Susie Napper,
viola da gamba & treble
viol
· Mélisande
Corriveau, viola
da gamba & pardessus de
viol
· Elisabeth
Wright,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey
Cohan, baroque
and renaissance flutes
Les
Voix humaines,
the widely celebrated
prize-winning duo of viols
from Montreal joins us for a
program demonstrating the
chaconne at it's most
poignant, transporting three
important works by Johann
Sebastian Bach to an
entirely new level through
their own transcriptions,
and presenting other
remarkable but rarely heard
repertoire for two viola da
gambas, pardessus de viol,
flute and harpsichord.
The
hypnotic French chaconne that
developed during the reign of
Louis XIV brings the listener
from one emotional realm to
the next in a regular
procession of episodes that
transition gently in an
emotional direction or leap
suddenly with emotion and
stark contrast, now uplifting
or sad, majestic or
introspective, hopeful or
questioning. The pulse may
feel broader, then more
angular, then running with
abandon or pregnant with
poise, always cleverly
evolving in the presentation
of a musical story.
Bach
and Telemann succeed in
bringing this chaconne to a
whole new level, as we'll
experience with "Les Voix
Humaines" in their very own
transcription of Bach's Chaconne
in D Minor for 2 viola
da gambas, originally for solo
violin, and in the chaconne
entitled Modéré from
Telemann's Paris Quartet
No. 12 in E Minor for
flute, pardessus de viole,
viola da gamba and
harpischord. Two outstanding
quartets for two viola da
gambas, flute and harpsichord
celebrating this unusual
combination of instruments
will be heard alongside two
additional transcriptions: for
flute, pardessus de viol and
harpsichord of Bach's Organ
Trio Sonata in D Minor,
and for solo harpsichord of
the Allemande from Bach's D
Major Suite No. 6 for
solo cello.
From
the standpoint of the
Salish Sea Early Music
Festival
and as Tobias Hume asserted
in 1605, "Now to use a
modest shortness, and a
brief expression of my self
to all noble spirits": Les
Voix Humaines is simply
phenomenal!
In
1676, Thomas Mace accurately
expressed their sentiments: "I
have been more Sensibly,
Fervently, and Zealously
Captivated, and drawn into
Divine Raptures, and
Contemplations, by Those
Unexpressible Rhetorical,
Uncontroulable Perswasions,
and Instructions of Musicks
Divine Language."
A perfect description of their
vision of music making, Sloane
wrote c.1794: "There must be
an Order and just Proportion,
Intricacy with Simplicity in
the Component parts, Variety
in the Mass, and Light and
Shadow in the whole, so as to
produce the varied sensations
of gaiety and melancholy, of
wildness and even surprise and
wonder…"
And as Thomas Mace says in
1676: "…When we come to be
Masters… we can command all
manner of Time, at our own
Pleasures; we Then take
Liberty for Humour and good
Adornment-sake, to Break Time;
sometimes Faster, sometimes
Slower, as we perceive, the
Nature of the Thing Requires,
which…adds much Grace and
Luster to the Performance."
Thursday,
March 13,
2025 at 7:30 PM:
—
FRENCH
BAROQUE TRIO SONATAS
with MUSICA ALTA RIPA
· Anne
Röhrig,
violin
· Bernward
Lohr, harpsichord
· Susie
Napper, viola da
gamba
· Jeffrey
Cohan, baroque
flute
French
trio sonatas and quartets
spanning more than 60 years
through the reigns of Louis
XIV and Louis V, alongside a
"Paris Quartet" written by
Georg Philipp Telemann for
his visit to Paris in 1738.
Marin
Marais (1656 – 1728)
—
Trio
C major (1682)
Jean-Baptiste Quentin, the
young (before 1690 – ca.
1742)
—
Trio
in G minor Opus 8 No. 1
(after 1729)
Louis-Gabriel Guillemain
(1705 – 1770)
—
Trio
Sonata No. 3 in D Minor
(1743)
Jean-Marie Leclair l'aîné
(1697 – 1764)
—
Violin
Sonata in A Minor
Joseph Bodin de
Boismortier (1689 – 1755)
—
Trio
Sonata Opus 37 No. 2 in e
minor (1732)
MUSICA
ALTA RIPA
Harpsichordist BERNWARD LOHR
is director of Hanover's
Musica Alta Ripa, one of
Germany's most active and
extensively recorded period
instrument ensembles.
