Chamber Ensemble Season Will Open July 9-10

SHERMAN — Baroque masters Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi will be featured when Sherman Chamber Ensemble (SCE) opens its 22nd season of summer concerts on July 9 and 10 with a program of deservedly popular works from this important period in the chamber music tradition.

Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 will feature the world-renowned harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper, a long-time SCE audience favorite, along with a stellar ensemble including Jill Levy, Andrea Schultz, and Calvin Wiersma on violin, violist Katherine Anderson, cellist Eliot Bailen, Peter Weitzner on double bass, and Susan Rotholz, flute.

The spotlight will be on Ms Rotholz and Mr Cooper again for a Vivaldi Double Concerto for flute and harpsichord. The pair’s work together on their recording of the complete Bach Sonastas for Flute and Fortepiano earned rave reviews from The Wall Street Journal, Billboard magazine, and The New York Times, whose online music critic hailed it as “irresistible in both music and performance.”

SCE co-founders Ms Rotholz and her husband Eliot Bailen will team up for another Bach concerto, in an arrangement for flute and cello that shows off their musical and personal rapport to perfection.

The program will be rounded out by a selection of arias for soprano by Agostino Steffani (1654-1728), performed by frequent SCE guest vocalist Josephine Mongiardo.

SCE concerts are performed Friday evenings in the intimate and acoustically excellent St Andrew’s Church on Main Street in Kent. Saturday performances take place in the rustic charm of the lakeside Mauweehoo Clubhouse, on Route 37 at the intersection of Leach Hollow Road in Sherman. All performances start at 8 pm and are followed by a reception offering light refreshments and an opportunity to meet the performers.

Admission is $20 at the door for adults, $15 for students and seniors. Advance reservations are strongly recommended and may be made by calling 860-355-5930.

For Sherman concerts only, adult lawn tickets may be purchased the night of the concert for $10. There is no charge for lawn tickets for children under 12.

A subscription package of tickets to all three of this summer’s programs for $45 is still available. For a subscription form or more information call the Sherman Chamber Ensemble at 860-355-5930.