SUBMITTED BY SS BAROQUE
Salt Spring Baroque presents an uplifting program of baroque works to celebrate the joy of springtime, given by a trio of top baroque specialists.
Christi Meyers (violin), Chloe Meyers (violin) and Alexander Weimann (harpsichord) will perform at All Saints by-the-Sea on Saturday, May 24 at 7 p.m. The program will feature the trio sonata form, which originated in the 17th century and was a favourite chamber ensemble combination throughout the baroque era. The genre originated as an instrumental adaptation of the three-part texture common in Italian vocal music in the late 16th century.
This program features a colourful bouquet of sonatas by well-known baroque composers Handel, Corelli and Leclair. The concert will be bookended by J.S. Bach and a sonata long attributed to Bach, but now known to have been composed by Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. Goldberg was a harpsichord prodigy and studied with both J.S. Bach and his son, W.F. Bach. A highlight of the program will be an improvisation by Weimann, who will create a piece on the spot using a repeating bass line as his beacon.
An accomplished performer on both modern and baroque violin Christi Meyers has played a prominent role in the musical life of Victoria for 20 years. She has been assistant concertmaster of the Victoria Symphony since 2001, is a founding member of the period performance group Victoria Baroque and a member of Vancouver’s Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Violinist Chloe Meyers performs with early music ensembles across North America as leader, orchestra member and chamber musician. She is the concertmaster of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver and concertmaster of Arion Baroque Orchestra in Montreal. She has led or appeared as soloist with groups including Victoria Baroque, Pacific MusicWorks, Ensemble Les Boréades, the Theatre of Early Music, Ensemble Masques and Les Voix Baroques, of which she was a founding member.
Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors, soloists and chamber music partners of his generation. After travelling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia, Cantus Cölln, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik, he now focuses on his activities as artistic director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver and as music director of Les Voix Baroques, Le Nouvel Opéra and Tempo Rubato. Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. His latest album with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque Orchestra (Prima Donna) won a Juno Award in 2013, and a complete recording of Handel’s Orlando was released in the fall of 2013, with an exciting group of international soloists and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Tickets for the May 24 concert are available at saltspringbaroque.com and artspring.ca.