A New Year for Catacoustic

2015 will be a landmark year for Catacoustic Consort. This autumn we will celebrate the opening of our 15^th season in Cincinnati, making Catacoustic one of the most enduring small music ensembles in the Queen City. The audiences for early music continue to grow, as people begin to realize the astonishing breadth of music from the Baroque and Renaissance eras.

Some very exciting music is being planned for this year, French in February, English in March. And not JUST from the Baroque and Renaissance -- in April we will present a concert of new music for the viola da gamba, showcasing an eclectic collection of contemporary composers, including Michael Edwards (of Electric Light Orchestra), Elvis Costello, and Tan Dun. The incomparable Michael Maniaci will join us for music that you simply will not hear performed elsewhere.

Catacoustic has also been invited to play at the University of Dayton, a concert of music written by and for nuns of the 17^th century, and which we will repeat here in Cincinnati next fall. And in December we will present a Christmas concert, complete with sackbut ensemble. 

As proud as we are of our season and the music we bring you, our mission extends deeper into the community. This February will be the third year we present the Cincinnati Early Music Festival, which allows audiences to hear the efforts of students, amateurs, and smaller groups, all dedicated to early music. 2015 will also be our fifth year to award a scholarship for musicians pursuing their interests in early music.

This winter the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is hosting a series of free events called Music of the Renaissance, sponsored by the James R. Hunt Trust Fund of the Friends of the Public Library. Artistic director Annalisa Pappano, in her role as pre-professional mentor, will be playing with both of last year’s scholarship winners, Stephen Goist and Cole Guillien, music for three violas da gamba by Senfl, Isaac, Gibbons, and others. (These concerts will take place at the Delhi Township Branch, January 26, 7pm; the Symmes Township Branch, February 2, 7pm; the Deer Park Branch, February 7, 2pm; and the Wyoming Branch, February 16, 6pm.)

The new theorbo is on the workbench. The Kroger Community Rewards program is going full bore (have you linked your Kroger card to Catacoustic yet? We receive a portion of everything you spend at no extra cost to you!) Plans are being made for well into the future. Thank you, Cincinnati, for watching us grow. 

The holidays are already upon us, and if you are like me this year, you haven’t done ANY shopping for gifts… At least I can make a few recommendations to you, if you are looking for some musical gifts for the holidays!

I am in love with the fabulous French mystery series by Jean-François Parot (the Nicolas Le Floch investigation series). The pardessus scholar Dr. Robert Green recommended these to me, when I was looking to immerse myself in that period prior to Catacoustic’s recording last year. These books talked about the operas of Rameau and paint a picture of life in 18th-century France, mentioning hearing the latest opera by Rameau, as well as the realities of living without modern conveniences. And, they are suspenseful, thrilling books! They are available on Amazon.

I recommend Catacoustic’s recently released CD of music for the pardessus de viole, Le Secret de Muse. I am so proud of Joanna Blendulf and myself for completing this exciting and difficult project! Many thanks to Gregg Hill and Linda Holmberg for making this possible!! The CD is available through our website (http://catacoustic.com/store/), iTunes, and Amazon.

If you enjoyed Catacoustic’s September concert of Buxtehude’s "Membra Jesu Nostri," I recommend a recording by Les Voix Baroques, available through Amazon.com or on iTunes.

To prepare for our February concert of exquisite French music with soprano Shannon Mercer, I recommend a recording that actually inspired me to program this music with Shannon herself singing. It is available on Amazon or iTunes: Mondonville: Pieces de clavecin en concert avec voix or violon, opus 5.

Or, give the gift of an experience with concert tickets to an upcoming concert! Tickets are available at http://catacoustic.com/tickets/

Have a lovely holiday season!

Annalisa Pappano
Artistic Director

Eyes Only for Love

By the turn of the 17^th century, around 1590-1610, the Italian Renaissance had been going strong for over a century. Art, architecture, literature, and music had grown mature and confident. Men were rich, institutions were well-established, and even girls got the occasional education. The old ways of doing things were starting to feel confining and outmoded. Questions were being asked.  

Today we call this period the beginning of the Baroque era. Geniuses like Monteverdi were experimenting with new musical forms, new combinations of instruments, and new subject matter. In fact, they were redefining what music was for. Music was assigned a new mission:  to tell a story, and to express the emotions of that story and evoke those emotions in the audience. 

Catacoustic’s next concert will visit this dynamic time in Italy. Tenor Sumner Thompson returns to town for an evening of passionate love songs that tell stories and express emotions with abandon.

