The Sebastians Announce 2023–24 Season Featuring Works by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel And More

The vibrant and innovative early music group the Sebastians today announced their 2023-24 season, which features cherished masterpieces and seldom-heard treasures from the baroque and classical eras.

Led by Artistic Director Jeffrey Grossman, the season offers a mix of large-scale ensemble works and intimate chamber music selections. Following last year's tenth anniversary season - the most programmatically ambitious to date - the ensemble presents eight full-length concerts, half of which offer interdisciplinary collaborations with non-musical artists.

The New York City season kicks off on Saturday, September 9, 2023, at 5PM with The Five Concerti, a dazzling display of works for solo instruments and orchestra, featuring Bach's Brandenburg Concerti 3, 5, and 6, Vivaldi's Concerto for two cellos in G minor, and Handel's Concerto grosso, op. 3, no. 3. These expansive and virtuosic works by three titans of the baroque embody the grandeur of 18th century courtly music. With soaring solos for cello, harpsichord, violin, flute, and more, the showy and fun program highlights the full capabilities of almost every instrument that comprises the ensemble. Soloists include Ezra Seltzer and Sarah Stone (cello), Jessica Troy and Kyle Miller (violas), David Ross (flute), and Beth Wenstrom (violin), with Artistic Director Jeffrey Grossman at the harpsichord. The performance will also be repeated in Gretna, Pennsylvania, as the season finale of the Gretna Music Festival on September 10.

The season continues on Sunday, October 8, 2023, at 5PM with Obsession and Legacy, an exploration of Arcangelo Corelli's musical impact across Europe in the 18th century. Alongside Corelli, the Sebastians perform works by his predecessor, Colista, and music by Jacquet de La Guerre, Couperin, Handel, and Vivaldi, all of whom were directly influenced by Corelli's compositional style and structure. Between musical selections, director/dramaturg Ivey Lowe will be curating contemporary scenes inspired by Corelli's fame. This unique blending of music and theatrical scenes for two actors is a first for the ensemble. The program features the Sebastians' core quartet - Founding Director Daniel S. Lee (violin), Nicholas DiEugenio (violin), Ezra Seltzer (cello), and Artistic Director Jeffrey Grossman (harpsichord). The performance follows a musical residency at University of Delaware on October 7 and 8, 2023.

Rounding out the fall season, the Sebastians team up with esteemed Yale Voxtet for Voices of Versailles on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 5PM. The afternoon of elegantly luxurious French chamber music centers around Charpentier's La Couronne de fleurs, H. 486 for eight voices and chamber ensemble, and also includes works by Lully and François Couperin. The Sebastians' colorful instrumentation comprises strings, oboes, recorders, harpsichord, and theorbo, alongside Yale Institute of Sacred Music's vocal octet. This concert is the first partnership between the two ensembles.

"We're rarely satisfied to just pick one big piece and call it a concert: our programs interweave different baroque composers, often from distant time periods or homelands, to inspire audiences and revitalize these pieces from our past - making baroque music as exciting as the day it was written," said Artistic Director Jeffrey Grossman. "I'm particularly excited to be kicking off the year with a big concerto program and ending with the return of The 24 Violins, two grand concerts that showcase our approach to programming and juxtaposing baroque masterpieces."

The Sebastians' season continues into 2024 on January 6, 2024, with Vivaldi's Four Seasons; on February 17 and 18, 2024, with Bach's complete solo sonatas and partitas for violin with works by his contemporaries; on April 13, 2024, with duo works for harpsichord and violin by Corelli and Rameau; and concludes with a new iteration of last season's wildly popular The 24 Violins on May 11, 2024, with works by Lully, Muffat, and Corelli. The winter / spring season also involves interdisciplinary collaborations featuring photography and painting.

