Showing posts with label Market Street Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Market Street Music. Show all posts

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Arts in Media Clients Create Virtual Music This Fall

By Morgan Silvers
Morgan is a high school senior who enjoys playing sports like field hockey and soccer, and loves spending time with friends. She notes she's happy to have a chance to help write about events and media! In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in either Fashion Merchandising or STEM.

BRANDYWINE BAROQUE
Delaware's ensemble where "early music lives" has shifted performances into the virtual realm. Currently in the middle of their 2020-2021 Virtual Concert Series, their "Concerts at the Flint Collection" can be viewed virtually. 

Their series includes performances by ensemble and guest artists and features works from their recently released CDs. All performances premiere Sundays at 3:00pm (EST) on Brandywine Baroque's new Vimeo channel.

The ensemble schedule premieres new performances approximately every two weeks. Each performance is about 30 minutes in length and is free to view.

The next concert will premiere Sunday, November 22 at 3:00pm and will feature Brandywine Baroque Artistic Director Karen Flint, performing Pieces in G minor by Jean Henry D’Anglebert on the 17th-Century French Ruckers harpsichord.

To join and view this (and each new) performance, visit https://vimeo.com/475203801. All of Brandywine Baroque’s virtual concerts are available to watch anytime on Vimeo throughout the 2020-2021 season about a day after they have premiered. Be sure to watch!

MARKET STREET MUSIC
Downtown Wilmington's most diverse musical series, Market Street Music, has moved to an online platform as well. Three performances will be offered this fall, each in a two-part concert on their new YouTube channel.

Part One of the first performance has already premiered this weekend (Saturday, November 14) and featured cellist Ovidiu Marinescu — a seasoned player of the beloved Bach solo cello suites. In this concert, patrons can enjoy some of those suites along with new music from Ovidiu himself. Part Two premieres Tuesday, November 17 at 7:45pm.

Later this month, Market Street Music presents Marlissa Hudson, soprano and Marvin Mills, piano. These brilliant Baltimore-area musicians perform a program of remarkably beautiful and timely music by Black composers. Part One of their concert premieres Saturday, November 21 at 7:45pm, and Part Two premieres Tuesday, November 24 at 7:45pm.

Finally in December, viewers can celebrate the beloved-by-all Market Street Music tradition — the return of the Cartoon Christmas Trio! This fun-loving trio performs Jazz music from A Charlie Brown Christmas and so much more. Part One of the Cartoon Christmas Trio premieres Saturday, December 12 at 7:45pm; Part Two premieres Tuesday, December 15 at 7:45pm.

Patrons who join at the premiere times can chat live with Market Street Music and fellow patrons during the performance! CLICK TO WATCH!

MÉLOMANIE
For their 2020-2021 season, the ‘provocative pairings’ ensemble presents a series of five 30-minute streamed concerts, called Mélomanie's Virtual Series, putting fans in the 'virtual front row'! Their performances will include the ensemble's signature baroque and contemporary repertoire as well as interviews with guest composers.

The first concert premieres Saturday, November 21, at 3:00pm via their new Vimeo channel. The first program will include Mélomanie performing Telemann’s Paris Quartet in A Major and Aegean Airs by Robert Maggio; a cello solo by Ismar Gomes of Abraham's Sons - In Memoriam: Trayvon Martin, composed by James Lee III; and brief interviews with composers Robert Maggio and Mark Hagerty with guest percussionist Chris Hanning. Patrons need only click on the Vimeo link on November 21 to view the premiere performance!

Their follow-up concert is scheduled for Saturday, December 12, at 3:00pm.

All concerts will include post-performance "virtual receptions" via Zoom with the artists, and fans can also participate in live chat with each other during performances. After each performance, fans can also enjoy access to full-length, in-depth interviews with guest composers by clicking here.

Friday, November 2, 2018

Pyxis Lights Up Market Street Music Festival Concert Series

By Christine Facciolo
The Sunday, October 14, 2018 concert by Pyxis Piano Quartet — as part of Market Street Music's Festival Concert series — at Wilmington’s First & Central Presbyterian Church revealed once again the abundance of talent within each member of this laudable ensemble.  Members include Luigi Mazzocchi, violin; Amy Leonard, viola; Jennifer Jie Jin, cello and Hiroko Yamazaki, piano.


