Aston Magna to Play Works by Handel, Bach in Winter Solstice Concerts

Julie Leven

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., and HUDSON, N.Y.) – The Aston Magna Chamber Players present a live holiday concert, “Handel & Bach: Music for a Winter Solstice,” featuring works by George Frideric Handel and J.S. Bach, at Hudson Hall on Tuesday, December 21, at 7pm, and at St. James Place in Great Barrington on Wednesday, December 22, at 7pm.

Mezzo-soprano Deborah Rentz-Moore joins Aston Magna’s Daniel Stepner and Julie Leven on baroque violins; Laura Jeppesen, baroque viola and viola da gamba; Loretta O’Sullivan, baroque cello; Priscilla Herreid, baroque oboe; and Peter Sykes, portatif organ.

The program, performed on period instruments, includes Handel’s Quartet Sonata in G (Op. 5, No. 4) and Cantata “Un’alma innamorata” (HMV 173). The program also includes J. S. Bach’s Sonata movement in F (BWV 1040) and Cantata “Vergnügte Ruh” (BWV 170).

“We are delighted to celebrate the season with Bach and Handel, with a cantata by each and selected chamber works,” says Daniel Stepner, Aston Magna’s artistic director. “I am particularly excited for our group to perform, for the first time, Bach’s ‘Vergnügte Ruh,’ a richly orchestrated cantata that evokes a pastoral beauty akin to our Berkshire landscape.”

Daniel Stepner

Tickets for both events are on sale at astonmagna.org or by calling (888) 492-1283. Prices are $40 in advance, $45 at the door. Children and students free; $15 for patrons under age 30 with ID. All seating is general admission. Hudson Hall tickets can also be purchased in early December at hudsonhall.org.

For everyone’s safety, all guests (including children) must provide proof of full vaccination and a photo ID at the door. Masks are also required throughout the performance.

The concert at Hudson Hall is made possible in part with a #restart NY grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

 

 

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