Tempesta di Mare, the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, opens its fourteenth season October 23 and 24 with Zimmermann’s Coffeehouse, a nod to the famous Leipzig venue that provided the backdrop for first performances of many of J. S. Bach’s secular cantatas and instrumental works, three of which will be performed on this program.

Audience favorite soprano Julianne Baird joins the ensemble in the secular cantata Non sa che sia dolore (You haven’t known true sorrow until you’ve left your friends behind), written in 1747, and selections from Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Hush, daughter, and stop your nattering), popularly known as the Coffee Cantata, a work that is effectively a miniature comic opera which praises one of 18th century Europe’s most trendy beverages.

The program also includes concertos for violin and recorder: the popular Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041, featuring concertmaster Emlyn Ngai, and Tempesta’s reimagining of the Organ Sonata in G, BWV 530 as a recorder concerto, which also appears on the ensemble’s recording of Bach Trio Sonatas (Chandos), featuring Tempesta di Mare co-director Gwyn Roberts.

Presented at the American Philosophical Society in Center City and the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Zimmermann’s Coffeehouse celebrates the life and legacy of Tempesta di Mare’s “own” Mr. Zimmerman. Robert Zimmerman, who passed away in August 2014, was a music lover, visionary and long-time Tempesta di Mare board member whose support and enthusiasm are a continued inspiration to the orchestra. The concerts will launch the Zimmerman Artistic Opportunities Fund in support of strategically important artistic opportunities, such as the continuation of the discovery of forgotten masterpieces, recordings, or exceptional performance opportunities. Says Tempesta di Mare co-director and lutenist Richard Stone, “There’s just so much great music out there that nobody alive has ever heard. That jaw-dropping sense of discovery at our first rehearsal, when we play the music with our colleagues, and the excitement of the “reveal” at a piece’s first public performance, has been a big part of what we’re all about since we began.”

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 Tempesta 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), Fasch: Orchestral Music, vol.1 (2008), vol.2 (2011) and vol.3 (2012), Mancini: Solos for a Flute (2014), Bach Trio Sonatas (2014), and Comédie & Tragédie, vol. 1 (2015). Comédie & Tragédie, vol. 2 will be released in 2016. 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.

JULIANNE BAIRD, SOPRANO
Julianne Baird, soprano, has been hailed a “national artistic treasure” (The New York Times) and as a “well-nigh peerless performer in the repertory of the baroque.” She possesses a natural musicianship which engenders singing of supreme expressive beauty. The London Times has called her Handel performances “exquisitely stylish.” This estimable artist maintains a busy concert and recording schedule of solo recitals and performances of baroque opera and oratorio. With more than 130 recordings to her credit on Decca, Deutsche Gramophone, Dorian and Chandos, Julianne Baird has been named one of the world’s ten most recorded classical artists. In addition to her major roles in a series of acclaimed recordings of Handel and Gluck operatic premieres, upcoming releases include Handel Dramatic Arias with Oboe from Alcina and Rinaldo with the Dryden Ensemble. In 2013 she records the love songs of Albrecht Mendelssohn (Felix’s grandson) with German fortepianist Eva Mengelkoch. The complete Biblical Cantatas of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre will be released by Plectra records in early 2013.

Dr. Julianne Baird is recognized internationally as one whose “virtuosic vocal style is firmly rooted in scholarship.” Her book Introduction to the Art of Singing, Cambridge University Press, now in its third printing, is used by singers and professional schools internationally. The Musical World of Benjamin Franklin (CD and Song Book) was released in 2007 by The Colonial Institute. For publication information go to http://www.colonialmusic.org/BF.htm

EMYLN NGAI, VIOLIN
Tempesta di Mare concertmaster Emlyn Ngai enjoys a diverse life as both a modern and historical violinist. With the Adaskin String Trio he has performed extensively across Canada and the United States and has been recorded for broadcast by CBC Radio, Radio-Canada, and National Public Radio. He is Associate Concertmaster of the Carmel Bach Festival where is also an active recitalist and soloist. His association with such early music groups as Apollo’s Fire, Boston Baroque and Joshua Rifkin’s Bach Ensemble has taken him to Bermuda, Germany, Spain, and the UK as well as across the US. Recording credits include Centaur, MSR Classics, New World Records, and Telarc. His recordings for the label Musica Omnia have received acclaim in American Record Guide, BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, and The Strad. Emlyn holds degrees from McGill University, Oberlin College Conservatory, and the Hartt School. An enthusiastic educator, Emlyn has taught at Boston University, Mount Holyoke College, and McGill University and has been a faculty member of Amherst Early Music, Madison Early Music Festival and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. He enjoys ties with West Chester University where he is a frequent guest clinician. Currently he teaches modern and baroque violin, chamber music and performance practice at the Hartt School, University of Hartford where he also co-directs the Collegium Musicum.

GWYN ROBERTS, RECORDER AND FLUTE
Gwyn Roberts, recorder and traverso, leads a rather improbable life performing, teaching, coaching, directing and communicating about the music she loves. American Record Guide called her “a world-class virtuoso”, and her most recent solo recording earned a five star rating from BBC Music Magazine. Together with lutenist Richard Stone, she is a founding director of Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare and leading the ensemble in performances from Oregon to Prague and annual recordings for Chandos. Other recordings include Deutsche Grammaphon, Dorian, Sony Classics, Vox, PolyGram, PGM, Newport Classics, and Radio France. Soloist engagements include the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Recitar Cantando of Tokyo, the Washington Bach Consort and the Kennedy Center. She is in demand as a masterclass teacher, with recent engagements at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Amherst Early Music Festival, and the Oregon Bach Festival. On faculty at Peabody Conservatory and the University of Pennsylvania, she studied recorder with Marion Verbruggen and traverso with Marten Root at Utrecht Conservatory (Netherlands).

* * * * *


Tickets: Preferred Seating $34, General Admission $24, Full-time students and youth (grades 3-12) free at the door

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
Zimmermann’s Coffeehouse: a tribute to Bach, coffee and Tempesta’s own Mr. Zimmerman
Friday, October 23, 2015 – 8:00 pm
Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue
Saturday, October 24, 2015 – 8:00 pm
American Philosophical Society, Benjamin Franklin Hall, 427 Chestnut Street
J. S. Bach
Cantata No. 209, “Non sa che sia dolore” *
Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 +
Highlights from the Coffee Cantata, BWV 211 *
Recorder Concerto in G, after Organ Sonata in G, BWV 530 **
* Julianne Baird soprano
+ Emlyn Ngai violin
** Gwyn Roberts recorder