Having just completed our 2023-2024 ART::MUSIC Season, we are looking forward to some recovery time, and (of course) to kicking off our 2024-2025 Season, entitled Deep Dives, in the fall. No, we’re not morphing into a conservation society for aquatic creatures (although we do care a lot about creatures of all kinds). Rather, we are borrowing the image to help convey the gist of our season: Seven musical explorations, each delving deeply into the works and character of a single composer.
And what composers! This season is shaping up to be one of my all-time favorites. We’ll dive more deeply than ever into the music of some of the most popular early-music composers, such as William Byrd, Heinrich Schütz, and (of course) J.S. Bach. But further, we’ll devote our time and love and energy to bringing the sounds of such as Samuel Scheidt (Schütz’ friend and colleague) and Ludwig Senfl (disciple of Jos-quin Desprez and pupil of Heinrich Isaac) to vivid, breathing life. We begin with Byrd, the quintessential Renaissance composer. Born in 1543, he led a long and very musical life, delving into virtually every style current in his time. In November, we once again take up the music of Schütz, exploring his vast repertoire and bringing to life both sacred and secular repertoire from his oeuvre. And we close out 2024 with—gasp!—Handel’s Messiah. It’s been nigh on 20 years since we’ve performed this iconic piece, and we’re looking forward to taking it up again! In the New Year, we’ll begin as usual with our annual Organ Recital, featuring the wonderful Anne Laver at the Brombaugh Opus 9 tracker organ. Joining Anne will be the singers of Circa 1600, performing together and separately a variety of works by Samuel Scheidt, a direct contemporary of Schütz. In our annual Sacred Realms concert, the Green Mountain Consort will celebrate the completion of a new edi-tion of the sacred music of Ludwig Senfl by performing a selection from among the staggering output of this most special composer.
April brings our Spring Returns concert set, which this year features the music of the great Claudio Monteverdi, master of the madrigal, of the motet, of the mass. We’ll take a stroll down a memory lane of favorite Monteverdiana, and will also discover and perform works new to us. And to close our season, who could be better than our namesake, J.S. Bach? Following up on our recent production of The Most Ambitious Project, we will zero in on a specific epoch of Bach’s career in Bach Around Thirty, featuring a selection from his many fabulous cantatas composed in Weimar from 1714–1716.
If you don’t think I’m excited, you must not be paying attention. We are delighted to invite you to join us for one or more (or all seven) of our Deep Dives this season. We hope to see you soon! —Robert Worth, music director
