From Light to Shadow

Friday |  October 12, 2018  |  7:30pm
​St. James by-the-Sea  |  La Jolla
Les Talens Lyriques are supported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the City of Paris and its Cercles des Mécènes. The ensemble thanks its Grands Mécènes: The Annenberg Foundation / GRoW – Gregory and Regina Annenberg Weingarten, and  Madam Aline Foriel-Destezet.
This concert receives the support from Institut Français in Paris and from the City of Paris, as well as from Bureau export de la musique française.
Les Talens Lyriques
Christophe Rousset, harpsichord, organ and direction

Within a few days of our concert, François Couperin turns 350! And there is no more perfect celebration than a performance by the wonderful Les Talens Lyriques under the direction of renowned harpsichordist Christophe Rousset. A  musical portrait of one of the great poets of French music, this program will reveal Couperin’s wide emotive range and will include both a Concert royal for the Sun King as well as his Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredi saint, a rarely performed masterpiece. Come and revel in the first adventure of our season.
 
"The French harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and his ensemble mesmerized in this ravishing Couperin concert." —The Guardian

The Imitation Game

Sunday  |  November 18, 2018  |  7:30pm
St. James by-the-Sea  |  La Jolla
Cappella Pratensis
Stratton Bull, Artistic Manager

Travel to Holland and France to hear Cappella Pratensis, a marvelous group that specializes in the music of its namesake, Josquin des Pres (c. 1450-1521). Reflecting states of mind as well as nations, the program features music by the great Josquin himself and others who emulated—or inspired—this constantly self-reinventing and shape-shifting composer. Immerse yourself in the voices of eight men singing from ancient manuscripts, sharing a single music stand and weaving a magical sonic world of polyphony. This concert will transport you out of time and space.
 
"[Cappella Pratensis] sings with an organic appreciation of line and text in a sinuously smooth legato that enfolds the ear in every phrase. Serious scholarship and a commitment to performing from a central music stand … combined creatively with mellifluous singing.” —Classical Music

Off the Beaten Track

Sunday  |  January 6, 2019  | 3pm
Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre | Cuyamaca College
Co-presented with the ECHO Chamber Music Series
Quicksilver Baroque

Returning to us after a brilliant debut in San Diego three years ago, Quicksilver lives up to its name. Presenting music of the early Baroque you’ve probably never heard before, this historically authoritative and adventurous group will take you on a mercurial voyage from Italy to England, and from to Poland to Germany and Spain by composers such as van Wichel, Fontana, Rosenmüller, Falconieri, and Mielczewski—now shining once again in all their splendor! 
 
"Enlightening...the audience was on its feet cheering and hooting as if it were at a rock show.” - The New York Times

Musica Serenissima

Saturday |  February 9, 2019  |  7:30pm
St. James by-the-Sea  |  La Jolla
Accademia Bizantina

A glorious evening of music by one of the greatest Italian baroque groups in the world today. For twenty-five years, Accademia Bizantina has been dedicated to “making music like a large quartet,” keeping a chamber music approach to their performances even as their numbers have grown. Their concert for SDEMS is devoted to the great Italian master Vivaldi and Venice, which means the sound of strings in excelsis, including two concerti for the viola d’amore, a rare instrument that is soulful yet virtuosic—and simply stunning.
 
“..exquisite rhythmic spontaneity that seems to be the hallmark of this excellent ensemble.” - The New York Times

Chaconne - Voices of Eternity

Friday |  March 8, 2019  |  7:30pm
St. James by-the-Sea  |  La Jolla
Ensemble Caprice

Over the centuries in music, art, or literature, artists often create variations on a theme. This brilliant program highlights the chaconne, a kaleidoscopic way of spinning an entire composition from a small unit of music. Come and hear works by Bach, Purcell, and Vivaldi as well as their lesser known but equally intriguing contemporaries, beautifully arranged and performed by virtuoso recorder player Matthias Maute and his unusual and exciting ensemble. The concert will convey you on a musical meander all over Europe. 
 
“an ensemble that encourages the listener to rehear the world.”—The New York Times

Dalla Porta d'Oriente

Friday |  April 5, 2019  |  7:30pm
St. James by-the-Sea  |  La Jolla
Constantinople & Marco Beasley
Marco Beasley, tenor
Kiya Tabassian, setar, voice, leader

Opening for us the gate to the East, Constantinople presents Italian, Persian, and Ottoman songs from an early 17th century manuscript, Majmua, compiled by Alberto Bobovski (1610–1675). Also known as Ali Ufki, yet originally from Poland, Bobovski was a dragoman, an interpreter and guide between cultures for the Ottoman sultans. Featuring the magnetic singing of tenor Marco Beasley, accompanied by an ensemble of unusual instrumentation bridging East and West, this will be SDEMS’ most far-ranging concert of the season. You will be drawn into its exotic web! 
 
“It is a performance as stirring to the mind as the intrinsic sounds of the setar are to the heart.”—The Chronicle Herald

Mad Dog

Sunday  |  May 5, 2019  |  3:00pm
Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre  |  Cuyamaca College
Hopkinson Smith, lute

Our season returns home to a classic: solo music in its purest form performed by a master. A legend of the lute, Hopkinson Smith will play Elizabethan music by the great John Dowland (1563–1626) and two composers from the preceding generation, John Johnson (d. 1594) and Anthony Holborne (d. 1602). This program travels among many moods, portrayed in rhapsodic pavans, spirited galliards, elaborate variations, and charming “character” pieces with titles or themes of the moment, which to us sound beautiful, complex, and anything but mad.
 
“Hopkinson Smith, without doubt the finest lute player in the world today.”—San Francisco Chronicle