2008 Concerts at St. Stephen's

Friday, February 29, 2008 at 8:00 pm

Vocal Visionaries

American Bach Soloist

Every period of music history featured composers who stood out as visionaries: individuals who changed the musical landscape. Jeffrey Thomas and the critically acclaimed American Bach Choir perform an innovative program of music by those who “pushed the envelope” of musical expression and choral techniques. You’ll hear old-world master Tomas Luis de Victoria's haunting Requiem, considered to be his magnum opus, alongside works by Richard Strauss and Eric Whitacre, as well as an encore performance of Sven-David Sandström’s Agnus Dei paired with his ecstatic setting of Henry Purcell's Hear my prayer, O Lord.

Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Choral Evensong

John Karl Hirten directs the St. Stephen’s Singers in this beautiful traditional service of the Episcopal Church. Join us as they sing music of John Karl Hirten and William Byrd. A pot-luck reception, open to all, will take place afterward in the Parish Hall. There is no charge for this event.

Friday, March 21, 2008 at 12:00 Noon

Special Good Friday Prelude

Sopranos Britt La Gatta and Kaneez Munjee will join organist Jeanette Wilkin Tietze in a special performance of Giovanni Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater as a prelude to the powerful, quiet and meditative Good Friday Service. There is no charge for this event.

Friday, April 4, 2008 at 8:00 pm

John Karl Hirten in Recital

Our own Music Director, John Karl Hirten will present a one-hour recital on St. Stephen’s renowned Frobenius pipe organ, featuring music of Vierne, Bach, Franck, Joplin, Weaver and Hirten. There is a free-will offering of $10 for this event, although no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 8:00 pm

The Art of Ian Howell

American Bach Soloist

Countertenor Ian Howell—winner of the Laurette Goldberg Prize at the 2006 ABS / Henry I. Goldberg Young Artists Competition—is showcased in a program featuring works by Bach, Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti, three composers coincidentally born in 1685. Mr. Howell, praised for his “polished sound, clear resonance, and powerful enunciation,” will perform Bach’s luscious cantata Vergnügte Ruh and Scarlatti’s gorgeous Salve Regina. In addition, he will offer an exquisite collection of Handel arias, composed for the opera and concert stage in the era of the celebrated castrati, Senesino, Guadagni, and Farinelli.

Friday, May 16, 2008 at 8:00 pm

Sound the Trumpet

American Bach Soloist

Baroque trumpeter John Thiessen, whose playing has been called “flawless” and “effervescent,” joins ABS to celebrate the anniversaries of two contemporaries of Bach—Johann Friedrich Fasch and Guiseppe Torelli—with a program of virtuoso trumpet concertos. As an added bonus, ABS will perform Georg Philipp Telemann’s Water Music, a boisterous dance suite that pays homage to seafaring life in early 18th-century Hamburg. Each movement has a mythical aquatic personality: Neptune, Triton, Thetis, Aeolus, and Zephyr are brought to life in music. Bach’s rousing Sixth Brandenburg—a virtual quadruple concerto for violas and violas da gamba—will bring the season to a brilliant close.

Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Veni Amica Mea (Chamber Ensemble)

Consummate the New Year with exquisite love duets—both sacred and secular—from the Italian, German, and English Baroque, including works of Cozzolani, Schütz, Purcell, and Handel, performed by Katherine McKee and Julia Earl, with

Katherine Kyme and David Daniel Bowes, violins, David Morris, ‘cello, Gary Hess, theorbo and Phebe Craig, harpsichord. Suggested donation:  *Adults $15 and above. Students and Seniors $12. No advance purchase necessary.

For more American Bach Soloist information and tickets, please log on to www.americanbach.org or phone 415-621-7900