The San Francisco Early Music Society Presents Wildcat Viols

The San Francisco Early Music Society's 2017-18 concert season continues the weekend of April 6 with three concerts by WILDCAT VIOLS in a program of music for the viol consort from the second half of the 17th century: Henry Purcell's "Fantazias of four parts," Matthew Locke's "Magnifick consort of four parts," and Giovanni Legrenzi's "Sonate à quatro viole da gamba."

Wildcat Viols performs at 8 p.m. Friday, April 6 at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto; at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7 at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley; and at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 8 at Church of the Advent in San Francisco. Individual tickets from $15 to $45 are available for purchase online at sfems.org.

Formed in 2003, Wildcat Viols brings together three of the Bay Area's most esteemed early string specialists, Joanna Blendulf, Julie Jeffrey and Elisabeth Reed, alongside internationally recognized viol virtuosa Annalisa Pappano who joined the group in 2015. EMAg: The Magazine of Early Music America described their debut concert at the 2004 Berkeley Early Music Festival as a "wonderful offering... beautifully played." In 2010, at the invitation of Artistic Director George Benjamin, Wildcat Viols performed the complete three- and four-part Fantazias of Henry Purcell at the Ojai Music Festival. That same year, Wildcat Viols released their first recording, Fairest Isle, with music by Purcell, Locke and Hingeston.

Wildcat's program spotlights a selection of some of the finest viol consort music, all composed during the period of the viol consort's obsolescence from the European scene in both public and private settings. Modeled after the four-part distribution of most vocal composition, this music includes parts for treble, alto (or high tenor), tenor and bass.

"The viol consort's increasing rarity seemed to invite the special attentions of three of the era's most accomplished composers," writes Jeffrey in a program note. "Matthew Locke, Giovanni Legrenzi and Henry Purcell each possessed a unique musical language that would find perfect expression in the intimately passionate sound-world of the viol ensemble."

NEXT CONCERT

May 4 - 6 | HANA BLAŽÍKOVÁ & BRUCE DICKEY

Soprano Hana Blažíková is one of the world's top vocal specialists in baroque, Renaissance and medieval music, performing with ensembles and orchestras around the world, including Collegium Vocale Gent, Bach Collegium Japan, Sette Voci, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Collegium 1704, among others. Bruce Dickey is one of a handful of musicians worldwide who have dedicated themselves to reviving the cornetto-once an instrument of great virtuosi, but which lamentably fell into disuse in the 19th century. The revival began in the 1950s, but it was largely Dickey who, from the late 1970s, created a new renaissance of the instrument, allowing the agility and expressive power of the cornetto to be heard once again.

In this special event, Dickey and Blažíková perform a program of 17th-century motets and madrigals, as well as some rare, late 17th-century arias from operas and oratorios with obbligato parts written explicitly for the cornetto. Composers include Biagio Marini, Nicolò Corradini, Giovanni Battista Bassani, Giacomo Carissimi, Tarquinio Merula, Alessandro Scarlatti, and Maurizio Cazzati.

?ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO EARLY MUSIC SOCIETY

Founded in 1975, SFEMS is the leading early music community-based service and membership organization in the US. Under the direction of Executive Director Harvey Malloy and President Joyce Johnson Hamilton, it is the focal institution in Northern California for the advancement of historically informed performance of early music. Through its concert series, publications, outreach activities, affiliate support and educational programs, SFEMS encourages the development of amateurs, supports professionals, and increases public involvement and participation in early music. SFEMS is the lead presenter of the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition of early music.

Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

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