Concert Information

The Five Concerti
Saturday, September 9, 2023, at 5PM
Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church
152 West 66th St.
New York, NY, 10023
Link: https://www.sebastians.org/event/the-five-concerti/

Program:
Bach, Brandenburg Concerti 3, 5, and 6
Vivaldi, Concerto for two cellos in G minor
Handel, Concerto grosso, op. 3, no. 3

Artists:
David Ross, flute
Daniel Lee, Mandy Wolman, Beth Wenstrom, violin
Jessica Troy, Kyle Miller, and Alissa Smith, viola
Ezra Seltzer, cello
Sarah Stone and Adrienne Hyde, cello and viola da gamba
Nathaniel Chase, violone
Jeffrey Grossman, harpsichord

Obsession and Legacy
Sunday, October 9, 2023, at 5PM
Alchemical Studios
50 West 17th Street, 12th floor
New York, NY, 10011
Link: https://www.sebastians.org/event/obsession-and-legacy/

Program:
Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata in G major, op. 2, no. 12
Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre: Violin Sonata in D minor, no. 1
François Couperin: Le Parnasse ou l'Apothéose de Corelli
Lelio Colista: Trio Sonata in G major, W-K 16
Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata in B minor, op. 3, no. 4
George Frideric Handel: Violin Sonata in D major, HWV 37
Antonio Vivaldi: Sonata "La Folia," op. 1, no. 12, RV 63

Artists:
Daniel Lee, violin
Nicholas DiEugenio, violin
Ezra Seltzer, cello
Jeffrey Grossman, harpsichord
Ivey Lowe, director and dramaturg

Voices of Versailles
Saturday, October 18, 2023, at 5PM
Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church
152 West 66th St.
New York, NY, 10023
Link: https://www.sebastians.org/event/voices-of-versailles/

Program:
Works by Charpentier, Lully, Couperin, and others

Artists:
TBD, oboe and recorder
Daniel Lee and Nicholas DiEugenio, violin
Jessica Troy, viola
Ezra Seltzer, cello
Nathaniel Chase, violone
TBD, theorbo
Jeffrey Grossman, harpsichord
The Yale Voxtet, personnel to be announced

Additional information about the Sebastians' winter / spring concerts will be announced later this fall.

Tickets are available at sebastians.org: In-person + digital: $30-$50; Digital only: $20. Students of any age can attend concerts for free by emailing music@sebastians.org (limited availability); Those who would like to attend concerts but cannot afford a ticket, community comp tickets can be requested by emailing music@sebastians.org (limited availability).

The Sebastians' concerts are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

The Sebastians' concerts are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Sebastians are a dynamic and vital musical ensemble specializing in music of the baroque and classical eras. Lauded as "everywhere sharp-edged and engaging" (The New York Times), the Sebastians have also been praised for their "well-thought-out articulation and phrasing" (Early Music Review) and "elegant string playing... immaculate in tuning and balance" (Early Music Today). Their 2018 unconducted St. Matthew Passion with TENET Vocal Arts was called "shattering" and "a performance of uncommon naturalness and transparency." The Sebastians' recent seasons have included dozens of originally conceived programs, including collaborations with poets, choreographers, and actors; a musical installation in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; programs dealing with musical "immigration" and nationalism; and major works of J.S. Bach led from the keyboard. The Sebastians are currently in residence at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments.

Keyboardist and conductor Jeffrey Grossman specializes in vital, engaging performances of music of the past, through processes that are intensely collaborative and historically informed. As the artistic director of the acclaimed baroque ensemble the Sebastians, in recent seasons Jeffrey has directed concerts including Bach's St. John and St. Matthew Passions and Handel's Messiah from the organ and harpsichord, in collaboration with TENET Vocal Artists, and he is a frequent performer with TENET, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and numerous other ensembles across the country. Recent seasons include his conducting operas of Haydn and Handel with Juilliard Opera, leading Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with the Green Mountain Project in New York and Venice, and conducting a workshop of a new Vivaldi pastiche opera for the Metropolitan Opera. As musical director for the 2023 and 2019 Boston Early Music Festival Young Artists Training Program, he conducted Jacquet de La Guerre's Cephale et Procris and Handel's Orlando from the harpsichord. For thirteen seasons, he toured portions of the rural United States with artists of the Piatigorsky Foundation, performing outreach concerts to underserved communities. Jeffrey can be heard on the Avie, Gothic, Naxos, Albany, Soundspells, Métier, and MSR Classics record labels. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he holds degrees from Harvard College, the Juilliard School, and Carnegie Mellon University. Jeffrey teaches performance practice at Yale University.

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