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SSEMF presents outstanding early chamber music in
Tacoma 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
Mason United Methodist Church
2025
Salish Sea Early Music Festival in Tacoma ~
Period Instrument chamber music from six centuries
in Tacoma and around the Salish Sea ~ ~ Presented in
collaboration with Mason United Methodist Church ~
~
Concerts at 7:00 PM
★ download updatedflyer
here ~
Sonata
in F minor –
Moderato
Minuet in F major
Sonata in F minor–
Allegro
José
de Nebra (1702 –
1768)
Sinfonia
II in E minor
Sinfonia
VIII in C
Major-minor
Félix
Máximo López
(1742 - 1821)
Variaciones
del Fandango
espanol
The
listener will step into the heart
of 18th-century Iberia, where the
vibrant court of Madrid stood as a
focal point for the flourishing of
rich keyboard music. Domenico
Scarlatti, with his masterful
keyboard sonatas, cast a
considerable shadow over
contemporaneous composers unfairly
labeled as mere imitators.
Sebastian de Albero, Jose de
Nebra, and the Portuguese Carlos
Seixas forged unique voices while
incorporating a wide range of
influences into their work, from
the Spanish Golden Age and Iberian
folklore to Italian virtuosity.
Hidden gems, like Nebra's
symphonies, await discovery. As
Scarlatti's sonatas remain iconic,
the listener will delve into the
overlooked brilliance of these
composers, poised for a deserved
spotlight in the keyboard
repertoire.
Award-winning
harpsichordist Irene Roldán
(www.ireneroldan.com)
was born in southern Spain in 1997.
Described by the press as one of the
most prominent Spanish
harpsichordists on the international
scene (ABC Sevilla), Irene currently
lives and works in Basel,
Switzerland. She gained
international recognition in 2021,
when she won first prize, never
previously awarded in this
competition, as well as the audience
prize at the III. International
Harpsichord Competition «Città di
Milano». In the same year, her
ensemble Flor Galante secured the
first prize at the IV. International
Bach Competition in Berlin. One year
later, Irene was honored with the
prestigious Bach Prize and an
additional special award at the
XXXIII. International Bach
Competition held in Leipzig,
Germany.
Monday,
July 14, 2025 at
7:00 PM:
—
JOHANN
SEBASTIAN BACH & DOMENICO
SCARLATTI
· Irene Roldàn,
harpsichord
· Jeffrey Cohan,
baroque flute
Irene Roldàn and Jeffrey interpret
Bach's phenomenal music for flute
and harpsichord alongside works by
Domenico Scarlatti including works
both for solo harpsichord and with
flute.
Irene
Roldàn’s participation in
these performances has been
made possible with help from
the Honorary Consulate of
Spain in Seattle and from to
the Programme for the
Internationalisation of
Spanish Culture (PICE) of
Acción Cultural Española
(AC/E), which seeks to promote
Spanish culture through the
inclusion of Spanish artists
and creators residing in Spain
in the programming of cultural
events outside of Spain.
~
2026 next season
~
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
~
Monday,
January 20, 2025
at 7:00 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.
Monday,
February 24,
2025 at 7:00 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."
Monday,
March 10,
2025 at 7:00
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.
Monday,
May 5 at 7:00 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.
Tuesday,
May 13
at 7 PM (was May
26): — 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.
Monday,
June 9,
2025
at 7:00 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
highly
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:
Fantasia
11 by Giovanni Bassano (1585)
January 11, 2021
~ updated
June 19, 2025 ~
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~ 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.
Suggested
Donation:
Wednesday,
July 9, 2025 at 7:00
PM:
Tuesday,
May 13
at 7 PM (was May
26): — CONCERTI
from the COURT of
FREDERICK THE
GREAT
17th
Century