Fuma Sacra Opens Institute For Advanced Study Concert Season

The Institute for Advanced Study has announced its 2002-2003 concert series. “This year’s concerts focus on music for the fortepiano, guitar, and for voice in solo and group settings," says Institute Artist-in-Residence, composer Jon Magnussen. “The programs include some of the most beautiful and also forward-thinking efforts by composers working during the last nine centuries.”

The season’s first event presents Fuma Sacra, a vocal ensemble specializing in Renaissance and Baroque music but also keenly interested in new music. Performances will be on October 9 and 11 at 8:00 p.m., and October 13 at 4:00 p.m., in Wolfensohn Hall on the campus of the Institute for Advanced Study.

Fuma Sacra is vocal ensemble-in-residence at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Founder and artistic director Andrew Megill leads the ensemble in recitals and concerts noted for their innovative programming and passionate performance. Fuma Sacra will offer a program of Love Songs, pairing recent and older works in a rendering of different perspectives on a universal theme. The program will include Pierre Certon, La, la, la je ne l'ose dire; Bernart de Ventadorn, Reis glorios; Josquin Despre, Mille regretz; Orlando di Lasso, Bon jour, mon coeur; Guillaume Dufay, Vergine belle; Giovanni Gastoldi, Tutti, venite armati; Pietro Antonio Giramo, Festa, riso; Robert Heppener, Canti carnascialeschi (1966); Luca Marenzio, Mia benigna fortuna; Claudio Monteverdi, Zefiro torna, il bel tempo; Pierre Passereau, Il est bel et bon; Steven Stucky, Cradle Songs (1996); Augusta Read Thomas, Love Songs (1997); and the premiere performance of Magnussen’s Occhi Dolenti.

There will be a concert discussion on October 9 at 4:30 p.m. in the West Building Lecture Hall, where Magnussen will be joined by Fuma Sacra’s Andrew Megill and composer Steven Stucky.

Other concerts this season include Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano, in performance November 20 and 22 at 8:00 p.m. and November 24 at 4:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall. He will play works by Beethoven and Schubert on a specially-built copy of an 1816 pianoforte. Bilson will give a lecture on November 21 at 4:30 p.m., also in Wolfensohn Hall.

In the new year, baritone Sanford Sylvan and pianist David Breitman will perform on February 12 and 14 at 8:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall. The program will include works by Duparc, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Wolf, and Magnussen. There will be a concert discussion with the artists on February 13 at 4:30 p.m. in the Dilworth Room.

Guitarist Antigoni Goni will perform on March 26 and 28 at 8:00 p.m. and March 30 at 4:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall. Goni will play works by Nazareth, Brouwer, Takemitsu, and Henze, as well as a new work by Magnussen. There will be a concert discussion with the artist on March 27 at 4:30 p.m. in the Dilworth Room.

For ticket information, call (609) 734-8228 or email air@ias.edu.