Utrecht Early Music Festival
Sundays in February
Every year in late August the renowned Early Music Festival takes place in the Dutch city of Utrecht. It is the largest festival focused on early music in the world, attracting an audience of more than 70,000 visitors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 edition of the festival offered an alternative program that included both live concerts on location and daily livestreams of concerts and archival recordings. On Sunday mornings in February, Stingray Classica broadcast a series of chamber music concerts recorded at the 2020 edition of this festival. Starting on February 6, Jed Wentz (traverso) and Olga Pashchenko (harpsichord) present a program of French Baroque music, including works of J. S. Bach, François Couperin, and others. On February 13, violinist Lidewij van der Voort and lutenist Fred Jacobs present a program of Baroque music, including works of John Jenkins, Tarquinio Merula, Matthew Locke, and many others. On February 20, harpsichordist Kathryn Cok performs a recital, including works of J. S. Bach, Dominico Scarlatti, and other composers. On February 27, Canadian fortepianist Anders Muskens performs a recital consisting of various sonatas by the German Baroque composer Franz Ignaz Beck.
Works by Philidor, Boismortier, Couperin & Bach
Sunday, February 6 | 10:00
As part of the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Jed Wentz (traverso) and Olga Pashchenko (harpsichord) present a program of French Baroque music. The chamber music concert opens with Pierre Danican Philidor’s Suite IX in E minor, Op. 2. Afterwards, Wentz and Pashchenko perform Joseph Bodin de Boismortier’s Sonata III in G major for harpsichord and traverso, followed by François Couperin’s Le rossignol-en-amour. The concert ends with J. S. Bach’s Sonata in B minor for obbligato harpsichord and traverso, BWV 1030. This performance was recorded at St. Gertrude's Chapel in Utrecht, August 24, 2020.
Works by Kapsperger, Marini, Locke et al.
Sunday, February 13 | 10:05
Violinist Lidewij van der Voort and lutenist Fred Jacobs present a program of Baroque music, including works of John Jenkins, Tarquinio Merula, Matthew Locke, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, Biagio Marini, Nicola Matteis, and Thomas Baltzar. This performance was recorded at St. Gertrude's Chapel in Utrecht, August 24, 2020.
Works by Bach, Scarlatti, Tomkins et al.
Sunday, February 20 | 10:05
New York-born harpsichordist Kathryn Cok performs a beautiful recital. She opens her performance with Thomas Tomkins’s Sad Pavan: for these distracted times, followed by Peter Philips’s Fantasia, and Johann Krieger’s Chaconne in G minor. Afterwards, Cok performs Jacob Wilhelm Lustig’s Sonata IV, and J. S. Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV 904. The recital comes to a close with Dominico Scarlatti’s Sonata in D major, K 492. This performance was recorded at St. Gertrude's Chapel in Utrecht, August 24, 2020.
Muskens performs sonatas by Franz Ignaz Beck
Sunday, February 27 | 10:00
Canadian fortepianist Anders Muskens performs a recital consisting of various sonatas by the German Baroque composer Franz Ignaz Beck, such as L’Éveillée and La Sophie. This performance was recorded at St. Gertrude's Chapel in Utrecht, August 25, 2020.
