Concert Season 2007–8

Sunday 11th November 2007 at 2:30 p.m.

Clothworkers’ Centenary Concert Hall, University of Leeds

Restoration Odes

Henry Purcell: Come, ye sons of art, away Z323 (1694)
Giovanni Battista Dragi: From harmony, from heavenly harmony (1687)
Jeremiah Clarke: Pay your thanks; Tell the world (1697)

Leeds Baroque Choir and Orchestra, Directed by Peter Holman

Come, ye sons of art, away, written for Queen Mary’s birthday on 30th April 1694, is one of Purcell’s greatest and most popular works, though it has only survived in an eighteenth-century reorchestration. In this performance, the work is given in a new reconstruction of Purcell’s original version, made by Dr Rebecca Herissone of Manchester University.

Draghi’s eloquent and profound setting of Dryden’s 1687 St Cecilia ode was the inspiration for many of Purcell’s later works, including Come, ye sons of art, away. It is given in a new edition by Dr Bryan White of the University of Leeds.

We mark the anniversary of the untimely death of Jeremiah Clarke with the first modern performances of the two short odes he wrote for the Peace of Ryswick in 1697. They have been specially edited by Christopher Gammon, a Leeds M.Mus. student.

Tickets: £12; adult concessions £8; full time students and young people £3, available at the door. For advance reservations contact Friends of Leeds Baroque.

Pre-Concert Talk at 1:45 p.m.

Dr Rebecca Herissone (Manchester University), whose new edition of Come, ye sons of art we are using for this performance, will give a pre-concert talk on the exciting research that led up to this new edition.
Free to concert ticket holders.

Sunday 9th December 2007 at 3:00 p.m.

National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York YO1 9TL

PASTORALE — Italian Baroque Music for Christmas

Leeds Baroque Orchestra, Directed by Peter Holman
with Philippa Hyde (soprano) and Rachel Latham (flute)

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was the custom for the Italian shepherds or pifferari to come down from the hills at Christmas time to gather around a crib in the local town. Gradually, composers of the period began to imitate the pifferari by writing vocal and instrumental pieces that were entitled pastorale and used the characteristic drones and winding melodies in sixths and thirds. This style was used particularly in works for performance in church at Christmas as illustrated in this programme of cantatas by Scarlatti and concertos by Corelli, Manfredini and Vivaldi.

Tickets: £10.00 (concessions £8.00, students £3.50). Contact the box office (01904 658338) at NCEM.

This concert is part of the York Early Music Christmas Festival.

Sunday 9th March 2008 at 2:30 p.m.

Great Hall, University of Leeds

A Portrait of Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Leeds Baroque Choir and Orchestra with the School of Music Project Choir, Directed by Peter Holman

Charpentier (1643–1704) is generally regarded today as France’s greatest seventeenth-century composer, though he was excluded from court posts by his rival Lully. This concert brings together some of the greatest sacred music he wrote for Parisian churches, including the famous Te Deum H146 (with the Prelude used for the Eurovision Song Contest), and several works richly scored for double choir and orchestra, including the dramatic motet Canticum pro pace H392, and the great D minor setting of the Magnificat H74.

Tickets: £12; adult concessions £8; full time students and young people £3, available at the door. For advance reservations contact concerts@leeds.ac.uk.

Sunday 1st June 2008 at 3:00 p.m.

Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, North Yorkshire

The Lass of Richmond Hill — music for the Georgian Theatre

Leeds Baroque Orchestra, Directed by Peter Holman
with Rachel Latham (flute) and Philippa Hyde (soprano).

Georgian playwrights could call upon the most illustrious composers of their day to provide the incidental music to their plays. This programme will explore this rich heritage of music (inspirational for theatres such as our beautiful venue) by composers such as Handel, Boyce and Arne. A few of these “theatre hits” will be familiar to today's audiences.

Full programme

Tickets: £4.50–£15
Contact the Georgian Theatre Box Office: 01748 825252

This concert is supported by Friends of Leeds Baroque

Wednesday 2nd July 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

Clothworkers’ Centenary Concert Hall, University of Leeds

English baroque sacred music for choir and organ

Leeds Baroque Choir, Directed by Peter Holman
Peter Seymour (organ)

To include works by Handel, Croft, Purcell, Blow and others.

The Leeds School of Music hosts this summer the 13th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music. This will be the welcoming opening concert. Open to conference delegates and Friends of Leeds Baroque.