The Bruce Porter Memorial Music Series will present Treasures of the Baroque, with Les Amies de Theodore,at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 22 at the South Campus of Granby Congregational Church, 242 Salmon Brook Street.
Les Amies de Theodore musicians have performed early music on period instruments for many decades. The ensemble consists of Leonor Snow, of Newington, on Baroque flute; Deborah Robin, of West Hartford, on recorders; Laura Mazza-Dixon, of Granby, on viola da gamba; and Anne Mayo, of Cromwell, on harpsichord.
Guest artists Berit Strong, of Acton, Mass., on lute and viola da gamba, and Asher Scarlato, of Windsor, on harpsichord and organ, join them to present music of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries by beloved composers of France, England, Germany, Spain and Italy.
For this concert, lutenist Berit Strong will perform the Frog Galliard and the Lachrimae Pavane by John Dowland (1563-1626), an English composer at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.
Leonor Snow will perform the Troisième Suite in G by Parisian composer and flautist Jacques Hotteterre (1674-1763).
Deborah Robin will perform the Première Concert Royal by François Couperin (1668-1733) from a set of chamber concerts written for the court of Louis XIV.
Anne Mayo will present Couperin’s unforgettable masterpiece Les Barricades Mysterieuse for solo harpsichord.
Laura Mazza-Dixon will play the Adagio from Sonata II by Johannes Schenck (1660-1712), a viola da gamba virtuoso from Amsterdam.
Robin and Snow will play a Trio Sonata in C by Johann J. Quantz (1697-1773), flutist and flute teacher in the court of King Frederick the Great.
Two improvisatory pieces by Spanish composer Diego Ortiz (1510-1576) with Mazza-Dixon on viola da gamba, will be followed by the entire ensemble playing Las Folias by Neapolitan composer Andrea Falconieri (1585-1656).
The highlight of the concert will be Asher Scarlato’s performance of the Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (BWV 542) by J.S. Bach (1685-1750). J.S. Bach may have improvised this fugue as part of an audition for a position in Hamburg, Germany. Sixteen-year-old Asher recently performed it at Westminster Choir College in a solo recital. This is a performance you do not want to miss!
Thanks to the support of the Granby Congregational Church, the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the Granby Education Foundation, the concerts are free, with a suggested donation of $20. The sanctuary is handicapped accessible from a side entrance.
For more information contact the church office at 860-653-4537 or mazzadixon@gmail.com