ASTON MAGNA AT BARD ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2005 CONCERT SERIES Beginning July 1, the newly expanded series will feature six Friday concerts through August 5

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Aston Magna, whose concert series has been described by the New York Times as “America’s preeminent summer early-music event,” presents its 2005 concert series at Bard College on Friday evenings from July 1 through August 5. The series, held in Olin Hall, is sponsored by The Bard Center. A six-concert subscription is $110; three or more different concerts in a “make your own” subscription are $20 each; and single tickets are $25. For further information and reservations, call The Bard Center at 845-758-7425. Under the artistic direction of Daniel Stepner, Aston Magna aims to interpret the music of the past as each composer envisioned it. For more than three decades, Aston Magna has been internationally recognized for its contributions to the popularization of early music, using historically accurate instruments and techniques. Each 8:00 p.m. performance is preceded by a talk at 7:00 p.m., also in Olin Hall. “Cupid’s Final Folly” opens the series on July 1. This program features a performance of Sebastian Durón’s zarzuela Salir el amor del mundo. Artists include sopranos Roberta Anderson, Nancy Armstrong, Jennifer Ellis, Laurie Monahan, and Debra Rentz-Moore, with guest director Richard Savino. The chamber orchestra is by Daniel Stepner. On July 8 the series presents “J. S. Bach’s The Art of the Fugue,” a complete performance of Bach’s homage to the signature baroque form. The ensemble features Christopher Krueger, baroque flute; Stephen Hammer, baroque oboe and oboe da caccia; Michael McGraw, baroque bassoon; John Gibbons, harpsichord; Daniel Stepner, baroque violin; David Miller, baroque viola; Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba; and Loretta O’Sullivan, baroque cello. “Love Stung by a Bee,” featuring music of the French baroque, is the theme of the concert on July 15. This program features cantatas by Rameau and Clérambault and chamber music by -continued- Marais, LeClair, and Forquery. Artists include soprano Dominique Labelle as well as Daniel Stepner, baroque violin; Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba; and John Gibbons, harpsichord. The art of the English consort song is featured in the July 22 concert, “All Ye Whom Love or Fortune Hath Betray’d.” The program includes lyrical music of Byrd, Dowland, Jenkins, and Purcell, as well as several influential Italian composers of the 17th century. Artists include Deborah Rentz-Moore, soprano; Sarah Cunningham, Jane Hershey, Laura Jeppesen, and Emily Walhout, violas da gamba; Daniel Stepner, baroque violin; and John Gibbons, harpsichord. Beethoven’s own rarely heard arrangement of the Fourth Concerto, Opus 58, for fortepiano and string quartet, a fortepiano/violin sonata, and the Opus 29 string quartet are featured on the “All Beethoven” program of July 29. Artists include Robert Levin, fortepiano; Daniel Stepner and Nancy Wilson, violins; David Miller and Jane Starkman, violas; and Loretta O’Sullivan, cello. The final program, on August 5, is “Delirio Amoroso: An All-Handel Extravaganza with Dance.” This program features virtuoso cantatas and the French ballet Terpsicore. Soprano Sharon Baker and contertenor Jeffrey Gall are the featured singers. Daniel Stepner leads the chamber orchestra. The New York Baroque Dance Company, directed by Catherine Turocy, will perform the staged ballet. Aston Magna at Bard is made possible, in part, by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and through the generosity of the Homeland Foundation and the Leon Levy Endowment. Please note that these performances are repeated in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on Saturdays, July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, and August 6, at 5:00 p.m. in the Daniels Art Center of Simons Rock College at Bard. For further information about these performances, call 800-875-7156 or e-mail [email protected]. # Daniel Stepner, Aston Magna artistic director, is a distinguished violinist of great versatility. He has performed and recorded contemporary music with Boston Musica Viva; the sonatas of Charles Ives with pianist John Kirkpatrick; and solo works, chamber works, and concertos from the baroque and classical eras on period instruments. He is first violinist of the Lydian String Quartet and has served as concertmaster of the Handel & Haydn Society, Banchetto Musicale, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, and New Haven Symphony, and as associate concertmaster of Frans Brüggen’s Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Stepner has taught at the Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Longy School of Music. # # # (6/3/05)

This event was last updated on 08-09-2005

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