Featured news and reviews:
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Pittsburgh Opera’s “Alcina” – Brilliantly Sung, Well Staged Production of Handel Rarity a Bewitching TreatPittsburgh In the Round Among the visiting musicians, Andrew Fouts made his violin sing in a hypnotically beautiful manner, and the continuo provided by Patricia Halverson on the Viola da Gamba and Scott Pauley on the Theorbo was conspicuously excellent. |
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Review: Pittsburgh Opera brings back baroque ornamentation in strong ‘Alcina’Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh’s early music ensemble, Chatham Baroque, bolstered the Pittsburgh Opera orchestra to provide support and a more historically informed approach to the score. This collaborative ensemble of about 25 players, led by music director Antony Walker, sounded well-matched, luxuriant in some of the slower arias and swooping and stirring in some of the more rousing tunes. |
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Review: Boiling music down to tension and release at Friday’s Pittsburgh Symphony performancePittsburgh Post-Gazette Chatham’s own Andrew Fouts was particularly thrilling in Biber’s Sonata I in D minor, “The Annunciation,” fiery, freeform passages evidencing superb technique and spirit. |
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Teamwork Pays Off in PittsburghEarly Music America Mergers can be risky business, but Chatham Baroque is looking to build on the initial success of joining forces with Pittsburgh’s Renaissance & Baroque, a presenting organization, at the end of the 2017-18 season. “Last year was more successful than we had even hoped,” says Donna Goyak, Chatham Baroque’s executive director. She reports attendance increased 32.5 percent in the first year of the merger. |
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How Chatham Baroque Keeps Early Music Alive90.5 WESA – The Confluence It’s been a year since Pittsburgh’s two early music ensembles formed one company. Chatham Baroque features instruments like the violin, theorbo and viola da gamba common in the 17th and 18th centuries in performances around the city. Executive director Donna Goyak says the merger has helped infuse renewed interest in baroque programming and brought in more subscriptions and higher attendance than previous seasons. Goyak joins players Andrew Fouts, Patricia Halverson and Scott Pauley. |
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Critic’s Notebook: PSO brass to visit Baltimore in support of fellow playersPittsburgh Post-Gazette Of particular interest: The “Haute Dance” by living composer Lansing McLoskey, who has been nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award, paid homage to ancient forms while managing to sound inventive and fresh. And Mr. Fouts performed the concert closer, the “Sonata quarta” by Erlebach, with a violin retuned to different notes… |
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Animal Bits and Musical InstrumentsPittsburgh Post-Gazette There’s a Pittsburgh violinist who plays on strings made of sheep gut. Salted, scraped, stretched, spliced sheep gut. While most string players in modern symphony orchestras use synthetic strings made of steel or nylon, baroque violinist Andrew Fouts — an artistic director of Chatham Baroque — special orders gut strings from a small shop in Minnesota…. |
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Corporate Citizenship award winner: K&L Gates provides pro bono services to Chatham BaroquePittsburgh Business Times A long-term relationship between K&L Gates LLP, Pittsburgh’s second-largest law firm, and Chatham Baroque Inc., which performs music from the 1700s, resulted in both a successful merger and… |
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Chatham Baroque leads lively, intimate Piccolo Spoleto early music seriesThe Post and Courier In recent days, Piccolo Spoleto Festival audiences at St. Philip’s Church have heard how music by Baroque masters such as Bach and Vivaldi would have sounded during their own time. Pittsburgh-based Chatham Baroque are the cornerstone of the Early Music at St. Philip’s… |
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 17, 2018 Chatham Baroque’s delivered a spirited series of performances this past weekend highlighting 16th- and 17th-century repertoire for three violins. Friday’s performance at Westminster Presbyterian Church in… |
A few quotes…
“Chatham Baroque is masterful… The ensemble plays with great tonal beauty and stands up to any ensemble from across the Atlantic.”
–San Antonio Express-News
–Bloomington Herald Times
–CD Now
–Musick