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July 28, 2009

Pro Musica Rara's 35th season will open with salute to Edgar Allan Poe

Pro Musica Rara, like any number of other cultural organizations, has had its share of touch and go years, but this early music ensemble has manged to hang on, even gaining impressive artistic ground over the past several years. The 2009-2010 season marks the Baltimore group's 35th, a milestone that will be celebrated with imaginative programming and appealing artists at Towson University's Center for the Arts.

The most unusual presentation will open the season on Oct. 11 -- a celebration of the Edgar Allan Poe bicentennial. This concert combines a reading of his chilling tale "The Cask of Amontillado" with some appropriately spooky music, including Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata and Marais' Tableau de l'operation de la Talle (a musical depiction of the composer undergoing an un-anesthetized gall bladder operation in the 1700s -- talk about scary). Featured performers: violinist Cynthia Roberts, cellist and Pro Music artistic director Allen Whear, harpsichordist Dongsok Shin, narrator Jonathan Palevsky.

French baroque will be the focus in November in a concert showcasing ...

Kenneth Slowik on viola da gamba.

The annual SuperBach Sunday in January will welcome the excellent Philadelphia-based ensemble Tempesta di Mare in a collaborative program that offers a couple of Brandenburg Concertos and music of Vivaldi.

Bach is back in the limelight in March for a 325th birthday salute with Roberts and Whear.

The season will close in April with music of Haydn, Mozart and Mozart's nemesis, Salieri, played by Whear, violinists Greg Mulligan and Ivan Stefanovic, violist Sharon Pineo Myer, and fortepianist Eva Mengelkoch.

BALTIMORE SUN FILE PHOTO (AP)

Posted by Tim Smith at 12:06 PM | | Comments (0)
        

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About Tim Smith
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., I couldn't help but develop a keen interest in politics, but music, theater and visual art also proved great attractions. Music became my main focus after high school. I thought about being a cocktail pianist, but I hated taking requests, so I studied music history instead, earning a B.A. in that field from Eisenhower College (Seneca Falls, N.Y.) and an M.A. from Occidental College (Los Angeles). I then landed in journalism. After freelancing for the Washington Post and others, I was classical music critic for the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida, where I also contributed to NPR. I've written for the New York Times, BBC Music Magazine and other publications, and I'm a longtime contributor to Opera News. My book, The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music (Perigee, 2002), can be found on the most discerning remainder racks.

I joined the Baltimore Sun as classical music critic in 2000 and, in 2009, also became theater critic, giving me the opportunity to annoy a whole new audience. In 2010, my original Clef Notes blog expanded to encompass a theatrical component -- how could I resist calling it Drama Queens? I hope you'll find both sides of this blog coin worth exploring and reacting to; your own comments are always welcome and valued (well, most of them, at least).

Think of this as your open-all-hours, cyber green room, where there's always a performer or performance to discuss, some news to digest, or maybe just a little good gossip to share.
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