This 90-minute program offered works from the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries, including two of the most demanding in the repertoire: Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478 and Mendelssohn’s Piano Quarter in F minor, No. 2, Op. 2.

Mozart seems to have invented the piano quartet. There are no examples of the genre among his contemporaries or immediate predecessors, including the very inventive Haydn. He left only these two work but they count among the very best in the repertoire.

Mozart’s G minor quartet grew out of a commission from the Viennese publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister for three such works. The remaining two were canceled when the publisher felt the finished work was too difficult for the amateur musician 
 the usual market for keyboard-based chamber music.

Pyxis Piano Quartet (L-R): Amy Leonard, violaHiroko Yamazaki, piano; Jennifer Jie Jin, cello Luigi Mazzocchi, violin.
The quartet features true chamber music equality of part-writing, juxtaposing concerto-like passages in the piano with others in which the instrument fades and blends in with the strings in a lively interplay. The musicians effectively kept up the momentum throughout a cliffhanger of a development section which often hints at a resolution only to give way to other material. The second movement captivated with the sheer beauty of the playing, while the ensemble’s gentle handling of the phrasing in the finale provided a joyous conclusion to this darkly dramatic work.

Pianist Hiroko Yamazaki assumed an even more virtuosic role in Mendelssohn’s F minor quartet, while the string players offered less flamboyant bits, albeit ones that carried the thematic material. Leonard’s viola got to show off its high register during the exposition of the second theme. Yamazaki again displayed virtuosic technique in the rolling figurations throughout the Adagio movement which exhibited pure early Romanticism. The strings at last assumed an (almost) equal footing with their keyboard companion in the whiplash final movement.

The concert opened with a fine performance by Mazzocchi and Leonard of Martinu’s Three Madrigals for the (seemingly) austere combination of violin and viola. Each artist exaggerated the sounds of their instruments: Mazzocchi played up the brightness of the violin while Leonard reveled in the richness and warmth of the viola. 


It would have been tempting to blend the sounds but this approach maintained the independent voices when it mattered most. The result was what sounded like a unique instrument with a remarkable range of timbre and pitch. The two instruments matched when in the same range, establishing unity while preserving the individual capabilities of both. This was exploited to maximum effect during the playful competition of the many imitative passages.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Summer Jazz from Market Street Music & Creative District Wilmington

Market Street Music and Creative District Wilmington collaborate this summer to bring you live music in a tranquil cityscape setting...welcome to Jazz Nights at the Rock Lot!

Leading up to the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, the two organizations team up to bring well-known jazz musicians to this green space in the heart of the district for three Wednesday evenings in May and June.

"Market Street Music's partnership with the Creative District has been a dream collaboration," says David Schelat, Music Director and organist for Market Street Music. 

"Both organizations are deeply committed to the city of Wilmington and to expanding its arts presence and vitality. The Rock Lot space is ripe for this kind of programming, and I hope our regular [Market Street Music] audiences will take a chance on something new in a space they may not even know exists." 

Schelat also hopes the programming will alert new audience members to the annual programs Market Street Music has historically presented. 

Featured in the series will be the music and stylings of Alfie Moss and Dexter Koonce Project (May 30), the Sharon Sable Quartet (June 6) and The Terra Soul Project (June 13).  

"We booked three jazz ensembles with whom Market Street Music has worked in the past, and who always deliver a dynamite concert experience," says Schelat. "All of these artists are the best at their craft, and we're excited to welcome them to The Rock Lot!"

The Rock Lot is located at 305 W. 8th Street (on 8th between Tatnall & West Streets) in downtown Wilmington. All of The Rock Lot events are free and open to the public, so bring a basket of snacks, a chair or blanket and settle in for a night of jazz under the stars and in the heart of Wilmington!
  • Wednesday, May 30, 5:30-7pm | Alfie Moss/Dexter Koonce Project
  • Wednesday, June 6, 5:30-7pm | Sharon Sable Quartet
  • Wednesday, June 13, 5:30-7pm | The Terra Soul Project

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Ayreheart Makes the Lute ‘Cool’ Again in Wilmo

Ayreheart is Ronn McFarlane, lute; Willard Morris, fretless bass, violin & colascione; 

Mattias Rucht, percussion. Photo courtesy of Ayreheart.
This post is from an excerpt of Out & About magazine's April 2018 issue...

