[037]Baroque violin & harpsichord duo perform at MTSU and Vanderbilt

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 6, 2008CONTACT: Tim Musselman, School of Music, 615-898-2493

Baroque violin & harpsichord duo perform at MTSU and Vanderbilt

(MURFREESBORO/NASHVILLE)—The Baroque violin and harpsichord duo of Karen Clarke (Baroque violin) and Karyl Louwenaar Lueck (harpsichord) will perform in free concerts at 3 p.m. Sept. 14 in Hinton Hall of the Wright Music building on the MTSU campus, with a second performance at 8 p.m. Sept. 15 in Turner Recital Hall at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Clarke and Louwenaar Lueck will be assisted by Christopher Stenstrom (Baroque cello) and George Riordan (Baroque oboe).
The program will consist of Isabella Leonarda's Sonata Duo Decima; François Couperin's La Steinquerque; Heinrich Biber's Rosary Sonata No. 10 – “The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus;" Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata in G Major for Violin and Harpsichord; and François Francoeur's Sonata in G Minor (1730).
Oboist Riordan, who is director of the School of Music at MTSU, said that La Steinquerque was written to commemorate the victory of Louis XIV.
Regarding Baroque music in general, Riordan said the Baroque period in music lasted from about 1600 to 1750, and during that time the violin was considered the solo instrument "par excellence."
"When the violin was joined with a basso continuo—namely, a harpsichord to fill in the harmonies and a cello to play the bass line—this combination quickly became one of the basic virtuosic ensembles of the 17th and 18th centuries," Riordan said.
Riordan, Clarke and Louwenaar Lueck and their affiliate artists will perform on instruments typical of those in use during the Baroque, which differ from their modern counterparts in several fundamental ways.
"The harpsichord employs quills to pluck the strings, rather than hammers as in the piano; violinists and cellists used different bows and strings than today, and subsequently impart a very different sound and feel," Riordan observed.
"Interestingly, the Biber Rosary Sonata No. 10 uses an unusual tuning of the strings, called ‘scordatura,’ which the composer used to create certain timbres and effects within the music,” he added.
Concerning the performers, Clarke serves on the faculty of the Blair School of Music as concertmaster of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and Belle Meade Baroque in Nashville and regularly performs around the nation in such places as Santa Fe, N.M., and Austin. She retired in 2007 as professor of violin at the Florida State University College of Music. She has recorded with the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra and the Apollo Ensemble, respectively, and served as member of the first violin section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and founding member of the Rogeri Trio.
Harpsichordist Louwenaar Lueck served on the keyboard faculty of the FSU College of Music for 35 years prior to her retirement in 2007, where she taught piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, basso continuo and Baroque ensemble, as well as courses in keyboard literature and performance practice; she also served as coordinator of the keyboard area.
—more—
DUO
Add 1

Stenstrom is a member of the cello section of the Nashville Symphony, serves as executive director of the Nashville-based chamber music ensemble known as Alias and also performs with Belle Meade Baroque. Meanwhile, Riordan, aside from his MTSU duties, is principal oboist with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and Belle Meade Baroque.
"The music selected for this performance provide a tour of European culture of the period, as it is drawn from different points in the Baroque and from the three leading cultural powers of the time: Italy, France and Germany," Riordan said.
This concert is free and open to the public.
For more, information, call the music school at MTSU at 615-898-2493.


—30—