The next concert in the current American Bach Soloists (ABS) season will focus on concertos and psalm settings. The concert will begin with the vocal portion, which will offer two prime examples of the eighteenth-century Roman and Venetian practices. The first of these, George Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus (the Lord said) is a setting of Psalm 110. Completed while Handel was living in Italy in 1707, this composition is his earliest surviving autograph. This will be followed by one of Antonio Vivaldi’s settings of Psalm 1, the “beatitudes” psalm which begins “Blessed is the man” (beatus vir). Both of these compositions are set for orchestra (the American Bach Soloists), chorus (the American Bach Choir), and soloists: soprano Kathryn Mueller, mezzo Danielle Reutter-Harrah, countertenor Eric Jurenas (making his debut), and baritone Robert Stafford.
The second half of the program will feature two concertos for instruments that tend to receive relatively little attention. Debra Nagy will perform as soloist in Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1055R concerto for oboe d’amore in A major. (The “R” indicates that this concerto is based on the BWV 1055 keyboard concerto, which is also in A major.) She will be followed by Elizabeth Blumenstock performing Vivaldi’s D major concerto for viola d’amore.
The San Francisco performance of this program will take place at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (1111 O’Farrell Street, near the corner of Franklin) at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 3. Tickets range in price from $20 to $60. There is an event page for this concert on the ABS Web site, as well as a Web page for purchasing tickets. Further information is available by telephone at 415-621-7900.
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