UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State Baroque Ensemble will present "Fiery Baroque Masterworks" in its first concert of the 2014-15 season at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, in Esber Recital Hall. Program highlights include incidental music written in 1695 by English composer Henry Purcell for a play titled "The Moor's Revenge," and one of Antonio Vivaldi's famed violin concerti from "The Four Seasons." The Baroque Ensemble is directed by faculty member Robert Nairn. Admission is free.
The Baroque Ensemble's performance will be led by special guests violinist Aisslinn Nosky and cellist Guy Fishman. Nosky is a member of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and is concertmaster of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. Fishman is the Handel and Haydn Society's principal cellist.
The performance will be available via livestreamed video at Penn State School of Music.
Program
Abdelazar Suite, Z. 570 -- Henry Purcell
Violin Concerto in G Minor (Summer), RV 315 -- Antonio Vivaldi (with Aisslinn Nosky, violin)
Concerto Grosso in C Major, Op. 6 No. 10 -- Arcangelo Corelli
"Brandenburg" Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 -- Johann Sebastian Bach
Nosky was appointed concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society in 2011. With a reputation for being one of the most dynamic and versatile violinists of her generation, Nosky is in great demand internationally as a soloist, leader and concertmaster. Recent collaborations include the Thunder Bay Symphony, the Lameque International Baroque Festival Orchestra, Arion Baroque Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, Collegium Musicum Hanyang, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
Nosky is also a member of I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble. For over a decade, this innovative Canadian ensemble has presented its own edgy and inventive concert series in Toronto and toured Europe and North America drawing new audiences in to Baroque music. With the Eybler Quartet, Nosky explores repertoire from the first century of the string quartet literature on period instruments. The Eybler Quartet’s latest recording of Haydn’s Opus 33 string quartets was released to critical acclaim in 2012.
Since 2005, Nosky has been a highly active member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and has toured and appeared as soloist with this internationally renowned ensemble.
Israeli-born cellist Guy Fishman was recently appointed principal cellist of the Handel and Haydn Society, with which he made his Boston Symphony Hall solo debut in 2005. Fishman is in demand as an early music specialist in the United States and Europe, performing in recital and with the Arcadia Players, Apollo’s Fire, Emmanuel Music, the Boston Museum Trio and El Mundo, as well as performing on a standard cello with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Mark Morris Dance Group and Albany Symphony Orchestra.
Fishman has performed in recital with Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish, Eliot Fisk and Mark Peskanov, and has toured and recorded with pop artist Natalie Merchant. He was a member of the New Fromm Players at Tanglewood, principal cellist of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and has performed in fringe recitals at the Boston Early Music Festival.
Fishman holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. As a Fulbright Fellow, he worked with famed Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam. He has recorded for the Centaur, Telarc, Titanic and Newport Classics labels. He plays a rare cello made in Rome in 1704 by David Tecchler.