A conversation with Seattle
Cover image: Aaron Sheehan, tenor How rare to be able to say that a concert was perfect in every way—programming, … Continue reading With Handel’s Help, Pacific MusicWorks Achieves Perfection
A distinguished national early music group, Agave Baroque, made its Seattle debut last Tuesday night at Trinity Parish Church with … Continue reading Agave Baroque Makes ‘Heavenly’ Seattle Debut
Spring is in full bloom around Seattle! With seasonal transitions come musical changes as well; local ensembles and concert venues look towards warmer weather this month with music of growth, rebirth, and summer sunshine. Continue reading What We’re Hearing This Month: Classical Music Picks For April
The holiday concert season is already in full swing, but there’s still a full calendar of festive musical events set to spread Christmas cheer throughout the Seattle area. We’ve compiled a small sampling of yuletide offerings for everyone, from grandma to your hipster cousin. Continue reading What We’re Hearing This Holiday Season: Classical Music Picks For Christmas
Continuing its adventurous trend this Winter Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society included in Friday’s concert several composers not heard in this milieu before: Baroque composers Couperin, Rameau, and Scarlatti, all of whom were on the recital program which began the evening’s performance. Continue reading Seattle Chamber Music Society Goes for Baroque
While these two concertos are familiar to many, the incidental music Purcell wrote for plays is mostly less so. The group of airs and dances for The Gordian Knot Unty’d are delightful, particularly towards the end, when the audience heard a familiar tune, “Rockabye, baby,” in increasingly sophisticated and developed guise. Continue reading Seattle Baroque Orchestra, from Bach Concertos to Purcell Hornpipes
The other triumph is Handel’s. He composed Il Trionfo in Rome in 1707, at the age of 22. It was his first oratorio, and it contains 24 arias, two duets, and two quartets, each one more gorgeous than the last, some coruscating with florid runs and ornaments, others slower and exquisite, and running the gamut of expression. Continue reading Pacific MusicWorks gives a Triumphal “Il Trionfo del Tempo”