2023/24 Season
- Shout for Joy! PBO is 40
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Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins, artistic director, harpsichord & organ
What better way to herald PBO’s 40th anniversary season than to revel in the rich combination of natural trumpet along with soprano and strings? Our program includes Handel’s youthful Gloria – rediscovered in 2001 – and concludes with Bach’s exuberant cantata, “Praise the Lord in all lands,” featuring PBO principal trumpet Kris Kwapis and soprano Arwen Myers. Nestled between lies a double violin concerto from Vivaldi’s celebrated collection, “The Harmonic Inspiration.” Small wonder it inspired Bach to arrange it for the organ.
Read the program notes here: PBO Fall Program OCT|NOV 2023
Featured Artists
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George Frideric Handel
Gloria in excelsis deo -
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for Two Violins in A Minor, Opus 3, No. 8 from L’estro armonico -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen
Music Performed
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- By Arrangement: Orchestra Works for the Drawing Room
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Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins, artistic director and fortepiano
Chamber arrangements of larger works continue to be popular in a huge range of styles. During the Baroque era, they were an ideal way to make music accessible in private settings while allowing composers to hone their skills. But make no mistake, these arrangements are in no way poor copies of the originals. Rather, they give familiar works a new lease on life and show us how creative interaction with musical material can yield powerful results.
Read the full program here: PBO Fall Program Book Oct|Nov 2023
Join us one hour prior to the performance for a pre-concert talk about the program. Learn more here.
Featured Performers
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George Frideric Handel
arr. J. Walsh: Overture & ‘‘Verdi prati’’ from Alcina -
Elisabetta de Gambarini
arr. Perkins The Friendly Wish -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
arr. Hummel Piano concerto in D Minor -
Franz Josef Haydn
arr. Salomon, Symphony No. 101 in D Major, The Clock
Music Performed
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- A Musical Offering | Bach: Old vs. New
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Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins, artistic director and harpsichord
Legend relates that Johann Sebastian Bach exclaimed, ‘‘’Tis Prussian Blue! It fades easily!’’ when describing the music of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. This was surely a teasing reference to the galant style, with its open musical textures and avoidance of ‘’old-school’’ counterpoint. Our program offsets the contrapuntal wizardry of Bach senior with this new style – and is especially topical for your new Artistic Director in featuring a set of variations on God Save the King by Johann Christian, the so-called ‘‘London Bach’’.
Read the full Program Book here: PBO Fall Program Book Oct|Nov 2023
Join us one hour prior to the performance for a pre-concert talk about the program. Learn more here.
Featured Performers
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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Sinfonia in G Major -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Trio sonata sopra il sogetto reale from The Musical Offering -
Johann Christian Bach
Harpsichord Concerto in D Major, Opus 1, No. 6 -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor
Music Performed
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- Handel's "Messiah"
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John Butt
John Butt, guest director and harpsichord
Rejoice! The beloved holiday tradition returns featuring Handel’s complete oratorio. Discover why the Messiah is one of the most-performed works in history and experience it as it was meant to be heard and performed on period instruments. Directed by illustrious guest artist John Butt, this year’s concert features professional chorus Cappella Romana and world-class soloists soprano Camille Ortiz, mezzo-soprano Hannah Penn, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca.
RUN TIME: Handel’s Messiah runs approximately 3 hours including 1 intermission.
The Box Office opens onsite at First Baptist Church one hour prior to the performance and the seating area can be accessed beginning 1/2 hour prior to the concert start time.
*** A limited number of returned tickets will be for sale starting 30 minutes prior to each concert and will be sold first come first served. ***
There is no pre-concert talk for Handel’s Messiah.
Featured Performers
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George Frideric Handel
Messiah
Music Performed
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- Dinner with Handel
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Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins, artistic director and harpsichord
The North American premiere of a newly-devised opera pasticcio by Stephen Pettitt (libretto) and Julian Perkins (musical arrangements and recitatives).
