Women take spotlight as Early Music Vancouver unveils newly renamed summer festival, July 27 to August 5
Themed WOMENinSIGHT, event formerly known as Vancouver Bach Festival to feature world premiere of The Queen of Carthage, Servir Antico, and more
Charlotte Seigal (left) and Marisa Gold (photo by Kristine Cofsky) perform in The Queen of Carthage.
EARLY MUSIC VANCOUVER HAS just announced programming for its newly named festival: the Early Music Vancouver Summer Festival replaces the Vancouver Bach Festival, with the theme this year dubbed WOMENinSIGHT—a celebration of female artistry.
The event will host 60 artists from July 27 to August 5 at various venues, including SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Christ Church Cathedral, Pyatt Hall, The Orpheum Annex, West Vancouver United Church, Barnett Recital Hall at UBC, and St. James Community Square.
The theme of the 2023 Early Music Vancouver Summer Festival is WOMENinSIGHT. celebrating women composers, librettists, and performers.
One of the biggest projects will be the fest’s opening-night world premiere of The Queen of Carthage, a collaboration with re:Naissance Opera, kicks off this year’s Festival on July 27 at SFU Woodward’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. The interdisciplinary performance features soprano Charlotte Siegel and dance artist Marisa Gold (dancer|choreographer), with Debi Wong and Stephanie Wong stage directing and Catalina Vicens music directing. EMV Festival Players play in this show described in the announcement as “seamless blend of Baroque and contemporary song and dance” and a reclamation of the story of Dido, the Queen of Carthage, “and her legacy as a political leader, an empire builder, and a woman of colour”.
Catalina Vicens. Photo by Martin Chiang
Music director Vicens is also serving as this year’s Festival Artist-in-Residence. Born in Chile and based in Italy, Vicens is a sought-after historical keyboard and fouder of the ensemble Servir Antico. She’s curator of the Tagliavini Collection of historical keyboards in Italy, and artistic director of Museo San Colombano in Bologna, as well as a harpsichord/research lecturer at institutions like the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
Among the festival’s other highlights:
Il Ponte di Leonardo, July 28 at Christ Church Cathedral: Tenor Marco Beasley, a leading figure in Renaissance music, joins ensemble Constantinople under the direction of Kiya Tabassian
Our City of Ladies, August 1 at Christ Church Cathedral: Vicens’s Servir Antico breathes new life into European vocal and instrumental music, exploring Christine de Pizan’s (1364-1430) The Book of the City of Ladies.
The Ladies Vespers, August 2 at 7:30 p.m. | Christ Church Cathedral: Secular and sacred music from the 17th century, by women composers, takes centre stage, with Alexander Weimann directing sopranos Nadine Balbiesi, Lieselot De Wilde, Myriam Leblanc, Jane Long, and Ellen Torrie; altos Liz Hamel, Emma Parkinson, Vicki St. Pierre, and Krisztina Szabo; and members of Elektra Women’s Choir and EMV Festival Players.
Milton in Love: The Birth of Opera in the Eternal City | August 3 at Pyatt Hall: Follows in the footsteps of English poet John Milton’s sojourn through Baroque Rome, where he hung with the Illuminati, attended opera and oratorios, and became enamored with the singing of soprano Leonora Baroni. The concert features sopranos Nadine Balbiesi, Myriam Leblanc, and Ellen Torrie, and ensemble Atalante directed by Erin Headley
A Woman’s Voice in Bach’s World: Christiane Mariane von Ziegler, August 5 at Christ Church Cathedral: German poet and women’s rights advocate Christiane Mariane von Ziegler was anything but anonymous in the city of Leipzig was also one of J.S. Bach’s esteemed librettists. This programme celebrates their fruitful creative partnership, directed by Weimann and featuring mezzo Krisztina Szabo, tenor Philippe Gagné, baritone Sumner Thompson, and Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
There's much more, with early-bird tickets available from April 3 to May 14 at www.earlymusic.bc.ca, where you can also find the full roster of performances.
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