Burning River Baroque-The Other Side of the Story

Malina Rauschenfelsvoice & baroque cello
Paula Maustharpsichord
Sarah Lynnbaroque flute & voice
Glenna Currenbaroque cello

BURNING RIVER BAROQUE
Stunning and supercharged music… performed with visceral passion.clevelandclassical.com

As Spring comes to the beautiful Allegheny River valley, enjoy refreshing new musical insights on the glorious music of the Baroque period, as BURNING RIVER BAROQUE  presents “The Other Side of the Story:  Untold Perspectives on Familiar Tales” featuring vocalists, harpsichord, baroque violin, baroque cello and baroque flute on Sunday, March 24 at 2:oo PM in Foxburg’s Lincoln Hall. The refreshing and eclectic program melds baroque repertoire with a medieval work and the premiere of Honey sweet we sing for you, a cantata by Aaron Grad and Jennifer Bullis.

Burning River Baroque presents cutting-edge programs about issues that are on the forefront of social change. Inspired by the tremendous environmental reform that occurred after the Cuyahoga River burned, they throw open the doors of the concert hall to all audiences by offering most concerts for free/by donation and performing in both traditional and non-traditional venues.

Burning River Baroque involves the audience in the drama unfolding onstage by demonstrating the profound connections between issues in the baroque era and those of modern times, and they commission a new composition each season to further fuse together ideas of the past and present.  Burning River Baroque is a recipient of Early Music America Mini-Grant”.

Society’s collective understanding of history is biased toward the perspectives of those with the privilege and power to preserve their stories. “The Other Side of the Story” looks beyond this power imbalance to shed light on characters whose viewpoints are underrepresented.

Drawing from ancient mythology, literature, and Biblical passages, this program of dramatic music showcases characters, composers, and performers and perspectives that are not often told. From the Book of Judith (which is excluded from some canonical versions of the Bible) to the story of a Siren from her own perspective, we will show the ways in which ancient tales resonate in our communities today.

Burning River core members, soprano and Baroque violin/cellist Malina Rauschenfels and harpsichordist Paula Maust, are joined by Sarah Lynn, baroque flute, and Glenna Curren, baroque cello in this program that will give the Lincoln Hall audience an up close and personal experience of the inside story of these characters and their powerful emotions.

“Do not miss Rauschenfels’ searing emotional portrayals. [Her] multidimensional communication — remarkable singing, but also physically engaged acting — brought out every nuance of this sensitive musical language. … Burning River Baroque left an indelible imprint on my psyche.” — Liane Curtis, Boston Musical Intelligencer

Tickets are Adults $25, Members $20 and Students $5.  Call to reserve:  724-659-3153 or buy tickets here.

Paula Maust is an unflappable harpsichordist who plays with vibrancy, elegance, and studied restraint…. Rauschenfels’ ability to express three emotions during one held note was staggering. Her ability to turn notation on a page into fully realized human emotion was a feat of the imagination.”   David Kulma, clevelandclassical.com

Praised by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as a group that “left an indelible imprint on my psyche,” Cleveland-based Burning River Baroque is an innovative artist-run ensemble founded in 2012 with the goal of bringing the drama, passion, and vitality of Baroque music to life for contemporary audiences. Core members are Malina Rauschenfels, a Juilliard-educated multi-instrumentalist and composer, and Paula Maust, a Cleveland Institute of Music graduate who is currently pursuing a doctorate in harpsichord at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Founded in 2012, their ensemble name connotes the fiery passion they bring to their performances, connects them to Cleveland’s history, and exemplifies their desire to create programs that inspire dialogue about contemporary social issues. When the sludge-filled and polluted Cuyahoga River burned in 1969, it was the catalyst for broad environmental policy reform. Music has long offered a space for outsiders to find a voice, and classical composers and musicians have often been at the forefront of political and social change. Burning River Baroque’s  high-energy performances educate and involve audience members from seasoned concert-goers to those just discovering classical music.

They encourage a participatory concert atmosphere where the fourth wall is broken and audiences are involved in the drama that is occurring onstage. Recent programs have centered on themes of women’s agency, suppressed and exiled composers, relationship violence, and hidden perspectives. They strive to create an inclusive and open concert environment where high-quality music is used as a vehicle to raise questions about relevant social issues, challenge beliefs, and inspire thought-provoking discussion.

Equally comfortable in both traditional and non-traditional concert venues, they have performed on regional concert series throughout the midwest and have self-produced concerts in urban and rural libraries, coffee shops, and cafes. Since 2012 they have released three live CDs and DVDs and present 15-20 concerts each season.

