Sopranos Susanna Phillips (L; Photo: Zachary Maxwell) and Jane Archibald (R; Photo: Bo Huang), will lead a program called “Rival Divas” in February 2020.
On March 3, Music of the Baroque announced its next season, which will run from September 2019 to May 2020. The upcoming season, the company’s 49th, “will be a season of high drama, storytelling, virtuosity, and spiritual depth,” comments executive director Declan McGovern.
Music of the Baroque will begin its season on September 14, 2019, with Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor, conducted by artistic director Jane Glover. This Baroque staple, completed in Bach’s final years, will be performed by Music of the Baroque’s chorus and orchestra, as well as four vocal soloists: Yulia Van Doren, Krisztina Szabó, Jonas Hacker, and Tyler Duncan.
Patrick Dupré Quigley, founder and artistic director of the Grammy-nominated ensemble Seraphic Fire, will guest conduct the company’s annual Holiday Brass & Choral Concerts as well as its “À La Française” program. This French program, scheduled for April 5 and 6, 2020, will feature instrumental music by Rebel, Rameau, Purcell, and Bach.
Another guest for Music of the Baroque’s 2019-20 season is Alison Balsom, the international trumpet sensation whom Jane Glover describes as “one of the greatest trumpeters of our time.” She will perform in “The Chase,” a program of works exploring the outdoor world led by Music of the Baroque’s principal guest conductor Nicholas Kraemer.
One unique highlight in the company’s upcoming season is its “Rival Divas” program, which Glover says she has been keen to do for some time. The program will center “on the hot competition between singers whenever Handel or Mozart composed a new opera,” and will feature operatic superstars Susanna Phillips and Jane Archibald.
Next season’s performances will take place at venues across the Chicago area, including the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in downtown Chicago, the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, and the Divine Word Chapel in Northbrook. The company will also make its Fourth Presbyterian Church debut in May 2020 with the season’s final program, “Musica Sacra,” which will feature early choral works by Byrd, Allegri, and Purcell, as well as Vivaldi’s Gloria.
Tickets and subscriptions for Music of the Baroque’s 2019-20 concert season are now available. For more information, please visit their website.
