Salish Sea Early Music Festival presents ‘Renaissance Winds’ concert

Submitted by Salish Sea Early Music Festival.

The supple sounds of the elusive dulcian or renaissance bassoon, the rarely heard transverse flute of the renaissance and a small organ will be combined in an evening of 16th and early 17th-century chamber music entitled “Renaissance Winds,” on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 1 p.m. at the Grace Episcopal Church.

The program will include Canzonas, or songs for instruments, by Tarquinio Merula, Bartolomeo de Selma y Salaverde, Andrea Cima and Girolamo Frescobaldi, along with settings by Antonio Gardane and other popular 16th-century art songs.

Anna Marsh, who grew up in Tacoma, is one of the premier players of the dulcian, which evolved into today’s bassoon but was softer, much sweeter and more supple. Jeffrey Cohan is one of few flutists who regularly perform solo music for the seldom heard renaissance transverse flute. The two wind players team up with harpsichordist Henry Lebedinsky in this first program in the 2017 Salish Sea Early Music Festival.

The 2017 Salish Sea Early Music Festival includes eight contrasting programs from January through June of renaissance, baroque and Beethoven-era chamber music on period instruments on Lopez Island, with special guests from Hannover and Lübeck, Germany, and from around the Northwest and the United States and Canada. The complete schedule follows and is soon to be posted with additional information at www.salishseafestival.org.

The complete schedule for the Lopez Island 2017 Salish Sea Early Music Festival at Grace Episcopal Church in Lopez Village includes:

• Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. “A Little Concert for Louis XIV.” A never before heard selection of Suites prepared for evening performances for Louis XIV from a remarkable and unknown manuscript from 1713. Featuring Jeffrey Cohan on flute; Rom Pokorny on the violin; Stephen Creswell on the viola; and Anna Marsh on the baroque bassoon.

• Sunday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. “Johann Sebastian Bach.” Sublime chamber music composed by Bach. Featuring Susie Napper on the cello; Hans-Juergen Schnoor on the harpsichord; and Jeffrey Cohan on flute.

• Sunday, March 12, at 7 p.m. “Celebrating 250 Years of Telemann.” Honoring the Baroque’s most prolific composer. Featuring Bernward Lohr on the harpsichord; Anne Roehrig on the violin; and Jeffrey Cohan on the baroque flute.

• Wednesday, April 12, at 7 p.m. “The Art of Modulation II.” A new set of selections from chess master Philidor’s “The Art of Modulation” and other late baroque works. Featuring Linda Melsted and Rom Pokorny playing the violins; Jeffrey Cohan on the baroque flute; and Jonathan Oddie on the harpsichord.

• Sunday, May 14, at 7 p.m. “A Century of New Perspective: 1600–1700” Chamber music in transition: 17th-century trios on both late renaissance and early baroque instruments. Featuring Ingrid Matthews on the violin; Elisabeth Wright on the harpsichord; and Jeffrey Cohan on the baroque and renaissance flutes.

• Saturday, June 10, at 1 p.m. “Giuliani’s Guitar.” Virtuoso works from the early 19th-century golden age for flute and guitar. Featuring John Schneiderman on the guitar; and Jeffrey Cohan on the eight-keyed flute.