Summer concert options: Soprano and lute, bevy of bassoons, Plumeri and Willis
As the heat continues its grip, don't overlook opportunities to find comfort at various indoor musical oases -- if you can get there without wilting. Here are some classical and jazz examples on the horizon: The silvery-voiced soprano Ah Young Hong joins lutenist Kevin Payne at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at An die Musik for a program called "Love, Death, and Betrayal."
So, OK, maybe that's not necessarily the most summery, drinks-with-umbrellas title you could imagine, but it does promise some exceedingly eloquent and subtle music.
In addition to works by Monteverdi and John Dowland, the two Peabody-trained artists (Hong went on to join the faculty there) will offer pieces by some less well-known composers from the 16th-17th centuries, including Barbara Strozzi, a rare example of a woman who succeeded in what was very much a man's world.
For a completely different sound, how about a bunch of bassoons? Sunday marks the start of ...
To kick things off, there will be a free public concert at 5 p.m. Sunday in Peabody's Griswold Hall featuring Peabody faculty artist Phillip Kolker, who retired as Baltimore Symphony last year after nearly four decades of distinguished work as principal bassoonist.
He will be joined in Sunday's bassoon bash by Robert Sirois, Lynn Monciliovich and Anna Claire Ayoub, with Marc Irwin providing support at the piano.
Their program offers music of Telemann, Mozart, Eugene Bozza and Alec Wilder. (Students participating in Bassoon Week will give a concert at 7 p.m. July 22, also in Griswold Hall.)
Back at An die Musik on Sunday, the beat will switch to jazz. It's an opportunity to catch some major jazz artists.
Terry Plumeri, whose connection to our area includes a stint directing the Port City Jazz Ensemble in the late 1970s and playing in the National Symphony, has enjoyed a multiple career -- bassist, composer, conductor.
On the classical side, his credits include conducting and recording with the Moscow Philharmonic, including Tchaikovsky symphonies and one of Plumeri's own large-scale orchestral piece, "The Pride of Baltimore" (in the golden era when the Sun still had foreign bureaus, one of our correspondents covered the premiere in Moscow in 1994).
Plumeri is probably best known for his bass work, especially his bowed solos. He has performed with any number of notable artists, from Cannonball Adderley and Quincy Jones to Frank Sinatra and Roberta Flack (his playing can be heard on her "Killing Me Softly" album).
Pianist Larry Willis, who will be joining Plumeri, has worked with an equally stellar roster of jazz artists -- Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and Carmen McRae, to name a few -- during a career that started in the 1960s. His artistry is documented on hundreds of records.
Willis and Plumeri will be joined by Billy Williams, a drummer who, only in his 20s, has been making some serious waves in the jazz world.
There will be two shows at An die Musik, 5 and 7 p.m. Sunday.
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