Events

Past Event

Concert Series: The Grand Tour Orchestra

November 5, 2008
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Event time is displayed in your time zone.

Telemann and Galuppi; with Sari Gruber, soprano, Charles Brink, flute, Claire Jolivet, violin, Loretta O'Sullivan, 'cello.

The Fall 2008 concert series at Columbia University's Italian Academy will present three concerts by the period-instrument ensemble The Grand Tour Orchestra led by flutist Charles Brink. The Grand Tour Orchestra was founded in 2006 in New York. The New York Times wrote of the Orchestra's first season at the Italian Academy that year that the musicians were “willing and energetic, playing with an involved enthusiasm.” The Orchestra specializes in music of the late 18th century. 

The players who form the nucleus of The Grand Tour Orchestra are highly regarded in both the modern and period-instrument scenes and can be heard around the US: concertmaster Claire Jolivet, Andrea Schultz, Theresa Salomon, Amelia Roosevelt, Marika Holmqvist and Owen Dalby, violin; Jessica Troy and Alissa Smith, viola; Loretta O'Sullivan and Lindy Clarke, 'cello; John Feeney, bass; Gonzalo Ruiz and Sarah Davol, oboe; RJ Kelly and Alexandra Cook, horn. 

Music Director Charles Brink has specialized in18th-century music since 1997. He has played, toured and recorded with many ensembles in Europe and the United States - The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, his own Bouts Ensemble, The Four Nations Ensemble, Ensemble Rebel, the New York Collegium and the Hannoverische Hofkapelle to name but a few. His flute playing has been critically acclaimed in The New York Times, the Mainzer Zeitung, and the Hessischer Zeitung among others. Mr. Brink has recorded for the EMI, Raumklang, ASV labels as well as German and Dutch Radio and Television. Mr. Brink also served as co-music director in the 2004 Opera da camera Linz production of Handel's Ariodante. His research into and love for the music of the pre-classical and classical periods led him to found the Grand Tour Orchestra. 

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 8 p. m. 
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767): Concerto in A for flute, violin, 'cello, strings, and continuo (1736); Scene from Ino, dramatic cantata for soprano and orchestra (1767) Baldassarre Galuppi (1706-1785): Motet Sub coelo sereno for soprano and strings (North American premiere); Salve Regina in A for soprano and strings (1775) (North American Premiere) with Sari Gruber, soprano, Charles Brink, flute, Claire Jolivet, violin, Loretta O'Sullivan, 'cello

This program features the US premiere of two beautiful motets by the celebrated Venetian composer Baldasarre Galuppi as well as two works by Georg Philipp Telemann; a scene from the cantata Ino and the Triple Concerto in A. Though Telemann is considered a baroque composer, the works presented here show him in the stylistic avant-garde, headed towards a classical “naturalness.” Only Galuppi's renown was on a par with Jommelli's in the mid 18th century yet his music is seldom heard today. Lyric soprano Sari Gruber has established herself as a versatile and sought-after singer whose performances of music from Bach to Weill have been highly praised both in the US and abroad.