Market StreetMusic keeps its vibrant music roster going into spring with the return of Renaissance-and-modern music trio Ayreheart. The ensemble — Ronn McFarlane, lute; Willard Morris, fretless bass, violin and colascione (a kind of bass lute); and Mattias Rucht, percussion — brings the lute and related period instruments into the 21 Century with all the energy of a traditional rock band. The Friday, April 20, 7:30pm concert is the second appearance for the group in Market Street Music’s lineup.

“Ayreheart returns to Market Street Music because they are simply remarkable!” says Market Street Music Director David Schelat. “These musicians, who all have backgrounds in rock and jazz, create a level of energy that jumps off the stage and into the audience. It really is a bit like a rock concert, except the music is from the 14th to 17th Centuries.”

So, let’s back up. What’s a lute, exactly? It’s a stringed instrument (similar to a guitar, although it is plucked rather than strummed) with a long neck of frets, a round body and flat front. Descended from the Arabic oud, the lute was the most popular instrument in the Western world during the Renaissance.

The Ayreheart ensemble was founded in 2010 by Grammy-nominated lutenist McFarlane, who had long been writing and performing music for solo lute and found many of his ideas were more expansive than for just a solo instrument.

“It was a natural evolution to expand into an ensemble that could play all the parts,” says McFarlane. “There’s also an exchange of ideas and energy with an ensemble that becomes more that the sum of its parts.” 

In addition to original music, Ayreheart performs Renaissance music, “…from the time when the lute was considered the ‘Prince of Instruments,’” as McFarlane notes. “There’s a tremendous amount of music that exists from that period…that appeals to us very much.”
The last time Ayreheart played at Market Street Music, they presented an all-Renaissance music show. This time around, McFarlane says they’ll offer up a generous helping of Celtic music as well as his original music in the mix.

“I want audiences to come away happy and uplifted by our music, but also to hear the lute as an expressive instrument for modern as well as Renaissance music,” says McFarlane. “It’s exciting to break new musical ground for the lute, combining Renaissance and modern instruments, and creating a new body of music that blends elements of folk, Celtic, bluegrass and classical,” he says.

Tickets are $20 ($10 students) online at marketstreetmusicde.org and $25 at the door the evening of the show. 

See www.marketstreetmusicde.org

Monday, October 16, 2017

Organist David Schelat Opens Market Street Music's Festival Concerts

By Christine Facciolo

Organist/composer David Schelat explored the Baroque and beyond Saturday, October 14, kicking off a brand new season of Market Street Music at First & Central Presbyterian Church on Rodney Square in Wilmington.

Schelat’s program traced J.S. Bach’s steps back to his admirer Dietrich Buxtehude then forward to  his “rescuer” Felix Mendelssohn as well as offering a sampling of Bach himself.

The first half of the program featured three Baroque “Bs”: Bruhns, Buxtehude and Bach. Their work spanned the years 1664-1750, a time when north German mercantile trade funded both composers and construction of pipe organs on increasingly grander scales.
The music of this period was largely improvisatory and known as stylus fantasticus, characterized by short contrasting episodes and free form. Bruhns’ Praeludium in E Minor exemplifies this style and Schelat delivered it with insight and intelligence, maintaining the thematic material clearly while providing auditory interest in the repeated ornamentation with a variety of colorful registrations.

Buxtehude’s O Morning Star, how fair and bright (Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern) again showed Schelat’s expertise with the articulation of Baroque musical gestures.
Bach received his due with a rendering of the Prelude and Fugue in G Major (BWV 541) that was both meaty and full of energy. Tucked between them was the melodic simplicity of the chorale prelude Blessed Jesus, we are here (Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (BWV 730).

From Spain came Juan Cabanilles’ Corrente Italiana, a mixture of Renaissance and Baroque. Schelat added a subtle touch of percussion to good effect.

There were more surprises following intermission, including an organ sonata by C.P.E. Bach, J.S. Bach’s second surviving son. Although much better known for his harpsichord works, Bach did produce six organ sonatas on commission from Princess Anna Amalia, sister of his then employer, King Frederick the Great of Prussia. The writing is for manuals only, because the Princess was — reportedly — unable to play the pedals.

