ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY
The Arts Council of Big Sky is presenting a night of early period music featuring Baroque Music Montana on Thursday, January 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Big Sky Chapel. This concert is free and underwritten by the Schwer-Topeffer Memorial fund of the ACBS. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
The program, titled “The German Theatre-Early Romantic String Quartets,” features catchy tunes from the 1820s in arrangements from that age for string theatre troupe. Works include Weber’s famous Overture to Oberon, selections from a theatre production about a misbehaving vampire, and Schubert’s suave Rosamunde string quartet. Musicians hail from London, Vancouver, Bozeman, and NYC, performing on early bows with gut strings in a Montana debut of the unique stylistic conventions of the early romantic era. Performers include Davina Clarke and Carrie Krause, violins; and Tawyna Popoff, viola; and Sarah Stone, cello.
Baroque Music Montana specializes in chamber music inspired by history. Made possible through a grant from The Juilliard School’s Alan D. Marks Center for Career Services and Entrepreneurship, the umbrella of Baroque Music Montana was founded in 2015 by Bozeman resident Carrie Krause to provide a meaningful cultural institution of intimate, communicative, progressive performance for our vibrant community. Based in Bozeman, it provides a performance platform for both local artists and visiting professionals who have deeply invested in fruitful historical performance. The organization partners with many organizations around the state to serve Montana through outreach, house, and public concerts.
Baroque Music Montana performs works by celebrated composers of the Baroque, as well as many pieces rarely or not heard since the eighteenth century. Some manuscripts are readily available in digital archives, and some require a great deal of sleuthing to unearth. The musician roster rotates based on desired instrumentation for repertoire performed in intimate spaces—in the way the music was originally intended—and often on period instruments. Using historical instruments and referencing original manuscripts, iconography, and historical writing fuels commitment to the music and inspires fresh interpretation. Rather than recreating something old, the aim is to make each performance of this day, of this space, existing because of these musicians and this audience.
This concert is presented by the Arts Council of Big Sky and underwritten by the Schwer-Topeffer Memorial fund, dedicated to bringing high-quality classical music to Big Sky audiences. For more information please visit bigskyarts.org or call (406) 995-2742.
