Jürgen Hirt, director of the Sierra Nevada Baroque Ensemble, says that the group 'was started about a year and a half ago. We wanted to bring Baroque music to Reno because we have no dedicated Baroque group here in Reno. And I wanted to fill that gap because Baroque music is, in my opinion, the best of the eras, and my favorite.' The ensemble includes musicians from local groups like the Reno Phil and Reno Chamber Orchestra, as well as faculty and grad students from the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Baroque era in music is generally described as having lasted from 1600 to 1750. Many of the best-known composers of those years are featured in the upcoming concerts. After the overture to the opera Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel comes the Harpsichord Concerto in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, which highlights harpsichord soloist Paola Budani, whom Hirt describes as 'a DMA student at UNR, and we are so lucky to have her playing with us.'
Antonio Vivaldi, another of the famous composers of the Baroque, is usually associated with his instrumental concertos like The Four Seasons. But he also wrote a considerable amount of music for voice, including the Nisi Dominus that the Sierra Nevada Baroque Ensemble will perform with soloist Brittney May. 'I really wanted to have some sort of vocal piece on this program,' says Hirt, 'as vocal works in the Baroque era are just so important and also just so wonderful. So I reached out to Brittney to see if there were any pieces that we can put together, and this is one of them that came to the table. After listening to it, I was like, yes, let's perform this. And of course, Brittany is amazing.'
The program concludes with a suite from the opera-ballet Les Indes galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Hirt says that 'it is has some amazing music to it, and it's very intriguing because you'll be hearing different instruments, different styles. He was actually inspired to write this piece when Native Americans were visiting Paris and the royal court in the 1700s, and they performed one of their ritual dances.' In Rameau's work, 'you will be traveling through Persia and the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, North America and Peru.'
The Fall Concerts of the Sierra Nevada Baroque Ensemble are Saturday, October 10 at 7:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Reno, and Sunday, October 11 at 3:00 p.m. at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Reno. Admission is free with a $10 suggested donation.
