About this Event
SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2023, 7:30 P.M.
& SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2023, 2:30 P.M.
(two identical performances)
The Mystery Sonatas (also known as Rosary Sonatas) by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644–1704) are incredibly virtuosic meditations for violin on Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. They comprise three sets: The “Joyful,” “Sorrowful,” and “Glorious” Mysteries. Baroque violinist Tekla Cunningham will perform the whole cycle in various area venues this season, offering Set Two—the intensely expressive “Sorrowful Mysteries”—in the intimacy of Saint Mark’s Thomsen Chapel during the season of Lent. Joining her are Henry Lebedinsky on organ and harpsichord, and David Morris on viola da gamba and lirone.
Artist Bios
Baroque violinist Tekla Cunningham delights in bringing the music of the baroque, classical and romantic eras to life with vivid and expressive historically informed performances. Praised as "a consummate musician whose flowing solos and musical gestures are a joy to watch," her performances have been described as "ravishingly beautiful" and "stellar". Her greatest musical love is music of the baroque and chamber music of all stripes, though she can’t seem to quit Johannes Brahms.
She is Co-Artistic Director of Pacific MusicWorks in Seattle, Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington, and Founder and Director of the Whidbey Island Music Festival which just concluded its seventeenth season. She plays regularly as concertmaster and principal player with the American Bach Soloists. Her new release Stylus Phantasticus with Pacific MusicWorks is delighting critics. “Tekla is a marvel…an endlessly songful bird.” Early Music America describes the recording as “played with verve, the music presented here reaffirms the old notion that instrumental music can have the flair of any theatrical spectacle. … a stellar vessel for the boldest showmanship.”
Highlights of the 2022-23 season include Seattle and Whidbey Island performances of the complete Biber Mystery Sonatas, a continuing exploration of the Brahms violin sonatas informed by 19th century performance practices with pianist Sheila Weidendorf, a tour with Bruce Dickey and Hana Blažíková’s Breathtaking collective and a Boston Early Music Festival mainstage concert featuring the works for violin and harp by Zoé de la Rüe with harpist Maxine Eilander.
Tekla received her undergraduate degree in History and German Literature at Johns Hopkins University while attending Peabody Conservatory where she first studied baroque violin with Web Wiggins. She studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna Austria and earned a Master's Degree in violin performance at the San Francisco Conservatory. Tekla is a graduate of the Seattle Public Schools and an alumna of the Seattle Youth Symphony and serves on the Board of Directors of Early Music America and the Whidbey Island Arts Council. A native of Seattle, Tekla is happy to live in her hometown with her husband David, their children Sebastian and Henry, and the family dog Zilphie. Tekla plays on a violin made by Sanctus Seraphin in Venice, Italy in 1746. www.teklacunningham.com
Hailed by The Miami Herald for his “superb continuo… brilliantly improvised and ornamented,” GRAMMY-nominated historical keyboardist, composer, and conductor Henry Lebedinsky has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, Sonoma Bach, and the Cantata Collective, among others. Recent conducting engagements include the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Sonoma Bach’s Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, and he serves as co-Artistic Director of the San Francisco Bay Area’s AGAVE. With countertenor Reginald L. Mobley, he has spent the past dozen years introducing listeners near and far to music by Black composers from the past two and a half centuries, including recent appearances at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and Festival Printemps Musical des Alizés in Morocco. In 2014, he founded Seattle’s Early Music Underground, which brought Baroque music to brewpubs, wineries, and other places where people gather, and presenting it in multimedia contexts which both entertain and educate. In the middle of the pandemic, he launched his newest venture, Classical Uncorked, (http://classicaluncorked.com) an artist-driven music cooperative that blends music, wine, spirits, and good company while seeking to center both performers and repertoire from historically excluded populations.
An avid composer of music for choir and organ, his sacred music is published by Paraclete Press, Carus-Verlag Stuttgart, and CanticaNOVA. Mr. Lebedinsky is a former music critic for FANFARE Magazine and blogs about single malt whiskey at www.Scotchology.com. Mr. Lebedinsky holds degrees from Bowdoin College and the Longy School of Music, where he earned a Master of Music in historical organ performance as a student of Peter Sykes. A church musician for the past 28 years, he currently serves as Organist and Choirmaster at Seattle’s historic Christ Episcopal Church.
Dubbed a “continuo wizard” by Gramophone (UK), David Morris is a member of Quicksilver and the Galax Quartet. He has performed with Musica Pacifica, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Tragicomedia, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Musica Angelica, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and Seattle’s Pacific Musicworks. He was the founder and musical director of the Bay Area baroque opera ensemble Teatro Bacchino, and has produced operas for the Berkeley Early Music Festival, San Francisco Early Music Society series, and the Amherst Early Music Workshop. Mr. Morris received his B.A. and M.A. in Music from The University of California in Berkeley, and has been a guest instructor in early music performance-practice at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mills College, Oberlin College, the Madison Early Music Festival, and Cornell University. He has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, New Albion, Dorian, New World Records, Drag City Records, CBC/ Radio-Canada and New Line Cinema.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Avenue East, Seattle, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 25.00