Caccini

1597 saw the birth of the ultimate story-telling music, opera. And when full-scale opera was just too much, another new form came to life, monody.  Monody is just a fancy word for what Bob Dylan does:  a solo singer, instrumental back-up, a story to tell.  But nobody did it like those Italians did it 400 years ago.

We’ll hear music of Sigismondo D’India, the Sicilian nobleman considered second only to Monteverdi in invention.  His passionate love songs illustrate the lover’s anguish with dissonances irregularly resolved; in chromatic, keening lines that delay their cadences until all the musical ends can be tied together; with joy for the drama of it all. And from touchy, troubled Giulio Caccini, whose book Le nuove musiche became the bible on the art of captivating and moving an audience.

Castaldi

The theorbo will also be featured.  It was a brand new instrument at this time, developed precisely for this new wave of operatic and semi-operatic story-telling.  Composers seized upon it at once—rarely has an instrument realized its potential so early in its life.  Bellerofonte Castaldi and Giovanni Kapsberger were two of the greatest of these, and we welcome back the great theorbist Daniel Swenberg to play this exquisite music. The combination of theorbo with Baroque harp, viol, and lirone is the classic sound of the era, and we'll revel in it tonight.

Kapsberger

Since this concert will be of unusually high interest to opera lovers, we are making a special offer.  The time of the concert conflicts with Cincinnati Opera’s gala event.  We are therefore opening the dress rehearsal for Catacoustic’s concert with Sumner Thompson to supporters, so they can attend both.  Contact us at info@catacoustic.com for more details.

 November 22, 2014, 7:30pm

Church of the Advent, Walnut Hills

2366 Kemper Lane

Cincinnati, OH 45206

There is ample street parking available, as well as available parking in the US Post Office lot just south of the church on Kemper.

 Individual tickets are $25 general, $10 student. Children 12 and under are always free. Tickets are available at the door, in advance by calling 513.772.3242, or at www.catacoustic.com. 

Academy of Ancient Music to Perform in Cincinnati on November 9

(photo of Academy of Ancient Music by Marco Borggreve)

Two years ago, Academy of Ancient Music (one of the great period instrument orchestras of the world) contacted Peter Landgren, the dean of CCM (University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music) to say that they would be touring the US in November 2014. They would consider their only stop in the Midwest for a concert in Cincinnati, if he was interested. Dean Landgren exclaims, “I have loved this ensemble for many, many years, and the ability to bring them to Cincinnati to perform some of my favorite works – the four orchestral suites of Bach! It was a no-brainer!”

Dean Landgren then worked with CCM’s assistant professor of harpsichord and organ, Michael Unger and other CCM faculty members to organize masterclasses for keyboards, strings, woodwinds, and brass instruments for the day following the concert.

This is a huge opportunity for Cincinnati, a city that has so much exquisite music, but is sorely lacking its own period instrument orchestra! It is also a great opportunity for conservatory students and the public alike to hear one of the finest Baroque orchestras in person. The orchestra will present Bach’s orchestral suites, music from their recently released album.

I hope to see you on Sunday, November 9 at 5PM with the Academy of Ancient Music at CCM’s Corbett Auditorium. For more information about the concert and to order tickets, visit http://ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/academy-of-ancient-music.html.

A Chat with Henner Harders, Builder of Viols

Henner Harders is the mystery luthier on the cover of Catacoustic’s season brochure. He is a viol maker in Germany and created Annalisa’s beautiful lirone.

How did you become interested in building viols and historical string instruments? Did you build violins and cellos first?

I grew up in a musical family together with two brothers and two sisters. My mum taught all of us and the neighbors kids recorder. My father was playing the cello and double bass. He got interested in this mysterious instrument called viola da gamba because the cello parts he played were often originally meant to be played on a viola da gamba. Being a Professor for crafts in the university of Bremen, his interest in the instrument made him take part in Fidel making courses. After a few years and after having made quite a few and also after having started making his own versions of Viola da gambas he started giving the courses himself. At the same time, he started playing the instruments, and our
whole family started playing them. These instruments had steel strings and fine tuners;
later on, when most of us got proper viol lessons, they were changed to gut strings. So, we had my mum and dad building these instruments as a hobby, and we had a well-equipped woodworking workshop. Us kids spent a lot of our free time in the workshop using the fretsaw and cutting out lots of things of plywood.

Making a viola da gamba is unusual enough. How did you become interested in making a lirone?

