November 11, 2019
THE SEBASTIANS “SHOUT FOR JOY!”
the Sebastians
the Sebastians

The Sebastians usher in the holiday season with a musical celebration exploring the intersection of German and Italian styles of the Baroque era. At the heart of the program is Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (“Shout for Joy to God in Every Land”) featuring guest soloists Dutch-American soprano Katharine Dain and trumpeter Steven Marquardt. Also on the program, which will take place on Wednesday, December 4, 2019, at Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, are works by German composers Christoph Graupner and Heinrich Schütz, Italians Giuseppe Sammartini and Antonio Vivaldi, and – adding a pan-European dimension to the proceedings – Frenchman Georg Muffat.

An expanded compliment of instrumentalists opens the Sebastians’ program, performing the Concerto Grosso Op. 5, No. 6 by the prolific, Milan-born composer Giuseppe Sammartini whose style had an influence on Christoph Graupner – represented by his Trio Sonata in D major, GWV 204 – and his contemporary J. S. Bach. Neither Bach nor Graupner travelled far from home, but their compatriot Heinrich Schütz studied in Venice. The Italian inspiration that he brought back to Germany infuses his three-part collection of Symphoniae Sacrae (“Sacred Symphonies”). The Sebastians, joined by soprano Katharine Dain, perform “Mein Herz ist bereit” (“My heart is ready”) from the second set. Georg Muffat – a Frenchman who may have been of Scottish descent and travelled throughout Austria, Germany and Italy – rounds out the cosmopolitan program with his Italianate Sonata No. 1 in D major from his collection Armonico tributo, which also incorporates French dance styles. With a hint of optimism, the Sebastians conclude the December program with “Summer” from Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

The Sebastians’ exploration of a variety of European styles and influences continues on February 15, 2020, with the multi-disciplinary program “Words and Music.” Esteemed Japanese-American poet Kimiko Hahn will join the ensemble interspersing readings of her own modern writings with programmatic music from the Baroque era.

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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, melanne@musiccointernational.com

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Shout for Joy!
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 – 7:30 pm
Giuseppe Sammartini (1695 – 1750) Concerto Grosso Op. 5, No. 6
Christoph Graupner (1683 – 1760) Trio Sonata in D major, GWV 204 (c. 1744)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) Cantata, BWV 51 “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen”
Georg Muffat (1653 – 1704) Sonata No. 1 in D major, from Armonico tributo (1682)
Heinrich Schütz (1585 – 1672) Mein Herz ist bereit, SWV 341a, from Symphoniae Sacrae II, Op. 10 (1647)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) Concerto in G minor for violin, strings, and continuo, “Summer” from The Four Seasons, Op. 8, No. 2, RV 315 (1723)

Katharine Dain soprano
Steven Marquardt trumpet
Daniel Lee, Nicholas DiEugenio, Alana Youseffian violins
Chiara Stauffer viola
Matt Zucker cello
Nathaniel Chase bass
Joshua Stauffer theorbo
Jeffrey Grossman harpsichord and organ

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

ABOUT THE SEBASTIANS
The Sebastians (www.sebastians.org) are a dynamic and vital musical ensemble specializing in music of the baroque and classical eras. Lauded as “everywhere sharp-edged and engaging” (The New York Times), the Sebastians have also been praised for their “well-thought-out articulation and phrasing” (Early Music Review) and “elegant string playing … immaculate in tuning and balance” (Early Music Today).

Winners of the Audience Prize at the 2012 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition, the Sebastians were also finalists in the 2011 York International Early Music Competition and the 2011 Early Music America/Naxos Recording Competition. They have participated in the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshop with L’Arpeggiata, and have performed at Music Matters (LaGrua Center in Stonington, Connecticut), Friends of Music at Pequot Library (Southport, CT), St. John’s Episcopal Church (Tulsa, OK), Juilliard in Aiken (SC), in the Twelfth Night Festival and Concerts@One at Trinity Wall Street (New York City), Early Music in Columbus (Ohio), the Renaissance and Baroque Society of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), and Houston Early Music (Texas). The Sebastians frequently collaborate with the vocal ensemble TENET, including recent, critically acclaimed performances of Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions, and Handel’s Messiah.

The Sebastians début recording, Night Scenes from the Ospedale (January 2015), pairs Vivaldi concerti from L’Estro Armonico with newly composed interludes by Robert Honstein. I Care If You Listen praised the “beautifully-nuanced playing and thoughtful expressivity” in the recording, calling the album a “technical and timbral tour-de-force.” The group’s second recording, the Sebastians a 2: Virtuoso Music of the Holy Roman Empire (September 2015), explores the rich baroque repertoire of music for violin and harpsichord written by composers from modern-day Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. In the fall of 2018, the Sebastians released a new recording of trio sonatas and vocal works by Corelli, Colista, Handel, and Vivaldi, with soprano Awet Andemicael. Further recordings are currently planned for future seasons.

ABOUT KATHARINE DAIN
Dutch-American soprano Katharine Dain performs opera, chamber music, and oratorio throughout Europe and North America. Highlights of current and recent seasons include Konstanze (Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail) in the opera houses of Rouen, Avignon, Clermont-Ferrand, Reims, and Massy, Donna Anna (Mozart’s Don Giovanni) in Ecuador, Hungary, and on tour throughout the Netherlands and Belgium with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, and Cunégonde (Bernstein’s Candide) in Banff. On the concert platform, Katharine has recently performed works of Dutilleux and Berlioz with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Bancroft and song cycles of Zemlinsky and Berg under Reinbert de Leeuw in Austria’s Osterfestival; this season she will join longtime collaborators Daniel Reuss and Cappella Amsterdam for the Brahms Requiem as well as the Orchestre d’Auvergne in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. A musician of unusual intelligence and fearlessness, Katharine is becoming particularly known for her work in 20th- and 21st-century repertoire. In 2020 she will be the featured soloist with the NSO under conductor Manoj Kamps in a touring program of Wagner, Stravinsky, and a newly-commissioned piece written for her by young Dutch composer Rick van Veldhuizen. She has co-founded several chamber groups including Damask Vocal Quartet, whose first album of works by Brahms and contemporaries, O schöne Nacht, garnered universal acclaim in the press and won the French award the Choc de Classica.

ABOUT STEVEN MARQUARDT
Steven Marquardt performs (nearly) exclusively on historical instruments, doubling on Baroque trumpet and natural horn. Based in New York, NY, Steven performs regularly with Apollo's Fire, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, and Boston Early Music Festival. Recent appearances as principal trumpet or soloist include Apollo's Fire, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Musica Angelica, Opera Lafayette, Chatham Baroque, Bourbon Baroque, Philadelphia Bach Collegium, Portland Bach Experience, ACRONYM, and Bach Akademie Charlotte. Recent appearances on natural horn include Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Opera Lafayette, Bach Collegium Philadelphia, Juilliard415, and Boston Early Music Festival. Highlights for the 2019-20 season include performing and recording BWV 51 with Amanda Forsythe and Apollo's Fire in April 2020, debut performances with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with Apollo's Fire in July 2020. Steven will again be playing horn and trumpet on Bach's Mass in B-minor with Spire Chamber Ensemble (Kansas City) and Cantata Collective (Berkeley, CA). Originally hailing from Burnsville, Minnesota, Steven is a graduate of Indiana University (M.M.) and Concordia College-Moorhead (B.M.). He resides in Manhattan with his wife, Marissa.

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