Schelat offered an effervescent rendering of the Sonata No. 5 in D Major (Wq70), indulging in much hopping between the two manuals — and adding a bit of pedal — to create a sheer delight for the ear.

Another pleasant surprise came with a performance of the Andante sostenuto from Charles-Marie Widor’s Symphonie Gothique. This sweet, meditative piece allowed Schelat to reveal a whole other side to a composer better known for the pyrotechnics of his Toccata in a work we rarely get to hear.

The program concluded with a performance of Mendelssohn’s Sonata in B-Flat Major. Mendelssohn had a great love for Bach and played a major role in his revival. While this music is Romantic in its approach, it displays a certain restraint which is very appealing. Schelat obviously loves this music and that affection came through in this assured and sensitive delivery.

Schelat reached into his own catalog for an encore with a performance of Kokopelli, a whimsical piece dedicated to the flute-playing trickster deity who represents the spirit of music and who presides over childbirth and agriculture. Schelat wrote the piece for the Fred J. Cooper Organ Book, which was commissioned by the Philadelphia chapter of The American Guild of Organists to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the organ in the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall.

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Arts in Media Clients Ready for a Busy Fall ArtSeason!

The following information comes from an Arts in Media press release announcing its clients' fall performance seasons. Check out the organizations' respective web and social media sites for complete details and ticketing information. 

The Arts at Trinity, a free series in the heart of Wilmington hosted by Trinity Episcopal Church, is now in its seventh season of "pop-up" events in literature, drama, poetry and visual arts. This year opens on Saturday, Oct. 7 with the Serafin String Quartet performing works by Haydn, Mendelssohn and American composer William Grant Still. On Sunday, Nov. 5, Trinity Church Choir and an orchestra conducted by Terrence Gaus-Wollen perform sacred music by Bach as part of Trinity’s regular Sunday service. On Saturday, Dec. 2, rising jazz pianist Gil Scott Chapman performs classical and jazz works and his own compositions. All performances are free to attend. For more details, visit facebook.com/TheArtsatTrinity.

Christina leads off its 71st year with its second annual Homecoming Block Party on Saturday, Sept. 30, from 1:00-6:00pm. The free, family-friendly event includes tours, children’s activities and closes with JAMMIN’ @ CHRISTINA, a musicians’ jam session. This fall, Christina unveils a new program called Literary Café, which welcomes New York Times best-selling author and Delaware native Jeff Hobbs on Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21. Hobbs will discuss his work, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. CCAC’s focus on intimate live performances returns on Saturday, Nov. 18 with a concert by gospel/soul/hip hop drummer George “Spanky” McCurdy. CCAC then embraces holiday majesty on Sunday, Dec. 10 with the stunning contemporary dance/music/narration production of “Carols in Color” performed by Eleone Dance Theatre. Christina wraps up 2017 with a Student Holiday Showcase on Saturday, Dec. 16.  Full details and tickets for events are available at ccacde.org.

Delaware’s Off-Broadway drops the axe on its 24th season with Lizzie, a blistering rock opera based on the 19th Century legend of notorious accused murderess Lizzie Borden, running Sept. 8-16 (Thursday, Sept. 7, 8:00pm preview and Sunday, Sept. 10, 2:00pm matinee). Four women front a six-piece rock band to tell a tale of murder and mayhem. Lizzie marks the CTC debut of Darby Elizabeth McLaughlin in the title role, alongside Jill Knapp of Hot Breakfast!, Kyleen Shaw and Grace Tarves. The band features Meghan Doyle, Joe Lopes, Dustin Samples, Noelle Picara, Sheila Hershey and Rich Degnars.  CTC‘s Fearless Improv continues Third Thursday shows at Chelsea Tavern through 2017 with performances on Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 16 and Dec 21. Shows are also held at Penn’s Place in Old New Castle on Sept. 9 and Nov. 11. Fearless Improv 101 and Improv 301 — 8-week public workshop series teaching basic scenework and advanced performance techniques —begin Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Delaware Historical Society.  In December, CTC returns to The Black Box to present a stripped-down version of the Sondheim classic, Sunday in the Park with George, running Dec. 1-16. They plan to collaborate with local visual artists to produce a “live” piece of art during each production — delivering a fresh, immersive multi-genre experience every night.  Tickets for all CTC and Fearless productions are available at city-theater.org.

