PROGRAMME
MASON BATES Appalachian Ayre (world premiere)
SCHMELZER Lamento sopra la morte di Ferdinandi III
BIBER Mensa Sonora Pars III in A minor, C 71
MUFFAT Missa in labore requies
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale
Richard Egarr - conductor
artists
Maya Kherani, soprano
Nola Richardson, soprano
Siman Chung, countertenor
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Spencer Britten, tenor
James Reese, tenor
Cody Quattlebaum, bass-baritone
Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone
It’s easy to forget now, when the music seems so familiar, that composers throughout history have been innovators, producing music that startled, confounded and even shocked audiences of their day. So it’s entirely natural that one of the “disruptors” of 21st century classical music, Mason Bates, rubs shoulders with Franz Biber, Georg Muffat, and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer in this program. Known for his compositions which bring together the worlds of orchestral music and electronics, Mason’s new work for us is sure to be an unmissable opener to these concerts.
Muffat shared Mason’s love of combining unlikely bedfellows, known for combining contrasted national musical styles. In these season-closing concerts we hear his celebratory Mass, together with a selection of rich and multi-layered Sonatas by Biber and a wrenching lament for strings and continuo by Schmelzer.