Tafelmusik Touring Programs

In 1730s Leipzig, J.S. Bach gathered together with friends at Zimmerman’s coffeehouse for weekly concerts of brilliant music, carrying on a tradition of weekly gatherings by the Collegium Musicum originally founded by his friend Georg Philip Telemann. Today, great musical friends Tafelmusik and Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger explore the rich and varied repertoire of the 18th century coffeehouse culture, featuring invigorating music by Bach, Telemann, Handel and Vivaldi.

Lina Tur Bonet leads Tafelmusik in an electrifying program of baroque masterpieces by Vivaldi and his contemporaries. Lina’s lively, daring playing style is the perfect match for Vivaldi’s “Il Grosso Mogul,” a concerto she attacks with “an almost punk rigour that piques your curiosity” (South German Radio).  Zelenka’s virtuosic Sinfonia Concertante á 8 in A minor shines in Tafelmusik’s virtuosic hands. Among other treasures, the program includes Geminiani’s ingenious orchestral arrangement of Corelli’s famous violin sonata “La Folia.” Featuring one of the most recognizable bass lines of the last 300 hundred years, the Folia theme can be heard in everything from Bach’s “Peasant” cantata to Nicholas Britell’s soundtrack for the TV series Succession. Geminiani was not immune to Folia fever and with Tur Bonet at the wheel, this high-voltage showpiece is guaranteed to bring the house down.

The “jaw dropping” (Boston Classical Review) soprano Amanda Forsythe gives voice to the powerful stories, perspectives and music of women.  The program features compelling characters from operas, oratorios and cantatas including Cleopatra, Judith, Alcina, Serpina and Mitilene with music by Handel, Pergolesi, Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Camilla di Rossi, Telemann, Mrs. Philharmonica, and more. Among our sources of historical female inspiration is virtuoso violinist Anna Maria della Pietà, an orphan protegée who inspired Vivaldi to write extraordinary concertos dedicated to her. Our celebration of female perspective and talent extends into the 21^st century with a newly commissioned work by Métis composer Karen Sunabacka, set to text by her mother, the Métis writer Joyce Clouston.

Staircases is a new creation by Alison Mackay, whose award-winning multimedia programs have enhanced Tafelmusik’s reputation for artistic innovation.  Through words, stunning images, and music by Purcell, Handel, Platti, Vivaldi, Fux and Bach, and designed in collaboration with the acclaimed American bass-baritone and composer Jonathan Woody, the program explores the highs and lows of passion and power.  Directed by Julia Wedman,program highlights include Woody’s “The Unbounded Soul,” based on inspiring text by 18^th century poet Phillis Wheatley. 

“It’s no wonder so many of Mackay’s creations have been performed for audiences around the world—there’s really nothing like them” (The Globe and Mail).”

Does music truly have the power to stir our emotions? Baroque composers believed so and strove to excite the passions of the soul through their works. The “perpetually fabulous” (Boston Globe) Canadian violinist Aisslinn Nosky leads Tafelmusik in a program revealing the peaks and valleys of the human emotional landscape—from the wistful yearning of Locatelli’s Concerto grosso in C Minor to the buoyant cheer of Telemann’s Orchestral Suite in B-flat Major.  Vivaldi conjures up phantoms and dreamscapes in his evocative Concerto for bassoon “La Notte” (The Night), and a bold Overture by Fasch contrasts with a radiant Chaconne from Marais’ Alcyone. Bach’s masterful Concerto for 2 violins in D Minor is a showstopper.