Wilmington’s most affordable and diverse music series presents three full-length Festival Concerts this fall, featuring organist David Schelat on Saturday, Oct. 14; Pyxis Piano Quartet on Saturday, Oct. 28; and Mastersingers of Wilmington on Saturday, Nov. 4. Its much-beloved weekly music fest, Thursday Noontime Concerts, begins Thursday, Oct. 5 with a lineup including regional favorites like Copeland String Quartet, pianist Daniel Carunchio and countertenor Gus Mercante as well as a return appearance by Lyra Russian Choir – the vocal ensemble of St. Petersburg. The Noontime schedule culminates in the holiday tradition of the Cartoon Christmas Trio on Thursday, Dec. 7 and a holiday concert by Center City Chorale on Thursday, Dec. 14. Festival concert tickets and more details can be found at marketstreetmusicde.org.

Delaware’s ensemble known for ‘provocative pairings’ announces its 25th Anniversary Season! On Saturday, September 30, the season begins in a new partnership with the Delaware Historical Society for Up Close & Personal: The Violin – an informal afternoon of music and conversation featuring ensemble violinist, Christof Richter. This landmark season is highlighted by four new works from composers Chris Braddock, Jennifer Nicole Campbell, Mark Hagerty and Thomas Whitman, as well as a poetry and music collaboration entitled United Sounds of America with Delaware's Poets Laureate, The Twin Poets, Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Albert Mills. The ensemble also continues its longstanding partnership with its Wilmington Series home, The Delaware Contemporary, with a performance on Sunday, Oct. 29.  That concert will feature the World Premiere of Up to the Light by Mark Hagerty with guest percussionist Chris Hanning and additional music of Bach and Abel. Full details and tickets for all performances can be found at melomanie.org.

The Music School boasts a busy fall of student and professional performances, beginning with its Opening Night – All Bach! A Thank-You Concert on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 7:00pm at its Wilmington Branch. This concert will feature noted works by Bach including Brandenburg Concertos #3 and #5; B Minor Orchestral Suite & Violin Concerto in E Major, performed by chamber orchestra conducted by Simeone Tartaglione. The Music School’s additional professional concerts will include music of the Revolutionary War; the 10th anniversary of its Music of Many Lands program; and an annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration.  The Wilmington Community Orchestra, under the baton of Tiffany Lu, will perform works from Barber to Beethoven. And, the school continues to host its Classical Café sessions, which encourage lively discussion on a variety of music-related topics, quarterly Open Mic Nights, a monthly Bluegrass Jam, jazz and several rock-based student and faculty ensemble performances. For complete details and tickets, visit musicschoolofdelaware.org.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Pyxis Brings Beethoven & Faure to Life on Market

Pyxis Piano Quartet performs at Market Street Music.
Photo by Joe Gawinski.
By Christine Facciolo
Market Street Music welcomed spring and Pyxis Piano Quartet to its Festival Concert series on Sunday, March 19, 2017, which paired Beethoven’s String Trio in G major with Faure’s Piano Quartet in C minor.

The Opus 9 string trios offer a fascinating portrait of the young composer bursting with ideas as he took a musical form born as the baroque trio sonata and gave it new life as only he could. But as striking as they are, they represent the last gasp for a form that would soon be eclipsed by the string quartet.

Pyxis wisely chose the first Trio of Op. 9, a gem from its opening note to its last. This performance of the longest and most difficult of the trios earned the ensemble a well-deserved ovation. The opening and closing movements were technically perfect in every dimension. The wonderful slow movement with its pastoral theme in the distant key of E major received a most moving, heart-longing treatment. The breadth of expressiveness was especially remarkable considering the movement’s simplicity of form.

A proper contrast to the Adagio came with the buoyancy of the Scherzo and then with even more vitality a throw-caution-to-the-wind finale. All in all, a fitting performance of one of Beethoven’s “best works so far.”

Violist Amy Leonard introduced the Faure Piano Quartet by telling the audience that while she and her colleagues couldn’t offer Paris in springtime, they could bring a bit of the city into First & Central Presbyterian Church.

Leonard also noted that while the work is cast in a minor key, it’s a “happy minor,” with a positive tone albeit with some hints in the slow movement of the turmoil in Faure’s personal life at the time of composition.