One of my first customers asked me to make her a lirone, so I went to the museum in Leipzig and measured the 2 existing instruments they have and the left overs of a destroyed original lirone. Based on these, I made my first lirone, which was 20 years ago. Over the years I kept changing little details to improve the instrument. I like the sound of it. It sounds more like a keyboard or like a whole consort with its clear and very carrying sound.

Do you model your instruments on historical examples? If so, how do you get your detailed information to craft the instruments? Paintings? Museums?

My models are usually based on instruments I have measured myself in museums or private collections or on detailed drawings. I may change things to accommodate the customers’ requirements.

You live in a small village that is quite secluded from city life. Is this an inspiration for you? What are the pluses and minuses of this small-town country life?

I grew up in the countryside and always liked it a lot. I work from home, and as my customers come from all over the world, I don't depend on having a shop and I can concentrate on the making of new instruments. I really enjoy the peacefulness of living in our small village of about 120 inhabitants. The downside is that one has to do a lot more driving to get the kids to their music lessons or school and that it is more difficult to find other musicians locally which share the same interests.

You are a team with your talented wife Susanne Küster, who is an in-demand scroll carver for many instrument makers throughout the world. Does she carve the scrolls for all of your instruments? How does your partnership work? Is this how you met?

A Susanne Kuster original

Yes, she does do all the carving jobs on my instruments, which is a privilege. I prepare the pegbox and after having found out what the customer would like, she makes a sketch and either she or I cut out the outline. Susanne was trained in the same carving school as my little sister, she was just a year above her and moved to Bremen and was looking for work. This is how we first met. After she had done some carving jobs for me, she also started making instruments and decided to learn violin making properly in the violin making school in Newark / England.

Do you play the viol? How did you learn about historical instrument making and repair?


I started playing the viol at the age of 7 and had proper lessons from 9 - 12 until my teacher moved away. Later on I had cello lessons, but after leaving school came back to playing the viol. I have had lessons with a pupil of Wieland Kuijken while we were living in Viersen before we moved to our own place in the former east of Germany. I was trained to make viols at the London College of Furniture back in 1986 for 4 years, where I visited the early fretted instruments workshop. When Susanne went to Newark, I followed her and also enrolled in the violinmaking course while still making my own instruments. At the same time I started working for Dietrich Kessler in London 2 days a week making viols. This was a very inspiring time for me, as he had seen so many old viols and had some fantastic old viols himself, which I could look at while making a copy of them.

How many instruments have you made? What is your dream project in instrument building? What are your favorite projects?

Henner Harders, the day Annalisa took delivery

So far I have made about 80 instruments. Before I started building viols, I was making electric basses. I do not really have a dream project, as long as I always have instruments on order, I am happy. It is always exciting to find out what exactly the customers want from their instrument. Depending on the kind of repertoire they want to play, on their ideals of sound and possibly with some individual decoration or carving. I find it very helpful to be able to play the instrument myself, which gives me a good idea of how the set up could be optimized to aim for best playability and response.

More information about Henner’s instruments, along with his contact information can be found at his website at http://www.violworks.com.

Behind the scenes at Catacoustic

Catacoustic’s season opener:  T minus 2 days and counting.  What’s going on behind the scenes?

All the musicians have arrived.  For this event, it’s a big crew:  twelve people will be on stage.  Six locals, six visiting from out of town.  Where will they stay?  

Welcome to Upland Place in East Walnut Hills, the friendliest street in town.  Neighbors up and down the street host musicians in their homes.  The hosts get to meet fascinating artists:  “You play the what, again?”  The guests get a quiet, homey environment, walking distance from Annalisa’s house, where most of the rehearsals take place.

Music to make the angels sigh

Standing-room-only lecture

Rehearsals may last all day, and can be intense.  But Catacoustic is committed to – and famous for – a nurturing, musically-rewarding experience.  Everyone brings their best to the table, and the primary goal is to create a cohesive interpretation that shows each person’s strengths.  Musicians find their time with Catacoustic so positive they often return.  We also look for ways to make their visit extra productive by finding them other opportunities.  This week, our baritone is giving a guest lecture at CCM on Baroque performance practice.  Our visiting gambist is offering a workshop to local viol players.  

Meals are taken around Annalisa’s table.  Yes, she cooks all that food for all those people, day after day, meal after meal, concert after concert.  When they sit down and break bread together, the musical bonds they’ve been forging in rehearsal are cemented with fellowship.  

Two pardessus!

Dress rehearsal is the last day before the show.  The troupe moves into the performance space.  Chairs, stands, lights are all checked.  Acoustics and staging are experimented with.  Notice I don’t mention a sound check:  of course we never amplify; we make the building do the work for us.  Instead of electricians, our technicians are the architects who knew how stone could resound, how overtones could meet up in the vaults.  And on this occasion, one Mr. Louis Tiffany has provided us with a spectacular light show—past audiences have clamored to see the stained glass by daylight, so for this concert we are obliging.  

