Going for Baroque with Bach, Leonarda and Handel
You’d think that after 53 years on the podium there’d be nothing left for Howard Dyck to conduct.
Well, in fact, he’s had something on his bucket list since, oh, let’s say, the early 1970s. And that something happens to be Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Easter Oratorio.”
This Saturday, April 22 at 8 p.m., Dyck will go for Baroque (ba-dum ching) when he leads the Kitchener-Waterloo-based Nota Bene Baroque Singers and Players plus Hamilton-based tenor Bud Roach’s Capella Intima in his longawaited shot at Bach’s “Easter Oratorio” BWV 249 “Kommt, eilet und laufet” (“Come, hasten and run”) at a run-out concert in St. James Anglican, 137 Melville St., Dundas. The all-Bach bill is appropriately entitled, “Bach Resounding: An Easter Celebration.”
“It’s a fun program,” said Dyck over the line from his Waterloo home about the bill, which also includes Cantata BWV 66 “Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen” (“Rejoice, You Hearts”), another work he’s never conducted before, and Cantata BWV 51 “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” (“Praise ye God in Every Nation”). “It was an opportunity to do stuff I had never had the chance to do and would like to do.”
The festive “Easter Oratorio” (Dyck is using Bach’s final 1749 version) is written for chorus, orchestra and vocal soloists. Unlike his “Christmas Oratorio,” the “Easter Oratorio” has no Evangelist who unfolds the Resurrection narrative, but four characters, each sung by a different voice part. And here’s where Capella Intima’s four voices come to the fore. Roach will sing Simon Peter, bass David Roth will take on John the Apostle, alto Jennifer Enns-Modolo will sing Mary Magdalene, while soprano Sheila Dietrich will be heard as “the other Mary.” These four singers will also be among the 16-voice Nota Bene Baroque Singers who’ll be accompanied by the 15 to 17 piece Nota Bene Baroque Players.
The concert will open with Cantata BWV 66 for alto, tenor and bass solo with chorus and orchestra. Thereafter, Dietrich will be heard in Cantata BWV 51, a veritable tour de force for solo soprano, trumpet and orchestra, which Bach marked “for the 15th Sunday after Trinity and at any time.” Though its text is not Easter-specific, this jubilant work can easily stand amid BWV 66 and 249. The solo trumpet part will be entrusted to Hamilton-born, Torontobased Baroque trumpeter Paul Sanvidotti. Both he and Dietrich have previously performed BWV 51, to great effect, Sanvidotti playing it off book. Tickets: $35. Note well that students with ID enter free.
On Thursday, April 27 at 8 p.m. in St. Anthony of Padua Church, 165 Prospect St. N., the 17-voice, 5piece Cappella Musicale del Duomo di Novara (Italy) under the direction of Paolo Monticelli, performs the “Vespro della Beata Vergine” and other works by Baroque composer Isabella Leonarda.
Yes, Virgina, there were female composers back in the Baroque era. Born Isabella Calegari in 1620 in Novara, she became Isabella Leonarda in 1636 when she entered the Sant’Orsola convent where she moved up the ranks to consigliera in 1700, four years before her death. She composed over 200 works, published in some 20 collections.
The concert, in celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial, is being generously sponsored by several organizations including the Festitalia Corporation — Hamilton. And thanks to them, you won’t go broke with admission. Entrance is free.
Howard Dyck, the Nota Bene Baroque Singers & Players plus Capella Intima What: Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Cantatas 66 and 51 When: Saturday, April 22 at 8 p.m. Where: St. James Anglican, 137 Melville St., Dundas Cost: $35, students with ID free
On Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Canadian Martyrs Roman Catholic Church, 38 Emerson St., Stéphane Potvin leads his 12voice, 9-instrument Musikay ensemble in a beloved Baroque masterpiece, Handel’s “Messiah.”
Wondering why now, when “Messiah” is often done to death just before Christmas? Well, comfort ye. Musikay’s annual “Messiah” is taking place after Easter because Handel premièred “Messiah” 19 days after Easter in 1742 in Dublin, Ireland. OK, OK, that première was in a concert hall (Fishamble Street Musick Hall). Potvin’s soloists are soprano Kira Braun, alto Madison Arsenault, tenor Michael P. Taylor, and bass Maciej Bujnowicz. Tickets: $35, senior $30, under 35 $15, family $70 (two adults with children 17 and under). Musikay also has a postsecondary student summer job opening for administrative assistant. Log on to musikay.ca.