Baroque violinist ANNE
RÖHRIG, leads the
Hannoversche Hofkapelle (the
"Hanover Court Orchestra"),
another of the premier
baroque orchestras that
contributes to the vibrant
early music scene in
Hannover and Northern
Germany. “Hannover”
originally evolved from
"Hohes Ufer", meaning "high
riverbank" or "Alta Ripa" in
Latin. Bernward Lohr and
Anne Röhrig are professors
at music conservatories in
both Hannover and Nuremburg,
Germany. Their more than 30
recordings have garnered
many of the most important
awards in Europe for
recordings including the
Diapason Dòr, the Cannes
Classical Award, the German
Recording Critics' Prize,
and several times the
coveted Echo Klassik Award.
Both were awarded the 2002
Music Award of Lower Saxony.
Thursday,
May 8 at 7:30 PM:
— The
MUSIQUE DE LA CHAMBRE of
LOUIS XIV
· Caroline
Nicolas, viola
da gamba
· William
Simms, baroque
guitar
· Jeffrey
Cohan, baroque
flute
The
MUSIQUE DE LA CHAMBRE of
LOUIS XIV features music
by prominent soloists, all
composers, who frequently
played for Louis XIV,
including the king’s
guitar instructor Robert
De Visée and his Italian
predecessor Francesco
Corbetta, along with a
favorite viola da gambist
at the court, Marin Marais
and his teacher Monsieur
de Sainte-Colombe, as well
as Élisabeth Jacquet de La
Guerre, a young
harpsichordist and one of
the few famous female
musicians of her time
whose playing and
compositions Louis deeply
admired and subsidized.
This program stands apart
in a variety of ways.
Jeffrey Cohan discovered
the earliest known French
solo specifically for the
transverse flute by the
king’s court music
librarian André Danican
Philidor L'Aisné in a
relatively unknown and as
yet unpublished manuscript
which was prepared in 1695
by Philidor himself as a
present from Louis XIV for
the Duke of Bavaria. Marin
Marais asserted that his
music for viola da gamba
might be played on the
transverse flute, as is to
be realized in a Suite
from his first book of
pieces for viola da gamba.
Similarly a sonata by
Jacquet de La Guerre
assumes new resonance in
our realization for
transverse flute, gamba
and guitar. Caroline
Nicolas and William Simms
will perform solos for
viola da gamba and guitar
by De Visée, Corbetta and
Sainte-Colombe.
The French musical
perspective emulated
reason and moderation,
with sensory perception
serving comprehension.
French musicians aspired
to thrill the senses via
the intellect, in a
continual search for grace
and elegance. Dance was
viewed as the consummate
expression of the mastery
of body and mind and the
epitome of aristocratic
art, as evidenced by Louis
XIV's daily dance lessons
for 20 years alongside
frequent guitar lessons.
Every French court and
church musician reflected
musically their
determination to depict
refinement and true
sentiments, while
dispensing with excessive
turbulence and contrast.
All of this contrasted
greatly with the Italian
focus on the direct
expression of emotions via
their virtuoso and
flamboyant approach, which
was indeed admired in some
circles in France.
Thurs,
May 22 at
7:30 PM: — CONCERTI
from the COURT of
FREDERICK THE GREAT
· David
Schrader,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey
Cohan,
baroque flute
· Elizabeth
Phelps,
baroque violin
· Courtney
Kuroda,
baroque violin
· Christine
Moran,
baroque viola
· Susie
Napper,
baroque cello
A concerto by Frederick II,
the monarch of Prussia from
1740, will be included
alongside the Suite in B
Minor by Johann Sebastian
Bach, whose visit to the
king's court in 1747 is
legendary, and concerti by
Frederick's keyboardist Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach for
both harpsichord and flute.
Fantasia
11 by Giovanni Bassano (1585)
January 11, 2021
~ updated
June 1, 2025 ~ Do you receive our
email announcements and flyers?!
Please sign our MAILING LIST (please specify Seattle)
by sending your
address and any other comments to salishseafestival@aol.com
~ thank you!
SSEMF banner:
detail from "The Last Time it
Reached Zero" by James
C. Holl. SSEMF presents
outstanding early
chamber music
on period instruments thanks
to your support.
17th
Century
Thurs,
May 22 at
7:30 PM: — CONCERTI
from the COURT of
FREDERICK THE GREAT