Leonard contextualized the work by noting that just as Beethoven was a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic periods, Faure stood at the crossroads of the Romantic and modern eras. Indeed, Romanticism and its doleful heroics are left behind in this work. The first movement is a fluid blending of energy and lyricism. The high-spirited and virtuosic Scherzo delights with pizzicato-pricked perpetuum mobile fantasy. The grand Adagio imbues profound passion with classical restraint and balance. A soaring Allegro caps all with a shimmering major/minor gaiety.

Balance, ensemble, superb intonation and sensitive interpretation characterized this performance. None of the loud passages were overplayed. When one player had a solo passage, they came out just enough then returned to their dynamic place.

Special honors go to pianist Hiroko Yamazaki. Pianists have a special balance problem when playing in quartets because the sound of their instrument is so much fuller than a single string instrument. Not so here. Yamazaki was always at the correct level. Quite remarkable!

See www.marketstreetmusicde.org

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Music on Your Lunch Break in Downtown Wilmington

By Margaret Darby

Copeland String Quartet & Grant Youngblood
at Market Street Music. Photo by Joe Gawinski.
If you have never been to one of Market Street Music’s Thursday Noontime Concerts, it is worth organizing a trip to First & Central Presbyterian Church.  The concerts are only 30-minutes long, so they would serve as a gentle introduction for a person who is new to classical music. The selections are varied and intriguing – a taste of music by local performers. 

On March 30, the Copeland String Quartet and baritone Grant Youngblood performed Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach, which Barber composed at age 21. The piece starts with a quiet repeated pattern by the first and second violins, evoking the rocking tide of a quiet ocean. Youngblood began with a soft yet penetrating “The sea is calm” over that pattern. The sound became louder as the poem evokes Sophocles’ comparing the rhythm of the ebb and flow of the ocean to the sound of misery. The music builds to its climax, “Let us be true to one another!”  

The performance was beautifully controlled and the quiet attack and gradual build to the climax and fading away to nothing was also like an ocean wave, but this was slightly different from what Mr. Barber had originally put in his score. When I listened to a 1983 Nonesuch recording of the work with Leslie Guinn and the New York Art Quartet, the cover notes by Phillip Ramey quoted his 1977 interview with Mr. Barber. Barber said of Dover Beach, “Originally, I cut the middle part about Sophocles. Soon after Dover Beach was finished, I played it at the Owen Wister house in Philadelphia and Marina Wister exclaimed, ‘Be where’s that wonderful part about Sophocles?’ (Conversation was at a high level at those grand Philadelphia houses – if you said Sophocles when you meant Aeschylus, you simply didn’t get another drink.) I realized that Philadelphians, who are infinitely more educated than New Yorkers, would know their Matthew Arnold, and that she was quite right, so I wrote a contrasting middle section. The piece was better for it.”  And I agree.

The second piece in this mini-concert was String Quartet No. 1, which Charles Ives composed when he was 21. He used some well-known tunes, in particular hymns.  Ives’ harmonizations in this early work were exploratory and sometimes use clashing dissonances. The Copeland Quartet, with Ross Beauchamp as their guest cellist in this concert, unfurled the canonic harmonies of the fugal first movement and took their time ro permit clarity in the very acoustically live sanctuary. Ives became more daring with his harmonies with each successive movement. The fourth and final movement was a glorious experiment in harmonic changes and 3/4 over 4/4 meter – reprising the Shining Shore theme from the second movement, the Coronation from the first, and a smattering of the hymn tune Stand up for Jesus. The effect was described by my companion as ‘a sandbox of harmony”. The quartet played the difficult piece with panache, showing us how, as another member of the audience noted, that without Charles Ives there would have been no Aaron Copland. 


Upcoming Market Street Music concerts are Minas on Thursday, April 6 and OperaDelaware Sneak Preview on Thursday, April 20, both at 12:30. 

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Market Street Music Creates a Resource for the Choral Community

Market Street Music's Mastersingers of Wilmington.
With support from the Laffey-McHugh Foundation, Market Street Music is launching a new service to benefit its northern Delaware community and church choirs.

