Symphony New Brunswick’s Virtuoso Series presents Divertimento

Category: music 171

Members of the Saint John String Quartet join Early Music Studio’s Tim Blackmore for performances in Saint John, Moncton and Sussex.

(Saint John) Members of the Saint John String Quartet are joining up with Early Music Studio and Saint John Early Music Festival Artistic Director Tim Blackmore for a concert of early music flute quartets.

In this situation they have to play in a different manner. This is not because the music is “early”;  SNB has recently performed Telemann and Haydn with Tim on harpsichord and “A Baroque Banquet” with guest Maestra Tania Miller; but because they are having to adapt to the recorder , which is a relatively soft sound, and to Tim’s leadership. Tim is dedicated to Early music and is very passionate about the small graces, arpeggios and trills that are the baroque architecture of this music.

There is a variety of composers showing off different styles and usage of the instruments. In the day of their composition, the instrumentation was flexible: the viola could be replaced by a horn or the violin by a second flute. This particular instrumentation was chosen by the group to achieve, what they feel will be the perfect balance of sounds.

This concert is a collaboration between the Early Music Studio and Symphony New Brunswick.

About Tim Blackmore

Founder and Artistic Director of the Early Music Studio of Saint John and the Saint John Early Music Festival, recorder player and harpsichordist Tim Blackmore is a graduate of the Montreal Conservatoire, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Guildhall School of Music in London. He directs and performs with the Festival’s Collegium Musicum, Ensemble 18c., Carleton Quartet and La Tour Baroque Duo  as well as with other leading New Brunswick musicians and organizations such as Symphony NB (with  whom he toured as recorder soloist in 2015) and the Saint John String Quartet. As a member of the La Tour Baroque Duo he has given concerts in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Paris and London and his four recordings with the  Duo have received critical acclaim in Canada, the US and Europe. In 2013 he was Musician-in-Residence at the Fortress of Louisbourg for Louisbourg’s 300th anniversary and in 2014 he received an Originals Award for his contributions to the cultural life of Saint John. In recent years he has expanded his repertoire to include not only the entire Baroque period but also works from the late 18th century Classical period.

About the Saint John String Quartet

The Saint John String Quartet have worked together for more than 25 years. During this time the Saint John String Quartet has toured Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and China. In 2008 the SJSQ received New Brunswick Day Merit Award.

The Quartet performs in a regular chamber music series in Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton, and as core members of Symphony New Brunswick. As musicians-in-residence at UNB Saint John, they perform a lunchtime series and provide workshops for the community. As teachers, they mentor countless students privately and are long time faculty with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. For young children, or the young at heart, the SJSQ offer Concerts for Kids series in Fredericton and Saint John libraries where kids can interact with the musicians and wiggle at will during the show.

Program

Quartet Op.8 No.1………………………………………………..Carl Stamitz (1746-1801)

Allegro    II. Andante amoroso    III. Poco Presto

Quartet Op.24 No.3…………………………………….Giuseppe Cambini (1746-1825)

Allegro Affectuoso    II.Presto

Quartet Op.19 No.2 WB 62……………..…….Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)

Allegro    II. Andante    III. Allegro assai

INTERMISSION

Quartet No.1……………………………………….…….….Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841)

Allegro    II. Largo    III.Rondo

Quartet Op.20 No.3…………………………………….………..Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831)

Allegro    II. Adagio molto    III. Allegro non troppo

April 7 | 7:30 p.m. | Resurgo Place, Moncton
April 8 | 2 p.m. | Saint John Arts Centre
April 20 | 7:30 pm | St. Francis Xavier Church, Sussex

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