Tempesta di Mare, the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, will open its thirteenth season on October 25 and 26 with Tempesta sings Bach & Praetorius, a program pairing cantatas and vocal concertos by German composers that mark life’s milestones – birth, marriage, death – and the passage of time. The ensemble will also present the modern premiere performance of a cantata by Johann Rosenmüller. Joining the Tempesta di Mare Chamber Players will be a noteworthy line-up of vocal soloists – soprano Laura Heimes, countertenor Drew Minter, tenor Aaron Sheehan and bass David Newman. The program will be presented at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill (25th) and at the American Philosophical Society in Center City (26th).

“This is the kind of program that makes our mouths water for months leading up to it, the music is that delicious,” comments Tempesta di Mare’s Artistic Co-Director Richard Stone. “Praetorius is a special treat, since we never have programmed his music before. I love his take on that Venetian sacred style you’d hear in Monteverdi’s Vespers, and how he transforms an approach to sacred music for Catholic consumption into something more broadly ecumenical while still preserving everything that’s exciting in the Italian models. That said, I don’t know what’s more energizing: our first go at Praetorius or doing the first modern performance of the Rosenmüller wedding cantata.”

The program includes two contrasting cantatas by J. S. Bach, the rarely performed Durchlauchtigster Leopold (Most illustrious Leopold), and the church cantata Komm du süsse Todesstunde (Come, sweet hour of death). Durchlauchtigster Leopold (BWV 173a) is a festive birthday serenata that celebrates life’s beginning and subsequent annual recurrence. The work was dedicated to the young prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, Bach’s patron from 1717 – 1723, and on this occasion will feature soprano Laura Heimes and bass David Newman. A devout Lutheran, Bach wrote Komm, du süße Todesstunde (BWV 161) during his tenure at the Weimar court. It is a reflective affirmation of the composer’s faith and features two middle-range voices, on this occasion countertenor Drew Minter and tenor Aaron Sheehan.

Extending its impressive record of presenting modern premiere performances of baroque repertoire, Tempesta di Mare will perform the US premiere of Johann Rosenmüller’s wedding cantata, Es muß dir, wertes Paar (You must, worthy couple), composed for the 1646 marriage of the Scotsman Robert Douglas, major general of the Swedish army during the 30 Years War, to Hedvig Mörner, a Swedish noble woman. A generation older than Bach, Rosenmüller was for a time the cantor and organist at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Bach was later Kappellmeister. Subsequently, Rosenmüller was employed at St. Mark’s and taught at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. Many of his works were influenced by the 17th-century Italian style, as is this cantata. Featuring a virtuoso vocal quartet, the modern score for this performance was prepared by Richard Stone from manuscript partbooks held at the Upsala University Library in Sweden.

The program will open and close with two vocal concertos by Michael Praetorius that celebrate the new year: Nun helft mir Gottes Gütes preisen (Now help me praise God’s grace) and Das alte Jahr ist nun vergahn (The old year is now gone by). Praetorious’ little-performed vocal music is among the most profound of its genre from the early baroque era. Both concertos, which feature the full ensemble of vocalists and instrumentalists, are underpinned with traditional German hymn tunes which bear the same titles.

TEMPESTA DI MARE PHILADELPHIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHAMBER PLAYERS
Fanfare magazine has hailed Tempesta di Mare for its “abundant energy, immaculate ensemble, impeccable intonation, and an undeniable sense of purpose.” Led by directors Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone with concertmaster Emlyn Ngai, Tempesta performs baroque music on baroque instruments with a repertoire that ranges from staged opera to chamber music. The group performs all orchestral repertoire without a conductor, as was the practice when this music was new.

Tempesta’s Philadelphia Concert Series, noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer for its “off-the-grid chic factor,” emphasizes creating a sense of discovery for artists and audiences alike. Launched in 2002, the series has included 31 modern “world premieres” of lost or forgotten baroque masterpieces, leading the Inquirer to describe it as “an old-music group that acts like a new- music group, by pushing the cutting edge back rather than forward.” Its supporters include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the William Penn Foundation, the Presser Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In a marketplace dominated by European ensembles, Tempesta is the only American baroque music group to record for the prestigious British-based Chandos label. Releases include Weiss: Lute Concerti (2004), Handel: Flaming Rose (2007), Scarlatti: Cantatas and Chamber Music (2010), and Fasch: Orchestral Music, vol.1 (2008), vol.2 (2011) and vol.3 (2012), and Mancini: Solos for a Flute (2014). The most recent release, Bach Trio Sonatas (2014), was praised by Gramophone for its “contrapuntal kaleidoscope of clockwork precision.”

Live performances have been broadcast nationally on SymphonyCast, Performance Today, Sunday Baroque and Harmonia. Tempesta di Mare’s concert recordings are distributed worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union, the world’s foremost alliance of public service media organizations, with members in 56 countries in Europe and beyond.

Tempesta di Mare has toured from Oregon to Prague. Notable recent appearances have included the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany; the group’s New York debut at the Frick Collection; the orchestra’s first European tour to the International Fasch Festival in Zerbst and a sold-out appearance on the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series in Hartford, Connecticut.

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For further information, image or interview requests please contact Melanne Mueller, MusicCo International, 917 907 2785, melanne@musiccointernational.com 

For further details about Tempesta di Mare, please visit http://tempestadimare.org

PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Saturday, October 25, 2014, 8:00 pm — The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill,
8855 Germantown Avenue
Sunday, October 26, 2014, 4:00 pm — American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street
Tempesta sings Bach & Praetorius
J. S. Bach Durchlauchter Leopold!, BWV 173a / Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161
Praetorius Nun helft mir Gottes Gütes preisen (1619) / Das alte Jahr ist nun vergahn (1621)
Johann Rosenmüller Es muß dir, wertes Paar *
with
Laura Heimes soprano
Drew Minter countertenor
Aaron Sheehan tenor
David Newman bass
* modern-day premiere performance

Single tickets $24, $34; students $0; also available as part of a Season Pass