Handel Choir Of Baltimore to Present Cellist Amit Peled In World Premiere Concerto By Joshua Bornfield

On Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 4:00pm, the Handel Choir of Baltimore, in collaboration with Community Concerts at Second, presents Song of the Birds: A Pablo Casals Tribute at Second Presbyterian Church featuring acclaimed Baltimore-based cellist Amit Peled in the world premiere of Baltimore-based composer Joshua Bornfield's Houses of Peace. The program also includes works by Hindemith, Brahms, Lauridsen, and James Lee III, as well as Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major featuring Peled. From 2012 through 2018, Amit Peled performed on the Pablo Casals 1733 Goffriller cello.

Both Bach and Catalan folksong serve as primary musical inspiration for Houses of Peace, Joshua Bornfield's homage to Pablo Casals. Its six-movement structure echoes Bach's G Major Cello Suite, its dances reordered. After introducing musical materials in the prelude "Light and Darkness," Bornfield strikes up a menacing gigue. The falling melodies of "Gernika" parallel the descent into the horrors of war, as well as the Nazi shells that decimated this Basque town. Fragments of Casals' beloved encore, the Song of the Birds, appear throughout Houses of Peace, culminating in the third movement's theme and variations. The optimistic latter half of the work is a reflection of the darkness experienced thus far. The rising lines of Chorale: "Or Zarua" invert the second movement's theme, beginning the cello's lengthy ascent into the upper extremes of its range. This climb continues into "Light," sung entirely in Casals' native Catalan. Bornfield is again Bach's muse, now via the throbbing heartbeat of the St. Matthew Passion's closing chorus.

Joshua Bornfield is a composer, performer, educator, and arts advocate based in Baltimore, Maryland. He has had works commissioned by organizations as varied as Washington National Opera and wildUp. He has won awards for his orchestral, choral, and chamber music. Bornfield regularly performs with multiple choral and vocal ensembles such as critically acclaimed chamber ensemble Third Practice, Handel Choir of Baltimore, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, The Choir of St. David's Church (Baltimore), and Maryland Choral Society. He is a faculty mentor at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and directs the War Memorial Arts Initiative, an arts advocacy program supported by Baltimore City's Department of General Services.

Program Information

Song of the Birds: A Pablo Casals Tribute
Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 4:00 pm
Second Presbyterian Church | 4200 Saint Paul Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $42 Premium, $32 Standard, $10 Student
Link: https://handelchoir.org/song-of-the-birds/

Performers:

Handel Choir of Baltimore
Brian Bartoldus, conductor
Amit Peled, cello

Program:

Boulanger - Hymne au soleil
Hindemith - Six chansons
Monteverdi - Dolcissimo usignolo
Byrd - This Sweet and Merry Month of May
Brahms - O Schöne Nacht
Morten Lauridsen - Sure on this Shining Night
James Lee III - Create in Me a Clean Heart
Brahms - Schaffe in mir Gott ein rein Herz
Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major
Amit Peled, cello
Joshua Bornfield - Houses of Peace (World Premiere)
Amit Peled, cello

Meet the Artists:

Composer Joshua Bornfield will present a pre-concert lecture one hour before the concert, and a reception for performers and audience members immediately follows the concert; both are open to all ticket holders.

About Amit Peled
Israeli-American cellist, conductor, and pedagogue Amit Peled, a musician of profound artistry and charismatic stage presence, is acclaimed worldwide as one of the most exciting and virtuosic instrumentalists on the concert stage today. He has been named Music Director for CityMusic Cleveland for the 2019-2020 season.

