Salish Sea Early Music Fest Brings Court of Louis XIV

Tuesday, May 10, 7 p.m., Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church

— from Jeffrey Cohan —

The Salish Sea Early Music Festival presents a taste of the musical atmospheres generated by the celebrated musicians of the court of Louis XIV in this program entitled Versailles with baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan, viola da gamba player Joanna Blendulf and baroque guitarist and theorbo player John Lenti on Tuesday, May 10 at 7 p.m. at Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church at 107 Enchanted Forest Road in Eastsound on Orcas Island.

Begun in 1623 as a hunting lodge by Louis XIII, Versailles became the center of musical activity and political power in France when Louis XIV moved there in 1682.

Here woodwind instruments were to evolve, largely due to the efforts of members of the Philidor family, to suit the intimate gestures and elaborate ornamentational detail that yielded the deeply moving luscious instrumental textures to which Louis XIV was accustomed.

Composers to be represented include the prolific composer and performer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, who was taken into service at the royal court at a very young age, members of the wind instrument playing Philidor family, the highly esteemed court flutist Jacques Hotteterre, Louis XIV’s guitar teacher Robert de Visée, and harpsichordist François Couperin, who was employed at the royal court from 1693. Jeffrey Cohan will play an exact replica, more than two tones below modern pitch, of an ebony one-keyed flute with massive ivory rings by Jacques Hotteterre.

The suggested donation will be $15, $20 or $25 (a free will offering). Those 18 and under are free. Please please see www.salishseafestival.org/orcas or call the Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church at (360) 376-6683 for more information.

Complete San Juan Islands performance schedule of Versailles:

• Orcas Island: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 7:00 PM
  Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church · 107 Enchanted Forest Road in Eastsound · (360) 376-6683
• Lopez Island: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 7:00 PM
  Grace Church · 70 Sunset Lane in Lopez · (360) 468-3477
• San Juan Island: Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 7:00 PM
  Brickworks · 150 Nichols Street in Friday Harbor

Recent praise for the Salish Sea Early Music Festival

TheSunBreak.com • April 25, 2016
It’s always a delight to hear musicians as steeped as these three in Baroque performance practice, all consummate performers in Bach’s intricate tapestries of interweaving lines, canons, and musical embroidery.” — Philippa Kiraly

ReviewVancouver.org • April 5, 2016
Lebedinsky explored a sweeping micro-range of effect and colour while Cohan’s flute flew around, always sensitive to the delicate gestures of the keyboard and exhibiting a vivid sense of exploration and enthusiasm. …Elegance, charm, superb technique and warm expressivity characterized the playing. Overall, this program brought to life unfamiliar music or music by unfamiliar composers with daring and intelligent playing, infused with variety, emotion and beauty. — Elizabeth Paterson

The Salish Sea Early Music Festival presents six performances at the Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church this year with three musicians from Germany and others from four states and the Pacific Northwest. The festival has presented countless premiere period instrument performances in modern times of early works, including Seattle’s first ever period instrument Mozart-era orchestra (for Mozart symphonies and concerti in 1999), unpublished chamber music from the court of Louis XIV, and renaissance chamber music with instrumentation that has not been heard for more than three centuries.

UPCOMING on Orcas Island at the Orcas Adventist Fellowship Church in Eastsound:

On Tuesday, June 7 at 7:00 PM, Virtuoso Guitar and Flute presents a sampling of music by the outstanding guitar and flute virtuosos of the early 19th century with guitarist John Schneiderman, and Jeffrey Cohan performing on an 8-keyed flute made in London in 1820.