VoxAmaDeus teams up with Main Line School Night

Presenting a Maestro Radu lecture series and
intimate afternoon soirée concerts with “live notes”

Baroque Titans: Bach and Handel

Lecture: Essentials and Secrets
 –Wednesday April 2 at 7:30-9:00 PM
Enjoy a discussion of Bach - quintessentially cerebral and pious, and Handel - the flamboyant court musician of the Kings of England. Essentials and fascinating “kitchen” secrets about what made them tick and so different from each other, yet both in the service of the great western civilization trove of eternal treasures. Lecture, questions & answers, and musical examples.
$15

Concert: Sunday Afternoon Soiree
- April 6 at 4:00-5:30 PM
An intimate musical journey, featuring works of Bach & Handel, reminiscent of what might have taken place in the music room of “Castle Somewhere” on a sunny Sunday afternoon over 300 years ago. Baroque instruments. Enchanting violin, warm mellow oboe and exciting harpsichord, with “live notes” by the Maestro.
$20

All events held at
Creutzburg Center
260 Gulph Creek Rd
(in Harford Park)
Radnor, PA 19087

Baroque Venetian Masters: Vivaldi and Corelli

Lecture: Essentials and Secrets-Wednesday June 4 at 7:30-9:00 PM
Enjoy a discussion of the passionate and very colorful Venetian Masters Vivaldi and Corelli - serving dukes, cardinals and popes. Essentials and fascinating “kitchen” secrets about what made them tick and so different from each other, yet both in the service of the great western civilization trove of eternal treasures. Lecture, questions & answers, and musical examples.
$15

Concert: Sunday Afternoon Soiree
- June 8 at 4:00-5:30 PM
An intimate musical journey, featuring works of Vivaldi & Corelli, reminiscent of what might have taken place in the music room of “Castle Somewhere” on a sunny Sunday afternoon over 300 years ago. Baroque instruments. Sparkling flute, exhilarating trumpet and exciting harpsichord, with “live notes” by the Maestro.
$20

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Tickets available in advance or at the door.

The Ides of March ~ Camerata Ama Deus ~ Baroque Instrument Orchestra

The Ides of March: the name given by the ancient Romans to the mid-point of the month of March. Despite its association with the slaying of a certain would-be emperor, The Ides of March, as celebrated by the Camerata Ama Deus, will be a joyful reminder that spring is in the air, that  a new season of rebirth is at hand. Join the Camerata Ama Deus chamber orchestra, performing on period instruments, for an evening of lively Baroque masterworks guaranteed to evoke sunshine and warmth—and no more snow!

The concert will begin, appropriately, with “Spring” from Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) is Antonio Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces in the classical music repertoire. The work is a set of four violin concertos, the texture of which is varied with each concerto, each resembling its respective season. Vivaldi’s plan was that each movement would establish a certain mood, against which narrative events could then play out. When it came to the detail of those occurrences—barking dogs, drunken dancers, buzzing insects—Vivaldi delivered elegance and originality where other composers had barely moved beyond crude animal-noise clichés. In addition, Vivaldi provided verbal instructions to the players: In “Spring” he asks the solo violin to play like “il capraro che dorme” (the sleeping goatherd) and the viola like “il cane che grida” (the barking dog).

February E-Newsletter: Renaissance Candlemas concert

Renaissance Candlemas concert: Beautiful music in a beautiful cathedral space

Friday, February 7 at 8 PM

Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter & Paul

Buy tickets here

CANDLEMAS – A Midwinter Holiday

The word Candlemas is derived from the Middle English word candelmasse, in turn descended from Old English, candelmæsse, built on the words candel + mæsse (candle+mass = candle-feast). The word Candlemas appears in English usage before the twelfth century. The spelling Candle Mass has also been used.

Candlemas is an ancient Christian feast day, also known as the Feast of the Purification of Mary, or the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. It occurs on February 2, forty days after Christmas, and commemorates Mary’s submitting herself to ritual purification after the birth of her son Jesus, in accordance with Mosaic Law. It also commemorates the meeting with the aged priest Simeon, who, upon seeing Mary’s infant son, proclaimed him as the “Light to the gentiles.” Because of this, the feast has always involved a celebration of light. The most famous of the customs—and the one from which the feast gained its common name—is that of the blessing of, and procession with, candles.

January E-Newsletter: Maestro Peter Donohoe

PETER  DONOHOE

in conversation

with R.A. Shapp

I caught up with Peter Donohoe at his U.K. home where he was busy practicing. Our conversation, naturally, focused on his return to the stage at the Kimmel Center on Friday, January 3, with Valentin Radu and the Ama Deus Ensemble for a program of well-known and lesser-known piano works by George Gershwin, and the Maurice Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major. It was the latter work upon which our conversation focused.

RAS: Peter, in preparing for our conversation I read up a bit on the Gershwin miniatures you will perform, and especially on Ravel and his G-Major Concerto. I came across a quote, reputedly by Ravel, that I think can begin this interview for the VoxAmaDeus E-Newsletter:  “The most captivating part of jazz is its rich and diverting rhythm.  …Jazz is a very rich and vital source of inspiration for modern composers and I am astonished that so few Americans are influenced by it.” 

Soprano Andrea Lauren Brown

Purposefully Peripatetic

VoxAmaDeus’ Prima Donna

Andrea Lauren Brown

In Conversation with Richard A. Shapp

A native of Wilmington, Delaware, and a great favorite with the audiences of VoxAmaDeus, coloratura soprano Andrea Lauren Brown paid a visit to Philadelphia last mid-October.  Once again she captivated her loyal fans during a thrilling performance of Mozart’s Grand Mass in c minor in the Kimmel Center with the Ama Deus Ensemble conducted by Valentin Radu. Then it was back to Europe for a whirlwind of performances. And now she returns home for what will surely prove to be her signature interpretation of Handel’s Messiah with the Ama Deus Ensemble. Then Andrea will fly off again to perform concert after concert in Europe. Such is the busy life of this renowned vocal artist.

Andrea and I caught up with each other before the Mozart Mass in c minor last October. With time being limited I asked Andrea to capsulize what she had performed since her last visit home, and what lies ahead in her busy artistic schedule.