San Diego Early Music Society has the latest in old music

Germany's Concerto Köln will perform Bach's Brandenburg Concertos No. 4 and 5 in San Diego. (Photo courtesy of Concerto Köln)

Have you ever had the kick of hearing live performances with everything from voices to viols, recorders to crumhorns?

That and more is possible at the San Diego Early Music Society’s “International Series,” which showcases visiting stars of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music. (Tickets/information: www.sdems.org)

The performances give fresh vitality to venerable compositions, making old-school styles meaningful to 21^st-century audiences.  Some of the music is so “early” that Beethoven seems almost modern by comparison and Brahms is practically contemporary.

Consider The City Musick, England’s recently-formed Renaissance band that’s slated for its world debut on Friday, October 16 in the opening concert of the Early Music Society’s 2009-2010 season. Titled “The Topping Tooters of the Town,” the program at La Jolla’s St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church features the ensemble’s five musicians playing such instruments as sackbuts, bagpipes and recorders.

“We’re thrilled to have this group,” says Mark Lester, the president of the Early Music Society’s board of directors. “The concert is happening before the official premiere in New York. It’s quite a coup for us. The timing worked out just right.”

City Musick was founded by the Dufay Collective’s William Lyons, the performer, composer, teacher and early music expert who has even worked on such films as “Shrek the Third” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” His new group emphasizes music performed in London between 1500 and 1700. (And student tickets for the October 16 concert are a bargain at just $10.)

Also enticing are the four other programs at St. James: Musica ad Rhenum in “The Apotheosis of Beauty: Chamber Works by Telemann and Couperin” (November 20); Boston Camerata in “A Mediterranean Christmas” (December 6); Baltimore Consort in “Adew, Dundee” (January 22, 2010); and Daniel Taylor, Suzie LeBlanc and the Theatre of Early Music in “Romantic Duets in the Italian Tradition” (March 5).

The season’s grand finale — Germany’s celebrated Concerto Köln in “Bach and the Concerto di Camera in Italy and France” — will be held May 2 in the Early Music Society’s new venue, Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall, in Sorrento Mesa.

“It’s our first ever concert at Qualcomm,” says Lester, referring to the 534-seat venue. Unlike St. James, it’s spacious enough to hold the chamber orchestra. “It’s a spectacular facility and an acoustically fine hall. We feel very fortunate and grateful to be there.”

What makes the Early Music Society so unusual is the fact that the nonprofit organization is run almost entirely by volunteers.

“Unlike so many arts organizations that have a large, paid staff, we have only one part-time paid assistant (Janet Parish-Whittaker),” says Lester, an Early Music-loving amateur pianist who’s the longtime director of administrative operations for San Diego State University’s library. “Board members don’t just meet. They help carry out the work of the Society.”

Mark Lester, board president of the San Diego Early Music Society. (Courtesy photo)

Serving as (unpaid) artistic director is Laurent Planchon, the tech-savvy, harpsichord-playing administrator who works as a design automation manager. The native of Strasbourg, France, has plenty of early music connections in this country and abroad.

“Without him, the Society would not function,” Lester says of Planchon. “He chooses the artists, makes the arrangements and makes sure the contracts are finalized.”

This season’s projected budget is approximately $90,000. About half pays for artist fees; the other half covers such expenses as rentals, printing, and the annual “San Diego Early Music Workshop,” scheduled for May 21-23.

In addition to the “International Series,” the 2009-10 season includes non-subscription concerts (such as Hélène Schmitt ’s April 16 violin recital at the Congregational Church of La Jolla), and the “Old Masters Concert Series,” the collaboration between the Early Music Society and the San Diego Museum of Art that spotlights local Early Music groups. Next up: Renaissance vocal music care of Sacra/Profana (November 1), to be followed by Renaissance and Baroque works from the Odeum Guitar Duo (February 7), and Renaissance vocal and instrumental music courtesy of Courtly Noyse (April 4).

“We also have outreach activities in schools,” Lester explains. “Children often have first-hand experience playing the recorder and singing. We want to draw them into the Early Music audience.”

With Early Music, there’s nothing like an early start.

Valerie Scher is the SDNN Arts & Entertainment editor. You can reach her at valerie.scher(at)sdnn; follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/vscher

Tags: bargain concerts, cheap seats students, cheap tickets for students, Concerto Koln, Courtly Noyse, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall, Janet Parish-Whittaker, Laurent Planchon, Mark Lester, Odeum Guitar Duo, Sacra/Profana, San Diego Early Music Society, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego State University, SDNN, SDSU, SDSU library, Shrek the Third, St. James by-the-Sea, student tickets, The City Musick, William Lyons

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