THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050068
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TEPLEY, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
This weekend, Colonial Williamsburg will present a Baroque Music Festival, the first of what could become an annual event. The festival, which runs from Friday to Monday, features seven ensembles in 13 concerts.
The groups, most boasting world-class reputations, include the locally-based Capriole and the Governor's Musick. The Smithsonian Chamber Players, Hesperus and the Baltimore Consort all come from the greater Washington area. The Purcell Consort, instrumentalists from Toronto, and Anima Antiqua, a new vocal quartet, complete the list of artists.
The festival celebrates the music of Henry Purcell, the English court composer to William and Mary. The 300th anniversary of his death is also being acknowledged in performances of his works around the world.
Purcell's music was performed in the College of William and Mary's Wren Building, as well as at the Governor's Palace, through the early 18th century. The same rooms that rang with his music then will be used now - the Great Hall, the Portrait Gallery and Wren Chapel. All three are intimate spaces, with seating for 150 or less, creating the proper chamber atmosphere for the music.
``Williamsburg,'' said Capriole director Gayle Johnson, who is the festival's artistic director, ``is the ideal place in all of America for this music, because the rooms are visually and acoustically perfect.''
Johnson modeled the festival after major early music festivals in Boston and Berkeley, although starting on a smaller scale. Through a lengthy selection process, the groups were chosen, Johnson said, ``to cover the wide variety of repertoire that Purcell wrote.''
Purcell's own music will be joined by that of his contemporaries in programs that are organized around specific themes. On the serious side, the Smithsonian Chamber Players present pieces for viola da gamba, and Anima Antiqua will sing sacred works by such Purcell predecessors as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
The Purcell Consort will play music written for the theater, and lively dance music is featured in the programs of both the Baltimore Consort and Hesperus. To demonstrate what was going on across the British Channel, the Governor's Musick will play pieces from France, Germany and Italy.
Capriole will come to Norfolk on Sunday to repeat its performances from the Baroque Music Festival for Hampton Roads audiences. Countertenors Derek Lee Ragin and Steven Rickards will be accompanied by musicians under Gayle Johnson's direction in a program called ``Odes to Life and Death.''
The odes, works composed for special occasions, will range from joyful celebrations of Queen Mary's birthday to a mournful ``Elegy'' on her death. A similar ode written by fellow composer John Blow after Purcell's death will complete the program.
The concert is at 3 p.m. Sunday in Chandler Recital Hall at Old Dominion University.
In connection with these events, the Naro Expanded Cinema will have three showings of ``Farinelli,'' the recent film about 18th century castrato Carlo Broschi. His unusual voice was re-created by electronically mixing those of Ragin and soprano Ewa Godlewska.
For more information on the ODU events, call 683-4061. by CNB