Name: Sachs Museum Performance Series: The Sound of Sense and Sensibility: Music from Jane Austen’s Time
Start: 2026-05-16T11:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-05-16T11:45:00-05:00
Location: 4344 Shaw Blvd, St. Louis, MO, United States, Missouri 63110

$Sachs Museum Performance Series: The Sound of Sense and Sensibility: Music from Jane Austen\u2019s Time$

📍Sachs Museum
Complementing the inclusion of Jane Austen’s writings in The Literary Garden exhibition, pianist Charles Metz and soprano Samantha Arten present a Jane Austen-themed lecture-performance performed on an 1806 Muzio Clementi pianoforte (Jane Austen owned a similar pianoforte). These musical artists will interpret musical works that were in Austen’s possession and known to her circle of family and friends, and include piano solos, Scottish songs, and a special ballad that mirrors the plot of Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. This concert offers an exceptional opportunity to experience the sounds, sentiments, and cultural atmosphere of Austen’s era, and glimpse an understanding of the relationship between music and literature in her life and work.
Performances take place at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Lecture-performance duration: 45 minutes. Seating is first come, first served. Included with Garden admission. Sponsored by Nancy Ridenour. Enjoy members of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) St. Louis and the Saint Louis Historical Society dressed in period costume, and learn more about the work of JASNA.
This event is included in Garden admission.
PERFORMERS' BACKGROUND 🎭
Charles Metz studied piano at Penn State University, beginning his harpsichord studies through private lessons with the legendary Igor Kipnis. In the process of earning a Ph.D. in Historical Performance Practice at Washington University in Saint Louis Missouri, he studied with Trevor Pinnock. Graduating from Optometry school after completing his Ph.D, he had a private practice for twenty years. He has appeared with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Ars Antigua and the Newberry Consort of Chicago. As a guest clinician and recital-lecturer at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Penn State University in State College PA and recently at Cornell. As an early keyboard specialist, he is currently performing on his historic Italian virginal, harpsichords and fortepianos. He released a CD with Navona Records “William Tisdale: Music for Virginal” in February 2021. As an owner of an 1806 Clementi square piano he has a keen interest in the music and instruments of Muzio Clementi. He has recorded and released an album of Scarlatti Sonatas on his Clementi Piano in 2023.
Samantha Arten, soprano and music historian, has focused her performance activities in early music, singing primarily in liturgical church choirs and in Baroque ensembles. She is the Associate Director of and frequent soloist with Early Music Missouri, a principal singer with the Bach Society of St. Louis, a principal artist with the Saint Louis Women’s Chorale, and a staff singer in the choir of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Samantha holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from Duke University and has taught as a Lecturer in Musicology at Maryville University, Washington University in St. Louis, Lindenwood University, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Her research focuses on music printing in sixteenth-century England, and her work can be found in the Yale Journal of Music and Religion, Early Music, Reformation, and in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts.
The St. Louis Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America has been celebrating the life and works of Jane Austen since 1980. Consider us your Gateway to Jane Austen for the metro St. Louis area and eastern Missouri, as well as central and southern Illinois! For more information and to learn about their quarterly meetings, visit jasna-stl.org.
Saint Louis Historical Sewing Society is a sewing and historical dress enthusiast group located in Saint Louis, with a focus on sewing eighteenth through early twentieth century clothing, This inclusive and supportive group welcomes all who are interested and excited about recreating and wearing historical fashion, from beginning to experienced sewists. They sew together and gather to wear our makes or finds at events such as museum visits, musical performances, picnics, dinners, balls, and more!
📸 Tom Incrocci