Oh Henry!
Fantasias and Frolics: Henry Purcell
Bloomfield Hills
Friday, February 25, 8 PM
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Ann Arbor
Saturday, February 26, 8 PM
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There will be no pre-concert talk before this performance.
Henry Purcell’s 16 Fantasias are the perfect example of melding traditional English viol works with the latest, most fashionable continental musical styles of the middle Baroque period. The exquisitely balanced sound of consorted strings is peppered with virtuosic Italianate passages, operatic recitativo sections, and quasi French dances. This concert intersperses the Fantasias with dance movements from Purcell’s operas, and concludes with an instrumental version of “Dido’s Lament” from his Dido and Aeneas.
Les Voix humaines Consort of Viols offer a new approach to consort playing in which rhythmic freedom and ornamentation play an integral role. As well as the grand English consort repertoire, Bach’s Art of Fugue, and the Purcell Fantasias, the Consort performs lesser-known discoveries by Cima, Trabaci, Lupo, Moulinier and Charpentier. The consort has toured in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Scandinavia, and the Baltic States and recorded Bach’s Art of Fugue, Purcell’s Fantasias, Dowland’s Lachrimae, and the complete Concerts a deux violes esgales by Sieur de Ste Colombe, as well as their own unusual arrangement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Mélisande Corriveau plays recorders, cello, and all viols including the pardessus de viole. Gramaphone magazine describes her as “gifted with great interpretive talent as well as knowledge of performance practice … “ Her recent CD of French 18th century music was included in the CBC’s top ten, while her ensemble L’harmonie des saisons was winner of a Juno award in 2016. She plays a 1691 Barak Norman viol and a pardessus de viole by Pierre Le Pilleur dated 1755.
Felix Deak started studying cello by Suzuki method at age 2-1/2, although the bass viol entered his life only in 2007. His group I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble is celebrating its 21st year of presenting concerts in Toronto. In addition to his role in Les Voix humaines, he has also played with the award-winning Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra for the last 10 years.
Jessy Dubé started her musical career at the Conservatoire de Musique de Saguenay, Quebec, and pursued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, in Switzerland. She has toured Europe, Israel, and South America as concert master of the Orchestre de la Francophonie and with Chamber Music Basel. She also plays regularly with the Arion Baroque Orchestra and L’Harmonie des Saisons in Montreal.