Area choirs will have free access to the almost 1,000 titles in MSM’s choral music library. Titles include sacred anthems, secular choral music and large works (sacred and secular) with orchestra parts, including expensive and hard-to-find items — from unison music to multi-part scores.

Interested groups can email MSM Music Director David Schelat to arrange for borrowing. All scores will be available in the office of First & Central Church.

Lost or severely damaged copies will be charged as: $3.00/octavo copy; $15.00/large work copy. This fine is payable within 30 days. Late return fine is $.25/day.

Check out the Music Lending list for complete details and send an email about what you want to borrow!

P.S. Mastersingers of Wilmington is holding auditions for new community-based amateur singers to join this outstanding ensemble. Information about these auditions may be found at http://marketstreetmusicde.org/choirs/. The audition consists of prepared music (found at our website), vocalizing and sight singing. Audition dates are on the website as well.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Organist David Schelat Features Bach & Original Works on Gabriel Kney Organ

Market Street Music Artistic Director and Organist, David Schelat
By Christine Facciolo

Organ concerts aren’t usually a big attraction, but David Schelat drew a respectable crowd to his Market Street Music Festival Concert on Sunday, October 23, 2016 at First & Central Presbyterian Church on Rodney Square in Wilmington.

Schelat took the audience on a wonderful journey from Bach to Schelat in a program that demonstrated not only his musicality and virtuosity, but also the breathtaking capabilities of the church’s Gabriel Kney organ — the only one of its kind in the mid-Atlantic region.

Schlelat devoted the first half of the program to works by J.S. Bach, believed by many to have been the greatest composer in the history of Western music. Indeed, the selections here amply demonstrated that Bach was much more than a mere mathematical counterpoint machine — which is why he is accorded such importance by composers of the Romantic era and beyond.

The concert opened with a performance of Bach’s most recognizable work, the Toccata & Fugue in D Minor (565). The church nearly seemed to shrink under the mighty sounds of that infamous opening motif. Schelat turned in an energetic yet deliberative reading, revealing details of this intricate and powerful work which are usually glossed over in more frenzied renderings.

Schlelat then offered three chorale preludes from the Schubler, Leipzig and Orgelbuchlein (Little Organ Book), which represent the summit of Bach’s sacred music for solo organ.

Some of the pieces were very familiar, like the Schubler chorale prelude Wachet auf or Sleepers Awake, BWV 645. Schelat’s gentle reading of the beautiful melody of this simple Lutheran hymn revealed the quiet sanity of Bach.

Likewise, Schelat’s understated approach to the chorale prelude from the Orgelbuchlein O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde gross, BWV 622 brought out not only the pain and regret in the opening of the piece but also highlighted the curious serenity and mystery in the music.

The Leipzig selection Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 655 offered a nice contrast to the previous two. Its infectious rhythms and lighter texture made the music a joyous, swirling experience.

Schelat bookended the section with the quietly monumental Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544, one of Bach’s more mature essays in the genres and a fitting complement to the pyrotechnics of the opening Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.  The second half of the program featured more modern fare, opening with Hindemith’s rarely performed Sonata I. Schelat delivered Hindemith’s sparse textures with clarity and articulation. The rhythms were crisp yet never mechanical, giving the reading an invigorating sense of purpose.

By contrast, Vierne’s diaphanous Clair de Lune, Opus 53, No. 5 seemingly dissolved metrical rigidity, producing an almost ethereal quality while the organ sang the deeply affective melodic line.

Schelat concluded the program with one of his own compositions, an organ sonata in three movements: Folk Song, Sarabande and Allegro. The short melodic piece was written in 2011 for colleague Michael Brill who premiered it in France. Most interesting was the first movement — Folk Song — which featured the melody played in the petals accompanied by arpeggiated harmonies in the keyboard.

See www.marketstreetmusicde.org.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Market Street Music's Season Opens with Pyxis Piano Quartet

Pyxis Piano Quartet (L-R): Jie Jin, cello; Luigi Mazzocchi, violin;
Hiroko Yamazaki, piano & Amy Leonard, viola.
By Christine Facciolo
Pyxis Piano Quartet opened a new season of Market Street Music Festival Concerts Saturday, October 1, 2016 with its usual combination of superb playing and interesting programming. The ensemble consisted of Luigi Mazzocchi, violin; Amy Leonard, viola; Jie Jin, cello and Hiroko Yamazaki, piano.