Burning River Baroque presents cutting-edge programs about issues that are on the forefront of social change. Inspired by the tremendous environmental reform that occurred after the Cuyahoga River burned, they throw open the doors of the concert hall to all audiences by offering most concerts for free/by donation and performing in both traditional and non-traditional venues. They involve the audience in the drama unfolding onstage by demonstrating the profound connections between issues in the baroque era and those of modern times, and they commission a new composition each season to further fuse together ideas of the past and present.

The Other Side of the Story:  Untold Perspectives on Familiar Tales

Society’s collective understanding of history is biased toward the perspectives of those with the privilege and power to preserve their stories. “The Other Side of the Story” looks beyond this power imbalance to shed light on characters whose viewpoints are underrepresented.

Drawing from ancient mythology, literature, and Biblical passages, this program of dramatic music showcases characters, composers, and performers and perspectives that are not often told.

From the Book of Judith (which is excluded from some canonical versions of the Bible) to the story of a Siren from her own perspective, we will show the ways in which ancient tales resonate in our communities today.

In its continued commitment to promoting new works for baroque instruments, this program for soprano, flute, cello and harpsichord melds baroque repertoire with a medieval work and the premiere of Honey sweet we sing for you, a cantata by Aaron Grad and Jennifer Bullis.

The Other Side of the Story:  Untold Perspectives on Familiar Tales

Malina Rauschenfels, soprano & baroque cello
Paula Maust, harpsichord

With guest artists:
Sarah Lynn, baroque flute & soprano
Glenna Curren, baroque cello

 

Judith                                        Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665 – 1729)

Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Minor, RV 43                       Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741)

Noches, Noches, Buenas Noches                                            Sarajevo Romansa

Arr. Rauschenfels (2018)

Alba (PA Premiere)                                                             Alexis Bacon (2018)

INTERMISSION
 

L’autre jour/Hier matinet/Omns                                                        Anon. 13thc.
Hé, Marotele/En la prairie/Aptatur

 Honey-sweet we sing for you (PA Premiere)                          Aaron Grad (2018)
Libretto: Jennifer Bullis (2018)
Commissioned by Burning River Baroque

Flute Sonata No. 1 in C Major                               Anna Bon (1738 – after 1769)

Quatorziéme Ordre                                           François Couperin (1668 – 1733)

Le Rossignol-en-amour

Le Rossignol-Vainqueur

What Can We Poor Females Do                                 Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695)

Ben accorta, ben sagace                        Giovanni Battista Chinelli (1610 – 1677)

Consiglio Amoroso                                               Barbara Strozzi (1619 – 1677)

Malina Rauschenfels – Voice & Baroque Violin/Cello

Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Malina Rauschenfels performs extensively as both a chamber musician and soloist, with a strong emphasis on early and very contemporary music. Praised by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as “spellbinding” and for her “powerful clarion tones and crisp articulation,” she has also been commended by Cleveland Classical for her “exceptional vocal range, strong acting abilities, gripping theatricality, and commanding gestures, both musical and physical.” Malina is co-director and a founding member of Burning River Baroque, where she sings and plays baroque cello and violin. She is also artistic director of hūmAnómali, a collaboratively structured music ensemble that incorporates “extra-musical affairs” inspired by dance, gesture, and theatricality into its historically informed performances of music from antiquity to the present.

Equally comfortable with early music and new music, she has recorded with The Newberry Consort, Duo Mignarda, Quire Cleveland, Marble Sanctuary Choir, and Toby Twining Music. She performs regularly with El Fuego, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, and Trinity Chamber Singers. Recently awarded the Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions’ “Contemporary Performance Prize” for performing two pieces for singing cellist, she will be returning to WRCMS this year as a performance mentor and guest artist. This year she was given the opportunity to perform as soprano soloist for the Mexican and US premieres of Luis Ruelas Romo’s Ja’k’áax, adapted from the Mayan poem by acclaimed Mexican writer Wildernain Villegas Carrillo. She recently sang as well for the premier of Alexis Bacon’s Three Songs from The Sheltering Sky, inspired by the Paul Bowles novel of the same name.

In Malina’s 12-year NYC incarnation, she participated in many adventures: among others, she performed a work for cellist with two bows by György Kurtág with Alarm Will Sound, debuted as a dancing violinist in an international dance festival with Jody Oberfelder Projects, and premiered her upside-down flute duet at the Bang on a Can Festival.