The continuo team

The hour or two you see the musicians on stage represents days and weeks of preparation and careful thought.  Who’s picking up the theorbist at the airport?  Can the bass player sleep in a house with a cat?  Is one of the singers vegetarian?  Has Annalisa cooked enough food for all these people?  

Donors, take note:  We stretch every dollar as far as it will go.  By housing the musicians privately, and feeding them in Annalisa’s kitchen, we save thousands each year, which we can turn around and use to present ever finer concerts.  If you would like to be more involved—if you’d like to house musicians, or provide some meals, if you’d like to sponsor one of our world-class soloists – please get in touch.  We like to think of Catacoustic as a community, with everyone coming together to make what we do possible.  

3:00pm Sunday, September 21, 2014

Church of the Advent, 2366 Kemper Lane, Walnut Hills (Cincinnati), OH 45206

There is ample street parking available, as well as available parking in the US Post Office lot just south of the church on Kemper.

 

Tickets are available at http://catacoustic.com/tickets/ or at the door.  $25, students $10.

Or order season tickets!  Five tickets, which can be used at any concert in our upcoming season, for $100, a 20% discount!  Available until September 21. 

He Who Sings, Prays Twice

Catacoustic Consort begins its fourteenth season September 21 by reaching into one of the most rarely-visited corners of the German Baroque and finding treasure within. Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima—it sounds impenetrable, but its rewards are profound.

L'abbaye de Villers-la-Ville

Arnulf of Leuven died in 1250, in what is today French-speaking Belgium.  He was a poet, and probably the author of “Membra Jesu Nostri,” or “The Limbs of our Jesus,” a meditation on the wounds of the crucified Christ.  We can’t know for certain; when his abbey at Villers-la-Ville was ransacked during the French Revolution, the original manuscripts were lost.  Another piece of our heritage destroyed.

Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude was born around 1638 in what was then Denmark.  His career as music director, organist, and composer unfolded in Lübeck, Germany.  His students included Johann Pachelbel, and his friends included Handel and Bach, who revered him above all his predecessors.  But at his death most of his music was unpublished; some was collected and preserved by a friend in Sweden, but some has been lost forever.  Another piece of our heritage allowed to slip away.

In 1680, Buxtehude set Arnulf’s poems to music, a cycle of seven cantatas which come together in what is often called the first Lutheran oratorio.  The piece is eclectic, following rigid forms one minute, utterly disregarding them the next.  Five voices, and sometimes three, and sometimes one, are united with two high melody instruments, except in Part 4 when we have an entire viol consort.  Two sopranos, countertenor, tenor, and baritone interweave through text both hopeful and despairing. There’s a reason this piece is so rarely staged today:  the requirements of the ensemble are beyond what most organizations can muster.  

Pardessus de viole

In Catacoustic’s performance, we will have the extraordinary opportunity to hear two pardessus, the rarest of viols. Catacoustic’s Artistic Director Annalisa Pappano is one of the most renowned performers on this instrument working today, along with Joanna Blendulf of Madison, Alabama.  (These partners in pardessus have recently released a CD of exquisite French music, available for purchase at http://catacoustic.com/store/.)  Joining them will be internationally known theorbist Daniel Swenberg, Michael Unger on chamber organ, and gambists David Ellis, Cole Guillien, and Stephen Goist (these last two being this year’s Catacoustic Early Music Scholarship recipients!)  The vocal ensemble will include the welcome return to Cincinnati of soprano Youngmi Kim, soprano Melissa Harvey, tenor Brian Thorsett, baritone Aaron Cain, and countertenor Michael Maniaci, fresh from his Cincinnati Opera debut in La Calisto. 

The piece begins with a verse from the book of Nahum:  Behold, upon the mountains the feet of one bringing good news and proclaiming peace.  What could be more welcome in these uncertain times?  Come and enjoy this once in a lifetime performance. 

Tickets are available at http://catacoustic.com/tickets/ or at the door.  $25, students $10.

Or order season tickets!  Five tickets, which can be used at any concert in our upcoming season, for $100, a 20% discount!  Available until September 21. 

3:00pm Sunday, September 21, 2014

Church of the Advent, 2366 Kemper Lane, Walnut Hills (Cincinnati), OH 45206

There is ample street parking available, as well as available parking in the US Post Office lot just south of the church on Kemper.