The silent film is back!
On the Sunday following Easter, enjoy the rare opportunity to experience Cecil B. DeMille’s powerful (and slightly campy) masterpiece, King of Kings (1927), accompanied by Larry Molinaro’s improvised organ symphony as played on St. Anne’s magnificent and colorful Freiburger organ.
The final concert of the Bach+ series again highlights choral works within the liturgical context in a choral celebration for Ascension Day. J. Ernest Green, the Bach+ vocal consort, and members of St. Anne’s Choir and Annapolis Chorale Chamber Chorus present Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610), a compendium of vocal styles matched only by Bach’s B Minor Mass.
Having earned an international reputation for being a pianist-composer of wide-ranging innovation, individuality, and drive, pianist Dan Tepfer returns to Live Arts to perform a program based on his new album, Inventions/Reinventions, where he plays and improvises upon Bach’s Two-Part Inventions, taking these timeless musical exercises in transcendent new directions.
“A remarkable musician” –The Washington Post
Tepfer has the “ability to disappear into the music as he’s making it.” – Downbeat
Tepfer plays with a “wide-open sensibility as tuned into Bach and Björk as to Monk and Wayne Shorter.” –The New York Times
In keeping with the tradition of presenting timeless choral works within the liturgical context, Artistic Director J. Ernest Green, the Bach+ vocal consort, and members of St. Anne’s Choir and Annapolis Chorale Chamber Chorus present Gabriel Fauré’s immortal Requiem in the stunning sanctuary of St. Anne’s Church for the Feast of All Souls.
Flutist Shaughn Dowd, of Ensemble Con Brio! takes the audience on a journey through the beautiful and exotic art form of Asto Piazzolla’s, Nuevo Tango, a fusion of classical, jazz, and tango music.
In the spring of 1723, several carts carried the possessions of Johann Sebastian Bach and his family from his prior residence in Cothen to his new apartment in Leipzig. Earlier that year, Bach had been appointed Director of Music for the principal churches in the city of Leipzig, and it was the beginning of one of the most productive periods of his musical life. Over the next few years he composed two (now) famous cycles of chorale cantatas followed by a set of cantatas that featured organ obbligato, which showed off the composer’s virtuosity at the keyboard. At the same time, he was producing orchestral music for various entities within the city of Leipzig, culminating in his directorship of the Collegium Musicum that had been founded by his friend, Georg Telemann.
In this concert, Con Brio! will look at how Bach used the same ideas in both the music he wrote for the church and the music he wrote for the city. In particular, we will focus on the Sinfonias that he wrote for that third cycle of cantatas, which evolved into the harpsichord concertos of the mid 1730s. We will pair this with the famous second Orchestral Suite, written about from about the same time as the harpsichord concertos to show how Bach used the same musical ideas for both church and “Stadt” (city).
We are turning the clock back 300 years to 1722, the year in which Johann Kuhnau, the famous cantor of St. Thomas’ church in Leipzig, died, leaving the position vacant. Later that year, invitations were extended to leading musicians throughout Germany to apply for the job. On November 3rd, we’ll dig into some of the chamber music of the two top candidates for the position, Georg Philipp Telemann and Christoph Graupner. Both had strong musical ties to the city of Leipzig having studied at the university there. We’ll also feature some music from the third candidate – one Johann Sebastian Bach – who ultimately took the job after the others withdrew their applications.
This is a ‘pay what you can’ event and you do not need a ticket. All donations made at the door directly support the artists and programs of Live Arts Maryland.
On November 17th, we’ll take a look at the legacy of Kuhnau himself through his famous biblical sonatas for keyboard. These six sonatas, published in 1700, were ground-breaking in that they used a wide variety of musical devices to portray action, emotions, and even psychological states. The concert will include selections from The Fight between David and Goliath, Jacob’s Wedding, Hezekiah’s sickness and restoration, and Jacob’s Death and Burial.
This is a ‘pay what you can’ event and you do not need a ticket. All donations made at the door directly support the artists and programs of Live Arts Maryland.
Bach+, a partnership between Live Arts Maryland and St. Anne’s, goes live this month with its 2022-23 season. Get your weekend off to an early start with some fantastic musical entertainment at St. Anne’s church on Thursday at 7:00 PM.
First, as we have done for the past 20 years, on October 27th we’ll offer a screening of Lon Chaney’s immortal silent film classic The Phantom of the Opera with an improvised—and not always serious—score, played on St. Anne’s spectacular Freiburger organ. The movie is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney, Sr. in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star. The movie remains most famous for Chaney’s ghastly, self-devised make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film’s premiere.
This is a ‘pay what you can’ event and you do not need a ticket. All donations made at the door directly support the artists and programs of Live Arts Maryland.
Live Arts Maryland’s annual performances of “Messiah” are a beloved Annapolis holiday tradition! World-class soloists, the Chamber Orchestra, and, of course, the Annapolis Chorale, all come together in historic St. Anne’s Church for a powerful presentation of this iconic work. The audience even has the chance to join in for the Hallelujah Chorus and Carols of the Season.