A reimagined delicacy that dares to ask, ‘‘what would dinner with Handel really be like?’’ Set in Handel’s London home, this chamber opera revolves around an uncomfortably intimate surprise dinner party thrown by Handel’s cook, the singer Gustavus Waltz. We imagine conversations and confrontations between Handel, rival composer Johann Christoph Pepusch, spurned diva Francesca Cuzzoni, and Handel’s dearest friend, Mary Pendarves. Music by Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, and Arne is sensitively and wittily re-texted (in English) by esteemed journalist Stephen Pettitt, with recitatives newly composed by Julian Perkins. Fast-moving, funny, and touching, this 90-minute romp explores Handel’s complex personality through carefully researched and often telling references to real events. Join us for an operatic feast that serves selections of both Handel the genius, and the fallible human being, in an unusual and fascinating light.
Don’t forget to join us one hour before the performance for a pre-concert talk about the program. Learn more here.
View the Concert Program Book Spring 2024 Program Book.
Dinner with Handel runs approximately 90 minutes and is a lightly-staged production. Please see our FAQ page for information about ticket policies.
Featured Performers:
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Julian Perkins
Dinner with Handel
Music Performed
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- The Italian Connection: the Theater of Stylus Fantasticus
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Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins, artistic director and harpsichord
In the same way that chiaroscuro paintings evoke strong emotions through bold contrasts, so too does music’s Stylus fantasticus through frequent juxtapositions of free fantasy with measured counterpoint. Emanating from Italy, this theatrical style infused the spirit of the Baroque both in performance and composition, culminating here in Corelli’s famed variations on ‘‘madness.’’ Prepare for a musical rollercoaster!
Join us one hour prior to the performance for a pre-concert talk about the program. Learn more here.
View the Concert Program Book: Spring 2024 Program Book
Featured Performers
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Girolamo Frescobaldi
Toccata -
Isabella Leonarda
Sonata Opus 16, No. 12 -
Johann Jakob Walther
Sonata X, ‘‘Imitatione del Cuccu,’’ from Scherzi da violino solo -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor -
Arcangelo Corelli
Sonata for Violin and Continuo in D Minor, Opus 5, No. 12, "La Follia"
Music Performed
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- Telemann's Sublime Strings: Carla's Podium
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Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins, artistic director and harpsichord
To celebrate PBO’s abundance of talent, each season will now feature a program curated by an orchestra member. First up is our esteemed leader, Carla Moore, in a concert that delves into Georg Philipp Telemann’s vast musical cupboard. We explore a kaleidoscope of textures and styles, from the musings of solo lute to a declamatory overture for the full cohort of strings. Further contrast abounds with French and Italian works by two of Telemann’s likely influencers, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier and Francesco Durante.
Join us one hour prior to the performance for a pre-concert talk about the program. Learn more here.
View the Concert Program Book: Spring 2024 Program Book
This new work is generously sponsored by:
Featured Performers
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Georg Philipp Telemann
Overture-Suite in A Minor for Strings and Basso Continuo -
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier
Sonata No. 6 in C Major for Two Violoncellos, Opus 14, No. 6 -
Georg Philipp Telemann
Concerto for Two Violas in G Major -
Georg Philipp Telemann
Concerto for Four Violins in D Major -
Francesco Durante
Concerto No. 8 in A Major, La Pazzia
Music Performed
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- Harmony of Nations
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Julian Perkins
Julian Perkins, artistic director and harpsichord
‘‘Weapons of war and their use are something I am unable to engage with. I busy my time with notes, strings, and sounds. I work in the cause of harmony, mixing the sounds of France, Germany and Italy and attempting thus to prevent wars and to serve the cause of peace among nations and their striving for peace.’’
Georg Muffat’s words are as relevant today as when he wrote them in 1695. Here, musical styles range from his French-infused dances to Andrzej Panufnik’s unique recreation of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century musical fragments from Poland that were almost lost to the ravages of war. Our season culminates with an Italianate symphony by the Ukrainian composer Maxim Berezovsky.
Join us one hour prior to the performance for a pre-concert talk about the program. Learn more here.
View the Concert Program Book Here: Spring 2024 Program Book
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Georg Muffat
‘‘Nobilis Juventus’’ from Florilegium Secundum -
Andrzej Panufnik
Jagiellonian Triptych -
Maxim Berezovsky
String Symphony No. 3 in C Major
Music Performed
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