A musical duel will take place on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The Sebastians will welcome eminent harpsichordist Arthur Haas who will go head-to-head with the ensemble’s music director Jeffrey Grossman in a program of works by French and German masters of the Baroque era.

Music of the 18th century frequently cast a spotlight on the harpsichord, but repertoire for multiple harpsichords is less-frequently programmed – the instrument not being particularly amenable to travelling and tuning. The Sebastians’ Dueling Harpsichords program features two outstanding instruments hand-crafted by noted harpsichord builder Allan Winkler – one in the French style based on a 1765 instrument by François-Etienne Blanchet II, the other in the German style based on a 1716 instrument by Carl Conrad Fleischer.

In a program that reflects the respective styles of the harpsichords, Arthur Haas and Jeffrey Grossman perform two “double concertos,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s own arrangement of his well-known D minor concerto for two violins, and his son Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s contrasting F major concerto which employs the galant style that was emerging at the time. Turning to the French, the pair perform a playful Suite in F major by the Parisian Gaspard Le Roux.

Not to be outdone, the Sebastians’ Daniel S. Lee and Nicholas DiEugenio take to the stage and spar in the third of Jean-Marie Leclair’s six sonatas for two violins. Rounding out the program, and bringing together the Sebastians’ strings and keyboards, is a selection of Pièces de clavecin en concerts by Leclair’s contemporary Jean-Philippe Rameau. Thought to be Rameau’s only chamber music, this group of works places the virtuosic harpsichord at the heart of the ensemble.

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For further information about the Sebastians please visit https://www.sebastians.org

For further information, image or interview requests please contact Melanne Mueller, MusicCo International,
+1 917 907 2785 or +44 7788 662 461, melanne@musiccointernational.com

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Dueling Harpsichords
Saturday, November 9, 2019 – 7:30 pm
Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764) Sonata in C minor, op. 3, no. 3 for 2 violins (1730)
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) Selections from Pièces de clavecin en concerts (1741)
Gaspard Le Roux (1660–1707) Suite in F major for 2 Harpsichords (1705)
Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714–88) Concerto for 2 Harpsichords in F major, Wq 46 (1740)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Concerto for 2 Harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1062 (1736)

Daniel S. Lee, Nicholas DiEugenio violins
Jessica Troy viola
Ezra Seltzer cello
Arthur Haas and Jeffrey Grossman harpsichords

Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church
152 West 66th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue)
New York, NY 10023