Orchestra of St. Luke's Announces 2017 Baroque Chamber Music Series

St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble is adding a two-program Baroque Series to its winter and spring 2017 season. These concerts will be presented at Brooklyn Museum and The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, the acoustically and architecturally notable Greenwich Village church where St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble first performed in 1974 and from which the Ensemble derives its name.

The Vivaldi and Bach concerts (January 29−30, 2017), feature soprano Anna Dennis in two works: J. S. Bach's "Wedding Cantata" and Vivaldi's operatic Motet for Soprano and Strings, O qui coeli terraeque serenitas, thought to have been written during one of his sojourns in Rome during Carnival. The concert showcases the Ensemble in two of its signature pieces, Vivaldi's La Folia Variations and Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2.

The program for Bach and Telemann's Coffeehouse (April 2-3, 2017) is inspired by Café Zimmermann, the celebrated Leipzig coffee-shop, where composer Georg Telemann directed the Collegium Musicum. In the casual atmosphere of the café, the Collegium hosted informal concerts featuring new music by Europe's top composers. Drawn by the quality of the musicians and Zimmermann's notable collection of fine musical instruments, Johann Sebastian Bach was a frequent guest and eventually became the director in 1729. The musicians of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble have chosen a repertoire for this concert to reflect the spirit of the café and to showcase the virtuosity of the ensemble's members. The program includes works by Telemann, J.S. Bach, and his eldest son W.F. Bach.

LISTINGS

I. Vivaldi and Bach
Brooklyn Museum

Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 2:00pm

The Church of St. Luke in the Fields

Monday, January 30, 2017 at 8:00pm

Anna Dennis, Soprano

J.S. BACH Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202 "Wedding Cantata"

VIVALDI Trio Sonata in D Minor, RV 63, "La Folia"
VIVALDI Motet for soprano and strings, O qui coeli terraeque serenitas, RV 61
J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 1067

II. Bach and Telemann's Coffeehouse
Brooklyn Museum

Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 2:00pm

The Church of St. Luke in the Fields

Monday, April 3, 2017 at 8:00pm

TELEMANN Gigue for Solo Violin

J.S. BACH Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1039

TELEMANN Sonata à 4 in A Major

J.S. BACH Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1029

W.F. BACH Overture in G Minor

TICKETS
Available at OSLmusic.org and by calling our box office at 212.594.6100.

Individual Tickets: $40
Two-Concert Subscription: $68 (15% off)

Preferred pricing available for past St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble subscribers & members of Brooklyn Museum.

Check OSLmusic.org for more information.

About Orchestra of St. Luke's and St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble
St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble's 21 virtuoso musicians make up the artistic core of Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL), one of America's most versatile and distinguished orchestras. The ensemble began performing at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields in New York's Greenwich Village in 1974 and grew into a full orchestra at Caramoor Music Festival in 1979 while remaining equally committed to a diverse chamber music repertoire.

OSL collaborates with the world's greatest artists and performs approximately 80 concerts each year-including its Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series and summer residency at Caramoor. In its 42-year history, OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works; has given more than 175 world, U.S., and New York City premieres; and has appeared on more than 100 recordings, including four Grammy Award winners and seven releases on its own label, St. Luke's Collection. Pablo Heras-Casado, named 2014 Conductor of the Year by Musical America, is OSL's principal conductor.

OSL owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, where it shares a building with the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The DiMenna Center is New York City's premier venue for rehearsal, recording, and learning, having quickly gained a reputation for its superb acoustics, state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability. Since opening in 2011, The DiMenna Center has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, including more than 400 ensembles and artists such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, James Taylor, and Sting. OSL hosts hundreds of neighbors, families, and school children at its home each year for free community events.

Through its Education & Community programs, OSL has introduced audiences across New York City to live classical music. OSL brings free chamber concerts to the five boroughs; offers free, interactive events at The DiMenna Center; provides chamber music coaching for adults; and engages 10,000 public school students each year through its Free School Concerts. In 2013, OSL launched Youth Orchestra of St. Luke's (YOSL), an intensive in- and after-school instrumental coaching program emphasizing musical excellence and social development, in partnership with community organizations and public schools in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.

Major support for this series is provided by Richard Gilder and the Ernst C. Stiefel Foundation.

About Anna Dennis
Described by the Times of London as a "delectable soprano and a serene, ever-sentient presence", Anna studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Noelle Barker. Notable concert performances have included Britten's War Requiem at the Berlin Philharmonie, a program of Russian operatic arias with Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, Thomas Adès' Life Story accompanied by the composer at the Lincoln Center's White Light Festival in New York, Orff's Carmina Burana and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with the Orquestra Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney Opera House and with Concerto Copenhagen in Amsterdam, and Haydn's Schöpfung with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. Her BBC Proms appearances include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Recent operatic roles include: Paride/Gluck's Paride ed Elena and Iphigenie/Iphigenie en Tauride (both Nürnberg Internationale Gluck Festspiele), Katherine Dee/Damon Albarn's Dr Dee (English National Opera), Emira/Handel's Siroe and Rosmene/Handel's Imeneo (both with Laurence Cummings, Göttingen Händel Festspiele), Bersi/Andrea Chenier (Opera North) Ilia/ Idomeneo directed by Graham Vick (Birmingham Opera Company), Strawberry Seller & Strolling Player/Britten's Death in Venice (La Scala, Milan). A keen interpreter of contemporary music, Anna has created roles in premieres of Francisco Coll's Café Kafka (Royal Opera House/Opera North/Aldeburgh), Jonathan Dove's The Walk From The Garden (Salisbury Festival) and The Enchanted Pig (Young Vic), Edward Rushton's The Shops (Bregenz Festspiele/Royal Opera House), Will Tuckett's Pleasure's Progress (Royal Opera House), and Yannis Kyriakides' An Ocean of Rain (Aldeburgh Festival/Amsterdam Muziekgebouw).

