À la mode

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The “sparkling, radiant” Dutch-American soprano Katharine Dain returns in repertoire celebrating the delicious sound of the French baroque.

Our last concert, Bach for Two, juxtaposed Bach’s music with works by two of his French influencers. Our next program, À la mode, focuses on the fashionable French baroque and includes some rarities relating to Greek mythology. We’re thrilled to be joined again by our Dutch-American friend, soprano Katharine Dain, for two cantatas and a vocal lament, plus three instrumental sonatas. We present stories of three women whose tragic destinies place them on the wrong side of the water. In Clérambault’s cantata, Hero throws herself into the sea in grief over her drowned Leander. Collin de Blamont’s Circe is heartbroken when Odysseus returns to his wife in Ithaca. Finally, Handel’s Armida is distraught by Rinaldo’s return to his ship.

We’re also excited to present the two cantatas on the program in different styles. For Héro et Léandre, we use a chamber style most commonly associated with French chamber cantatas, but for Circé, we’ve chosen to augment the ensemble in the more orchestral style in which many of these works were performed, in the 18th century.