Highlights of Peled's 2019-2020 season include over twenty concerto appearances around the world; recitals with pianist Noreen Polera; the world premiere of Joshua Bornfield's Houses of Peace with the Händel Choir of Baltimore; Haydn's Cello Concerto at the Silver Lyre International Festival of Chamber Music in Saint Petersburg, Russia; the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Fundación de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Chile; a Bach Suites recital in Estonia; his Journey With My Jewishness program in Greensboro, NC and Baltimore, MD; and a Beethoven cycle with pianist Alon Goldstein in Mexico. In addition to his conducting debut with CityMusic Cleveland, Peled's conducting engagements this season include a debut with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and leading his own Mount Vernon Virtuosi. Peled also performs this season with the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio in Washington, D.C.; Yellow Springs, Ohio; and New York, NY.

In 2017, Peled published a children's book, A Cello Named Pablo, written by Marni Fogelson and illustrated by Avi Katz. It follows Peled's journey from the basketball courts of rural Israel to the world's great concert halls playing one of the most famous instruments of all time and continuing the legacy of Pablo Casals.

The Amit Peled Cello Gang is composed of students from Peled's studio at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught since 2003 and was one of the youngest professors ever hired by a major conservatory. Peled and the Cello Gang record in professional studios and tour regularly around the country, performing concerti, cello choir repertoire, and more in an effort to give the conservatory students more professional experience. Peled is also the founder, conductor, and artistic director of the Mount Vernon Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra dedicated to launching the careers of recently graduated music students. Peled is a founding member of the famed Tempest Trio with pianist Alon Goldstein and violinist Ilya Kaler.

Peled's extensive discography includes critically acclaimed CDs on the Naxos, Centaur, CAP, CTM Classics, and Delos Labels. His recording, To Brahms with Love... From the Cello of Pablo Casals (CAP Records, June 2018), features Brahms' Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 with pianist Noreen Polera. Peled released a recording of Bach's iconic Cello Suites Nos. 1-3 on the Casals cello in February 2019, which AllMusic called "an important new statement in the history of these works." Upcoming album releases include a recording of the Cassado cello sonatas for Naxos and the second installment of the Bach Suites for CTM Classics.

Peled lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and children and performs on the only known copy of the "Servais" Stradivarius by Vuillaume ca. 1865. For more information, visit www.amitpeled.com.

About Handel Choir of Baltimore
Handel Choir of Baltimore is a critically acclaimed choral ensemble that presents performances of Handel's Messiah with the Handel Period Instrument Orchestra, as well as other major choral and choral-orchestral works. In addition to its subscription concerts, Handel Choir maintains an active presence in the Greater Baltimore community, performing at civic events, educational programs, concert series and retirement communities. The ensemble's repertoire spans the Renaissance to the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on the music of the Baroque. Handel Choir has enjoyed collaborations with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, American Opera Theater, Peabody Early Music, Baltimore Baroque Band, Children's Chorus of Maryland, Harmonious Blacksmith, and UMBC Camerata.

Under the artistic direction of Brian Bartoldus, Handel Choir continues its focus on authentic performance practice with the Handel Period Instrument Orchestra, founded by Artistic Director Emerita Melinda O'Neal. Its seasoned musicians, performing on replicas of Baroque instruments, provide a fresh glimpse into the contemporary soundscapes of Bach, Handel, and other celebrated masters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Such specialization imbues performances with a rare vitality, employing phrasing, ornamentation, and rhetorical shape that differ noticeably from the vast majority of modern performances. Handel Choir is Baltimore's exclusive ensemble dedicated to the performance of Baroque choral-orchestral works with such authenticity.

The continuing development of the choral repertoire is central to Handel Choir's mission. As such, Handel Choir has commissioned and premiered several new choral works in recent years, including Requiem for the Fallen by Jonathan Leshnoff, Song of the Shulamite by Donald McCollough, and Houses of Peace by Joshua Bornfield. Maestro Bartoldus is particularly committed to engaging with composers from the Baltimore region, as well as championing composers from historically underrepresented groups. He is proud to perform and premiere works by such talented and celebrated colleagues as Roxanna Panufnik, Joshua Bornfield, Tawnie Olson, and James Lee III. Learn more at www.handelchoir.org.

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