Her recordings include Rameau's Anacreon of 1754 with the Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment, Handel's Siroeand Joshua with Laurence Cummings and FestspielOrchester Göttingen, and a CD of Russian composer Elena Langer's chamber works, Landscape with Three People on the Harmonia Mundi label.

Performances in the 2016/17 season include major roles in all three Monteverdi operas in John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi 450 anniversary international tour of the trilogy, Schoenberg's 2nd String Quartet at the Auditorio de Tenerife, Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Masaaki Suzuki, and Queen of the Night/The Magic Flute in performances with Clarion Music Society in New York. More at annadennis.com

About Orchestra of St. Luke's and St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble
St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble's 21 virtuoso musicians make up the artistic core of Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL), one of America's most versatile and distinguished orchestras. The ensemble began performing at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields in New York's Greenwich Village in 1974 and grew into a full orchestra at Caramoor Music Festival in 1979 while remaining equally committed to a diverse chamber music repertoire.

OSL collaborates with the world's greatest artists and performs approximately 80 concerts each year-including its Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series and summer residency at Caramoor. In its 42-year history, OSL has commissioned more than 50 new works; has given more than 175 world, U.S., and New York City premieres; and has appeared on more than 100 recordings, including four Grammy Award winners and seven releases on its own label, St. Luke's Collection. Pablo Heras-Casado, named 2014 Conductor of the Year by Musical America, is OSL's principal conductor.

OSL owns and operates The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown Manhattan, where it shares a building with the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The DiMenna Center is New York City's premier venue for rehearsal, recording, and learning, having quickly gained a reputation for its superb acoustics, state-of-the-art facilities, and affordability. Since opening in 2011, The DiMenna Center has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, including more than 400 ensembles and artists such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, James Taylor, and Sting. OSL hosts hundreds of neighbors, families, and school children at its home each year for free community events.

Through its Education & Community programs, OSL has introduced audiences across New York City to live classical music. OSL brings free chamber concerts to the five boroughs; offers free, interactive events at The DiMenna Center; provides chamber music coaching for adults; and engages 10,000 public school students each year through its Free School Concerts. In 2013, OSL launched Youth Orchestra of St. Luke's (YOSL), an intensive in- and after-school instrumental coaching program emphasizing musical excellence and social development, in partnership with community organizations and public schools in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.

Major support for this series is provided by Richard Gilder and the Ernst C. Stiefel Foundation.

About Anna Dennis
Described by the Times of London as a "delectable soprano and a serene, ever-sentient presence", Anna studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Noelle Barker. Notable concert performances have included Britten's War Requiem at the Berlin Philharmonie, a program of Russian operatic arias with Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, Thomas Adès' Life Story accompanied by the composer at the Lincoln Center's White Light Festival in New York, Orff's Carmina Burana and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with the Orquestra Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney Opera House and with Concerto Copenhagen in Amsterdam, and Haydn's Schöpfung with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. Her BBC Proms appearances include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Recent operatic roles include: Paride/Gluck's Paride ed Elena and Iphigenie/Iphigenie en Tauride (both Nürnberg Internationale Gluck Festspiele), Katherine Dee/Damon Albarn's Dr Dee (English National Opera), Emira/Handel's Siroe and Rosmene/Handel's Imeneo (both with Laurence Cummings, Göttingen Händel Festspiele), Bersi/Andrea Chenier (Opera North) Ilia/ Idomeneo directed by Graham Vick (Birmingham Opera Company), Strawberry Seller & Strolling Player/Britten's Death in Venice (La Scala, Milan). A keen interpreter of contemporary music, Anna has created roles in premieres of Francisco Coll's Café Kafka (Royal Opera House/Opera North/Aldeburgh), Jonathan Dove's The Walk From The Garden (Salisbury Festival) and The Enchanted Pig (Young Vic), Edward Rushton's The Shops (Bregenz Festspiele/Royal Opera House), Will Tuckett's Pleasure's Progress (Royal Opera House), and Yannis Kyriakides' An Ocean of Rain (Aldeburgh Festival/Amsterdam Muziekgebouw).

Her recordings include Rameau's Anacreon of 1754 with the Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment, Handel's Siroeand Joshua with Laurence Cummings and FestspielOrchester Göttingen, and a CD of Russian composer Elena Langer's chamber works, Landscape with Three People on the Harmonia Mundi label.

Performances in the 2016/17 season include major roles in all three Monteverdi operas in John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi 450 anniversary international tour of the trilogy, Schoenberg's 2nd String Quartet at the Auditorio de Tenerife, Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Masaaki Suzuki, and Queen of the Night/The Magic Flute in performances with Clarion Music Society in New York. More at annadennis.com

(Photo Credit: St. Luke's Chamber Choir)