It is a quiet week in Philadelphia on the cultural front, but we still have a few events to share with you. As an added bonus, I’ve put together a mini-playlist of pieces for Passover and Holy Week. Subscribe now to get Fanfare delivered to your inbox every Sunday. If you have feedback or an upcoming event to share, let us know!
Spotlight: Demarre McGill, Titus Underwood, Anthony McGill and Bryan Young — Wednesday, Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
The centerpiece of this concert presented by PCMS is Principal Brothers by American composer James Lee III. Written in 2020 and inspired by the music of Stravinsky, it is a set of four short solo woodwind works for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, representing the core woodwind section in an orchestra. Written specifically for the musicians on tonight’s program, all principal players in their respective orchestras, it is a celebration of their leadership and accomplishments. The rest of the evening features contemporary music written for wind instruments by Valerie Coleman, Errollyn Wallen and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
April 16 at 7:30 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $30; tickets and information.
Kathleen Scheide, organist — Tuesday, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
The Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church finishes its Lenten Organ series on Tuesday with a recital by Dr. Kathleen Scheide, organist and music director at Church of the Loving Shepherd, West Chester, Pennsylvania.
April 15 at 12 p.m., Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr, free; more information.
Delaware Symphony Orchestra — Friday, Copeland Hall, Grand Opera House
Music Director Laureate David Amado returns to the Grand Opera House for the final concert of the Delaware Symphony’s season. A wonderful musician, he conducts a program of spring-themed works by Takemitsu (Twill by Twilight), Debussy (Printemps) and Stravinsky (Rite of Spring).
April 18 at 7:30 p.m., Copeland Hall at the Grand Opera House, 818 North Market Street, Wilmington, DE, $30-$90; tickets and information.
Bach St. John Passion — Friday, St. Katherine of Siena Church, Wayne
Vox Ama Deus presents Bach’s powerful, compact setting of the Passion story taken from the Gospel of John. First performed at Vespers on Good Friday in 1724, it was the first Passion music Bach wrote as cantor in Leipzig. WRTI’s own John T.K. Scherch will be singing the role of Jesus alongside other local soloists, the Ama Deus Chorus and Orchestra in this performance.
April 18 at 7 p.m., St. Katherine of Siena Church, 104 South Aberdeen Avenue, Wayne, $10-$30; tickets and information.
Music for Passover
WRTI has been celebrating Passover with our on-air programming this weekend, and will do the same with Holy Week. For all who are observing either holiday, here are a few more pieces to accompany you.
The first is a setting of Psalm 126 “Shir Hama alot” from The Songs of Solomon by Salamone Rossi sung by Profeti della Quinta. Salamone Rossi was an Jewish composer working in Italy at the same time as Claudio Monteverdi. The first known musician to compose a collection of choral motets in Hebrew, Rossi’s The Songs of Solomon (1623) were an innovative development in Jewish devotional music.
I couldn’t leave out Handel’s masterful and eloquent “Israel in Egypt” written in 1739. An 18th century biblical epic including musical depictions of flies, frogs, hailstones, the river Nile turning to blood, and the parting of the Red Sea. This is Handel at his virtuosic best.
Music for Holy Week
For anyone looking for music to accompany Holy Week, here is Vivaldi’s setting of the ancient Stabat Mater text, a Marian hymn depicting the mother of Christ standing, weeping at the foot of the Cross. Pergolesi’s is perhaps the better known version, but this setting by Vivaldi is equally arresting.
Spanish Renaissance composer Alonso de Tejeda’s setting of the “Miserere mei, Deus” is again, not as famous as the one by Gregorio Allegri, but its transcendental setting of a text used in Tenebrae services on Good Friday deserves to be heard more often.
Carlo Gesualdo’s Tenebrae responses for Holy Saturday are incredibly difficult to perform but intensely satisfying. Close your eyes and revel in this masterful setting of “O vos omnes” taken from the book of Lamentations 1:12.
Finally, I will leave you with Heinrich Biber’s extraordinary Mystery (Rosary) Sonata. A set of 15 sonatas arranged like the prayers of the rosary, the fifteen movements are grouped into three sets of five -- five joyful mysteries, five sorrowful mysteries, and five glorious mysteries. The concluding Passacaglia is probably one of the greatest unaccompanied violin pieces written before Bach.
Here is Sonata IX, The Carrying of the Cross.
And the final, exquisite Passacaglia.
