The Dryden Ensemble Presents Virtual Lecture-Recital LEYCESTER LYRA VIOL LESSONS

The Dryden Ensemble will continue its virtual concerts when Lisa Terry presents a lecture-recital entitled "Leycester Lyra Viol Lessons" on Sunday, February 14 at 4 pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit their website: drydenensemble.org. Tickets prices range from $10 - $50.

Lisa Terry, in her Valentine's Day recital, plays the bass viol "lyra-way," with melodies and chordal accompaniment just like a lute with a bow, in these 17th century lessons collected by English gentleman Peter Leycester. The program includes typical baroque dance movements like allemandes, courantes and sarabandes, a few settings of folk songs, and some engaging character pieces named after folks such as 'Guilllim', and 'Mr. and Mrs. Daniels'!

Lisa Terry performs and teaches viola da gamba and violoncello in New York City, where she is a member of Parthenia Viol Consort and the Dryden Ensemble (Princeton). Ms. Terry is principal cellist and viol soloist with Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia's baroque orchestra, and she serves the Viola da Gamba Society of America as Past-President. She was a founding member of ARTEK, and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, Juilliard Opera Orchestra, Opera Lafayette, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Winter Park Bach Festival, Bethlehem Bach Festival, Concert Royal, New York Collegium, American Classical Orchestra, Four Nations Ensemble, and Chicago Opera Theatre.

The Dryden Ensemble concludes its virtual concerts on March 21st with Bach's St. John Passion, a rare opportunity to hear the work in a rendition Bach might recognize. The St John Passion is a choral work-but the choir Bach had in mind was not what most people think of today. Bach performed the Passion with a choir of just eight singers, two singers per part, and those eight singers sang all the solo parts as well, including that of the narrator or Evangelist. This is exactly how the Dryden Ensemble scored their performance of the Passion. When a choir like Bach's is used, together with a small orchestra of 18th-century instruments like those he wrote for, the effect is wonderfully direct and personal. Instead of a mass of sound, one hears individual lines emerge from the texture with greater clarity, and the soloists, rather than sitting aloof from the action during the chorales and choruses, are full participants in the heart-rending and cathartic events.

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