The Bach Festival of Philadelphia - Rebecca Maurer - Ostinato Works from JS Bach to Ligeti

Saturday, March 15

Rebecca Maurer - Ostinato Works from JS Bach to Ligeti

8pm - St. Peter's Church [tickets] [directions]

OSTINATO signifies a motif or phrase which is persistently repeated at the same pitch. This is the title of German harpsichordist Rebecca Maurer's program taking you through five centuries and six countries. You will be amazed to hear how exciting repetition can sound, particularly when performed with the precision and grace of Rebecca Maurer. Bach, of course, added some works to the ostinato canon, which you will experience. But he was neither the first nor the last. The concert will take you way beyond Bach to contemporary harpsichord works by Ligeti and American composer Bryan Wolf.

Program

Antonio Valente

(???)

from: Intavolatura di Cimbalo (Neapel, 1576)

La Romanesca

Gagliarda Napolitana

Johann Pachelbel

(1653 – 1706)

Chaconne f minor

Johann Sebastian Bach

(1685 – 1750)

Aria variata in a minor BWV 989

György Ligeti

(1923 – 2006)

Hungarian Rock

Or: Passacaglia ungherese

Antonio Soler

Fandango

----- Intermission -----

Anonymus

(17^th century)

Chacona f major

Franois Couperin

(1668 – 1733)

La Favorite: Chaconne a deux temps

Bryan J. Wolf

* 1960

DREI – ZEHN for Harpsichord

(Homage to KSt)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Sarabande con Partite c major BWV 990

Rebecca Maurer was born in Nuremberg, Germany. She began her musical studies at the Meistersinger Conservatory in Nuremberg with Erich Appel (piano) and continued her studies in piano and harpsichord at the University of Music in Freiburg/Breisgau (Germany). Her teachers have included Michael Behringer, Robert Hill, Karl Betz and Robert Levin, as well as musicologist Ulrich Konrad. After completing postgraduate studies in harpsichord with Bob van Asperen at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam, she was awarded a scholarship from Cornell University (USA) for studies in "Performance Practice of 18^th Century Music." Her two-year sojourn enabled her to work as a teaching assistant to fortepianist Malcolm Bilson. During this period, she was involved in several projects, including the BBC production of "Great Composers - Mozart" (1997), and performed Mozart’s C major Concerto KV 246 in 1999 as soloist with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra. Numerous engagements in North America, as well as in Zürich, Salzburg and Italy followed. Between 2001 and 2003 she stood in as harpsichord professor at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. As a well-respected specialist on historical keyboard instruments, she regularly collaborates with institutions housing the most important collections, including the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, the Musikinstrumentenmuseum Berlin and the Finchcocks Collection, Kent (UK). In 2004, Rebecca Maurer was invited to hold lecture-recitals on historical keyboard instruments at the Bate Collection of Historical Instruments at Oxford University. She is considered one of the outstanding Mozart interpreters of her generation and frequently performs at international festivals, including the Züricher Festspiele and Bodenseefestival. Rebecca Maurer has made numerous recordings, primarily on original historical instruments, for radio stations including Deutschlandradio, Südwestrundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk, BBC and Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg. Alongside her regular concert appearances, Rebecca Maurer continues her musicological activities as a free-lance author for German radio stations.