NYS Baroque will explore the many possibilities of musical duets in Sweet Harmony, a program featuring vocal and instrumental music from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Lutenist Deborah Fox, who leads the ensemble, describes the concert as a musical treasury, bringing together works from several countries and showcasing two sopranos alongside two violins, with accompaniment from harpsichord, lute and cello.
“The duet is a really wonderful vehicle for music because the different voices can imitate each other or they can sing or play together,” Fox told WSKG’s Arts in Depth. “They can contrast with each other. So you get all the different musical ideas that can happen just between two voices.”
The program begins in Italy with music by Claudio Monteverdi, one of Fox’s favorite composers, and Barbara Strozzi, a 17th-century Venetian composer whose music Fox describes as powerful and distinctive. The concert also includes works by Dario Castello and Luigi Rossi, along with English music by Henry Purcell.
The program then crosses the Atlantic for a selection of American music from the late 18th century, including a string trio by John Antes, a composer and instrument maker sometimes called the American Haydn. The ensemble will also perform music by Supply Belcher, known as “the Handel of Maine,” and Timothy Swan, a hat maker who became a self-taught composer. American fiddle tunes will add another dimension to the program.
Fox said the American selections offer an opportunity to introduce audiences to music that NYS Baroque has not performed before. The variety, she said, is part of what makes the concert exciting.
The program returns to Europe with music by George Frideric Handel, including a dance piece from his trio sonatas and an aria for two sopranos that Handel later reused in Messiah. Listeners familiar with “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” may recognize the melody, although the words in the earlier version are in Italian and have a different meaning.
The vocalists are Laurie Heimes, a longtime NYS Baroque performer, and Andrea Walker, an emerging artist who recently won the Handel Aria competition in Madison, Wisconsin. Fox said she has long wanted to hear the two singers perform together, noting their shared joyful approach to music-making.
Violinist Jimmy Drancsak, who grew up in Syracuse and previously performed with NYS Baroque’s young artist program, will also return to the ensemble’s main stage. Fox said the concert offers musicians room to respond to one another and have fun, particularly in the improvisatory spirit of Baroque music.
NYS Baroque presents Sweet Harmony Friday, November 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church, 5299 Jamesville Road in Syracuse, and Saturday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m. at First Unitarian Society, 306 North Aurora Street in Ithaca. For more information, visit nysbaroque.com.