Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Albany Consort to Return to Noontime Concerts

The members of the Albany Consort with insets of The Whole Noyse (above left) and the St Bede’s choir (above right) (from the Noontime Concerts event page for this program)

According to my records, I have not written about the Albany Consort since March of 2018. On that occasion they brought a highly innovative instrumental version of Johann Sebastian of Bach’s BWV 988 set of 30 (“Goldberg”) variations on an aria theme to Noontime Concerts. That offering was impressive enough to land the March entry in my “Memorable Concerts of 2018” article.

Later this month the Albany Consort will return to Noontime Concerts to present a program featuring the music of Claudio Monteverdi. The group was co-founded by Jonathan Salzedo and his wife Marion Rubinstein in 1974. Salzedo plays harpsichord, and Rubinstein doubles between organ and recorder. They will be joined by Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo (their daughter) and Rachel Hurwitz on violin and Roy Whelden on gamba.

There will also be six vocal soloists, all section leaders in the choir for St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Menlo Park, led by alto Katherine McKee. The other vocalists will be sopranos Katina Mitchell and Naomi Braun, tenors Dan Stanley and Colby Roberts, and bass Chris Filipowicz. Finally, additional instrumentation will be provided by The Whole Noyse, whose members are Stephen Escher on cornetto, Richard van Hessel and Michael Cushing on sackbuts, and Herb Meyers doubling between dulcian and viola.

The program will combine two secular offerings from Monteverdi’s eighth book of madrigals, “Altri canti d’Amor” (let others sing of Cupid) and “Altri canti di Marte” (let others sing of Mars). (The eighth book combined madrigals about war with those about love.) These will be complemented by two sacred selections from Selva morale e spirituale (moral and spiritual forest), “Beatus Vir” (blessed is the man) and “Confiteor tibi” (thanks to thee). In addition there will be instrumental selections by Girolamo Frescobaldi, Giovanni Gabrieli, and Salamone Rossi.

Like all events in the Noontime Concerts series, the performance will take place in the sanctuary of Old Saint Mary’s beginning at 12:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, January 14. The cathedral is located at 660 California Street, on the northeast corner of Grant Street. There is no charge for admission, but this concert series relies heavily on donations to continue offering its weekly programs.

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