Happy New Year! Welcome to our January Newsletter!
December Concert — "Musick for a while" Offers Comfort during an Isolating Pandemic
Sarasa was very grateful for the chance to perform at Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church on December 4th to a vastly reduced but live audience. A concert featuring Christopher Lowrey, countertenor with continuo team Michael Leopold, theorbo and Jennifer Morsches, Baroque cello, the program streamed on the website through to the end of December. Sarasa has recieved many messages of grateful thanks from across the USA and beyond, expressing how necessary music is for all of us right now— both on a personal level and as we continue to maintain a meaningful dialogue as a community during the many restrictions in place. Thank you so much for listening, in person and on-line, and thank you for your donations towards this production! We also made a special video of the 17th-century program to share virtually with the youth in detention centers in the Boston Metropolitan North region, and hope to have feedback from them soon.
End of Year Appeal Makes a HUGE Difference to our Mission!
An enormous thank you for the generous gifts from our many donors, who helped make this the most successful End of Year appeal yet. There were many new first-time donors, as well as our devoted regular champions. Each dollar goes towards our distinctive programming and unique outreach work. Without your financial support, we would risk losing the ability to share the necessity of music, an essential part of our lives. We are very grateful and certainly hope we can meet you all at a live in-person Sarasa event as soon as it is possible! We are grateful for all of your support as we charter through these difficult times.
"In Search of Beethoven” -- an IMPORTANT update on January’s concert-set
Our next program, “In Search of Beethoven,” will be streamed on our website on Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 7.30pm. We had hoped to bring you this concert live with reduced seating at Harvard-Epworth on Saturday, January 23rd, but following updated local Massachusetts government guidelines, no more than 10 people total are allowed at an indoor public event. Christina Day Martinson, Jess Irons, violins, Jason Fisher, viola, and Timothy Merton, cello will instead film this wonderful program, based around the composers who taught and influenced the young rising star, Ludwig van Beethoven. The hour-long program will stream on-line from Sunday, January 30th for three weeks. Please tell your friends and family, and help spread the word!
In case you live in Vermont, two one-hour live performances of this program will still take place for an audience of 40 total capacity at the Brattleboro Music Center on Friday, January 22, 2021 at 5-6pm and 7.30-8.30pm. For tickets and further information, please CLICK HERE or call (802) 257-4523. Tickets: $20 for general and seniors, $10 for students; free for children. Masks are compulsory, and seating will be safely distanced for all.
Beethoven’s Youthful Flair
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1828) is widely regarded as the greatest composer in history. Sarasa’s January program focuses on some of the composers whose output greatly influenced Beethoven’s earliest ideas on musical form and expression, on what he searched for as a musician, and on the boundaries he pushed as a true innovator. To get you in the mood of his incredible contribution to the string quartet literature, here are Beethoven’s Op. 18 No. 5 and No. 6 String Quartets (published in 1801), featuring the period instrument group, Quatuor Mosaïques.
"In Search of Beethoven"
Joseph Haydn String Quartet in D minor, Hob. III:83 (Op. 103)
Ludwig van Beethoven Preludio and Fugue in E minor for string trio, Hess 29 (Sketch study for his teacher, Albrechtsberger)
Emanuel Aloys Förster String Quartet in D minor, Op. 21 No. 2 (Allegro vivace & Andantino)
JS Bach Contrapunctus No. 18 from The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080
Beethoven String Quartet in G major, Op. 18 No. 2 (Allegro)
Sarasa Ensemble: Christina Day Martinson, Jesse Irons, violins; Jason Fisher, viola; Timothy Merton, cello