The bulk of the program featured two works written a century apart: Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major (K. 493) and Richard Strauss’ Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 13.

Luckily for us, when Mozart’s publisher canceled his commission for a series of piano quartets, the composer had already completed the second quartet and it was published by another firm in 1786. K.493 is one of Mozart’s greatest compositions and a classic of the genre with its pristine form, gracious themes and exquisite interplay between instruments.

The first movement — Allegro — begins intensely but offers gracious themes throughout. The Larghetto is a richly conceived slow movement featuring an exquisite interplay among piano and strings. The third movement Rondo — Allegretto — is full of fire and energy with a prominent piano.

Pyxis was most sympathetic to this spacious and outgoing work. Particularly attractive were the gently springy rhythms and exquisite phrasing of the strings in the first movement and Yamazaki’s beautifully shaped phrasing in the Larghetto.

Whereas Mozart wrote his quarter at the height of his musical maturity, Strauss was a mere 20 and very much in the thrall of Brahms when he composed his work. The result is an unusual fusion of musical personalities: the gravitas of Brahms and the fire and impetuousness of the young Strauss. Rich and dark, the work is full of blazing energy.

The playing has all the attributes you would expect from Pyxis: impeccable intonation and fluid tempos that allowed the music to flow in unbroken phrases. The players were individually excellent, as was Mazzocchi’s rendering of the main theme of the Andante and Yamazaki’s voicing of the chords supporting him. But they are at their best when they function as an ensemble, as in the tight Scherzo or the virtuosic interplay of the closing Vivace.

The evening opened sans piano with the playful Mozart En Route (A Little Traveling Music) by Aaron Jay Kernis, past recipient of the A.I. duPont Composer’s Award. Inspired by a letter from Mozart to his father, in which he complains of being jostled during a particularly rough carriage ride, Kerns’ short (three-minute) string trio takes listeners on a whimsical musical trip from Salzburg to Nashville and back. Thematic variation is the rule as familiar-sounding pop styles interweave with the classical tradition with several quotations from Mozart’s Divertimento for Strings, K. 563.

See www.marketstreetmusicde.org.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

J. S. Bach and His Circle - Market Street Music Festival Concert

Market Street Music Director David Schelat
My sneak preview of David Schelat’s upcoming organ recital was a trip through the world of Johann Sebastian Bach through examples of the music Bach heard as a young man, the composers he influenced and the late works of the great composer himself.

The recital opens with a Praeludium in C Major by Dieterich Buxtehude, a composer and artist whom Bach admired greatly.  This large work is as grand as any organ work of Bach, and to hear the varied registrations chosen by Mr. Schelat for the Gabriel Kney organ is a moving experience. The second composer whose music influenced Bach was Georg Böhm.  The chorale prelude shows a contrasting style of French influence. 

Mr. Schelat then played the compositions of three of Bach’s students.  Two of the three preludes Mr. Schelat chose by Johann Christian Kittel sounded as if Mozart had gone backwards in time to write a few operatic songs for organ, but what we really see is how Bach sowed the seeds of the Classical era.  The third prelude is a large and exciting prelude in D minor which calls to mind the great master’s toccata and fugue in the same key.

The second Bach student may not be as well known, but has a large catalog of compositions.  Gottfried August Homilius’ Dearly I love you, O Lord is in trio form and the registration Mr. Schelat chose maintain a brilliant contrast with the two manuals and pedal all in distinctive voices. 

The Fantasia and fugue in F Major by Johann Ludwig Krebs reveal another intersection of styles as Bach’s student tries a wildly rococo fantasia and a more baroque full fugue.

The final works — those of the great master Bach — start with one of his six trio sonatas, Sonata in C Major (BWV 529).  Wilmington is lucky to have an organist who can play such a challenging work with the rich sound of the organ at First and Central.  The other two pieces, the chorale prelude Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness and the Prelude and Fugue in C Major (BWV 547) complete the tour.  In a little more than an hour, Mr. Schelat takes the listener to hear what Bach heard as a young man, how his students interpreted his teaching and how the mature composer created some of the most complex and intriguing works for organ which are still fresh today.  The concert — Bach and His Circle — is at First and Central Presbyterian Church on Rodney Square on Saturday, October 19, at 7:30pm.