While completing her Master’s in Cello Performance at Juilliard, Malina performed Davidovsky’s Divertimento for Cello and Orchestra with the Juilliard Orchestra under Reinbert de Leeuw and also played a solo recital in Carnegie’s Weill Hall. She majored in Composition and Cello at Eastman School of Music. As well as performing extensively across the United States and abroad, Malina currently teaches violin, viola, cello, flute, piano and voice in her home in Cleveland Heights, and recently released her first solo CD, In D – Solo Cello Through the Ages. Further information can be found at her website, www.malinarauschenfels.com

Paula Maust – Harpsichord & Organ

Praised as “a refined and elegant performer” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), harpsichordist and organist Paula Maust performs extensively across the United

States as a soloist and chamber musician. Her diverse musical career focuses on historical performance practice and combines her distinct interests in performance, pedagogy, and scholarship. Paula is a co-director of Burning River Baroque and a founding member and co-director of Musica Spira. She is dedicated to edgy concert programming that connects baroque music to current social issues. Recent programs include “The Women Who Took the Stage,” “Suppressed Voices: Music of the Banished,” and “Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Women Who Defied the Odds.” An active chamber musician and collaborator, she has also recently performed with the Washington Bach Consort, Modern Musick, the Virginia Symphony, the Baltimore Baroque Band, and the B’More Bach Ensemble. Paula will attend the American Bach Soloists Academy this summer, and she has previously worked as an accompanist at both the Amherst Early Music Festival and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. Recent solo engagements have been on the Baltimore Bach Marathon, the Pilgrim Church concert series, playing in masterclasses at the Flint Collection, and concerti with the Baltimore Baroque Band.

As an educator, Paula is committed to showing students the ways that the theoretical concepts learned in the classroom are directly applicable to performance and vice versa. She has been a faculty member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County since 2016 where she teaches harpsichord, organ, music theory, keyboard skills, and music history courses. This fall, she will also be the interim director of UMBC’s Collegium Musicum, the university’s early music ensemble. In the past, Paula taught music theory courses at Towson University and was a music theory and ear training graduate assistant at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Paula is the recipient of the Dean’s DMA fellowship at Peabody, where she is currently completing doctoral studies in harpsichord. She earned Master of Music degrees in harpsichord and organ from Peabody and the Cleveland Institute of Music, respectively. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in church music at Valparaiso University, where she graduated summa cum laude and was an associate scholar in the interdisciplinary honors college. Her teachers have included Adam Pearl, Webb Wiggins, Todd Wilson, and Loraine Brugh. More info can be found: www.paulamaust.com

Sarah Lynn, baroque flute

Hailed by the Cleveland Classical as an upcoming artist with “musical prowess,” Sarah Lynn is a baroque flutist who devotes her time to the historical performance practice of Baroque and Renaissance music. A resident of Baltimore, Maryland, Lynn has performed with groups in the region, such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Mountainside Baroque, Peabody Consort, Baltimore Baroque Band, and Peabody Renaissance Ensemble.

Before moving to Baltimore, Lynn lived in Oberlin, Ohio, where she performed as a soloist with Apollo’s Fire; The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, The Case Western Reserve University Baroque Orchestra, The Maple City Chamber Orchestra, and The Trinity Cathedral Orchestra. Her robust musical instruction began in high school, when she became the recipient of the Young Artist Scholarship at Oberlin.

Every June, Lynn teaches at the Mountainside Baroque Academy, which provides middle and high school students with the background that will enable them to understand how and why Baroque music was originally performed, and its relevance in the 21st century. As well as playing the baroque flute, Lynn also plays baroque and renaissance recorders, the renaissance flute, and sings predominantly renaissance repertoire.

Glenna Curren, baroque cello

Cellist and baroque cellist Glenna Curren has performed across the United States and five European countries as a recitalist, orchestral musician and continuo player. A native and current resident of Rochester, NY, she has been featured with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Rochester Early Music Festival, and live on Public Radio.

Glenna’s performance practice interests have taken her from the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries; currently, she explores lesser-known works of the Renaissance with her small chamber ensemble, Ogni Sorti, and is a founding member of Upstate New York’s only Classical period orchestra, Ensemble Perihipsous, currently in its first season. Other recent projects include a series of performances of early romantic works for cello and fortepiano, Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites, and extensive works of Michael Praetorius. As soprano, Glenna also performs with Rochester’s critically acclaimed performance practice vocal ensemble, the Christ Church Schola Cantorum.

A passionate teacher, Glenna maintains a large private studio and serves on the faculty of St. Peter’s Community Arts Academy. She has earned degrees in performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music.