Houston Early Music 
Fri., 8:00 PM, April 3, 2009
Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church
6221 Main St.
CURIOSE INVENZIONI: 17th Century Italian Musical Fireworks
GALATEA
Paul Beier, Director
Monica Huggett, baroque violin
Richard Savino, baroque guitar
Bruce Dickey, cornetto
Avi Stein, organ
Paul Beier, theorbo
Milan-based early music ensemble Galatea will perform a program of 17th-century Italian masterpieces for the final concert of Houston Early Music’s season. Making return visits to Houston for this concert are baroque violinist Monica Huggett, guitarist Richard Savino and organist Avi Stein. Noted cornetto virtuoso Bruce Dickey and Paul Beier, theorbist and director of Galatea, round out the ensemble in playing works by Marini, Fontana, Merula, Kapsperger and others. The performance will be at 8:00PM, Friday, April 3 at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, 6221 Main Street.
Founded and directed by American lutenist Paul Beier, Galatea features the talents of some of the finest early music practitioners. The repertoire of Galatea is centered on innovative Italian music of the beginning of the seventeenth century, experimental and virtuosic, and of high artistic level—a bridge between the mature Renaissance and the Baroque period.
British violinist Monica Huggett is widely recognized as one of the finest early string players in the world. In addition to her performance and teaching duties in Europe she is the artistic director of the Portland Baroque Orchestra and has been guest director of the Philarmonia Baroque Orchestra. Recently she was named artistic director of the newly formed Juilliard Historical Performance Program.
Baroque guitarist Richard Savino is a familiar face in Houston having performed several times for Houston Early Music. In addition, he is frequently a guest artist with Ars Lyrica Houston, Mercury Baroque and Houston Grand Opera. He is professor of Music at California State University at Sacramento.
Bruce Dickey took his degree in musicology from Indiana University School of Music. He is one of the most celebrated virtuosos of the cornetto, a hybrid instrument made of wood with finger holes like a recorder and with a small trumpet-like mouthpiece. He is much in demand as a teacher, both of cornetto and early performance practice and teaches at the Schola Cantorum of Basel.
Prior to the concert at 7:00PM, there will be a lecture by ensemble member Richard Savino,
Tickets are $30 for general admission, $25 for seniors, $10 for students, under 15 free. Tickets may be purchased at the door or by calling 713-432-1744. www.HoustonEarlyMusic.org
Program Selections
CURIOSE INVENTIONI
Sonata Quinta (Sonate et Canzoni, Libro Sesto, 1636) Giovanni Battista Buonamente
violin, cornetto, organ, theorbo, guitar (1595-1642)
Sonata 3 (Sonate a due, tre & quattro, 1648) Marco Antonio Ferro (d. 1662)
violin, cornetto, organ, theorbo
Sonata Quarta “per sonor con due corde” Biagio Marini (1587-1663)
(Sonate, Symphonie, Canzoni, 1622)
violin, organ, theorbo, guitar
“Io son ferito ai lasso” Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina
(diminutions by Giovanni Battista Bovicelli, 1594) (1525-1594)
cornetto, organ
Passacaglia (Libro IV d’intavolatura, 1640) Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger
organ, theorbo, guitar (c.1580-1651)
Sonata undecima Giovanni Battista Fontana
(Sonata…per il Violino, o Cornetto…1641) (c.1580-1630)
violin, cornettto, organ, theorbo, guitar
INTERMISSION
Sonata Seconda à 2 (Flores praestantissimorum, 1626) Francesco Rognoni
violin, cornetto, organ, theorbo, guitar (c.1585-c.1626)
Toccata del Secondo Tono Tarquinio Merula
organ (1594-1665)
Toccata (Novi capricci armonici musicali, 1674 ) Giovanni Battista Granata
violin, theorbo, guitar (c.1620-1687)
“Io son ferito ai lasso” Palestrina
(diminutions by Francesco Rognoni, 1620)
violin, organ, theorbo
Sonata Quarta (Sonate et Canzoni, Libro Sesto, 1636) Buonamente
violin, cornetto, organ, theorbo, guitar