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BEACON HILL CONCERT SERIES

Dear Friends,

The Beacon Hill Concerts are a series of classical and semi-classical concerts that take place in a recently-built music hall situated on a beautiful privately-owned property near Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The series aims at bringing high-quality vocal and instrumental groups to the Pocono region. Now in our fifteenth season, with four live concerts scheduled for summer 2022 (listed below), we are once again bringing outstanding musical artists to this area. Guests are welcome and can make reservations starting one month prior to each concert date. (See Reservations for details.) There is no admission fee, but a suggested donation of $15 adults, $10 seniors, $5 students can be given at the door.

Go to Directions for the best and accurate directions to our music hall. Our address is: 119 Barn Rd., E. Stroudsburg, PA, 18301.

To be put on our emailing list, contact the Director, Dan Crawford, at dandcrawford@gmail.com.

NOTE: THE KITKA CONCERT, MARCH 23, 2024, 6:00 PM IS SOLD OUT. THERE ARE PRESENTLY NO SEATS AVAILABLE.

TWO BEACON HILL CONCERTS, WINTER 2023-2024:

DECEMBER 3, 2023 & FEBRUARY 4, 2024

Announcing two Beacon Hill Concerts—one instrumental, one vocal— by the Chamber Players of TEMPESTA DI MARE. (All the artists are principal players/performers with the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra.)

NOTE: THE DECEMBER 3, 2023 CONCERT, “UNMATCHED,” TEMPESTA DI MARE IS SOLD OUT. NO SEATS ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

Sunday, December 3, 2023, 3:00 pm, “Unmatched” – six players, six wind and string instruments – flute, recorder, oboe, bassoon, violin, lute, and harpsichord in many combinations. The instruments blend and contrast, call and respond, stand out as soloists, and form a cohesive whole. The Program starts with a concerto by Vivaldi followed by works of other baroque composers: Telemann, and lesser-known Zelenka, Janitsch, Fasch, and Boismortier.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741 ) Concerto in G Minor, for recorder, oboe, violin, bassoon and continuo; Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) Quatuor in G Major, (Musique de table, Part 1, No. 2) for flute, oboe, violin and continuo; Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) Sonata in D Major for flute, violin, bassoon and continuo; Jan Dismas Zalenka (1689-1745) Sonata No. 3 in B-flat, for oboe, violin and continuo; Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708-1763) Quadro in G Major, for recorder, oboe, violin and continuo; Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755) Concerto à cinq parties in E Minor, for recorder, oboe, violin, bassoon and continuo.

Sunday, February 4, 2024, 3:00 pm, “Cruel Amaryllis” – two tenors extraordinaire, James Reese and Jacob Perry, accompanied by three theorbos. A program of Italian Madrigals centering on works for two voices by 17^th century composers Claudio Monteverdi and Sigismondo d’India, whose transformation of the madrigal genre brought vocal music to expressive heights unsurpassed to this day.

Note! Reservations are required for this concert, “Cruel Amaryllis” Feb 4, 2024. Presently this concert is Sold Out—there are no seats available. For more information contact the Director, Dan Crawford (dandcrawford@gmail.com)

“CRUEL AMARYLLIS,” madrigal settings for two tenors of lyrics by Guarini, Marino and Rinuccini; James Reese and Jacob Perry, tenors; Kevin Payne, archlute | Richard Stone, theorbo | Paul Morton, theorbo and guitar

PROGRAM

Battista Guarini (1538–1612): Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) “Mentre vaga Angioletta”; Angelo Michele Bartolotti (? – 1668) “Sonata in D minor”;Sigismondo d’India (1582–1629) “Cruda Amarilli”; Giovanni Rovetta (1596-1668) “Chi vuol aver felice e lieto il core”;

Ottavio Rinuccini (1562–1621): Jacopo Peri, attrib. (1561–1633) “Intenerite voi”; Giulio Caccini (1551–1618) “Fortunato augellino”; Alessandro Piccinini (1566–1638) “Toccata VII, Passacaglia”; Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580–1651) “Non havea Febo”;

Giambattista Marino (1569–1625): Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580–1651) “Toccata I”; Giulio Santopietro de’ Negri (fl. 1607–1620) “Quel neo, quel vago neo”; Giovanni Antonio Rigatti (1615–1648) “O dolcezza ineffabile”; Francesco Corbetta (1615–1681) “Partite sopra la Folia”; Giovanni Valentini (1582–1649) “Beviam tutti”;

Rinuccini: Piccinini “Ciaccona mariona alla vera Spagnola” (arr. Stone); Monteverdi “Zefiro torna, e di soavi accenti”; Both concerts at our Beacon Hill Music Hall, 119 Barn Rd., E. Stroudsburg PA 18301.

Reservations. As in the past, we accept reservations for our concerts one month prior to the concert date, starting on November 3 for “Unmatched” and January 4 for “Cruel Amaryllis.” Make your reservation by emailing me on or after these dates indicating the number of seats you wish to reserve, and the NAMES OF ALL ATTENDEES. Your reservation is not “official” until you receive confirmation from me. There is no admission fee, only a “suggested donation” of $15 adult, $10 senior, $5 student, at the door. Please reserve for friends only if they are definitely planning to attend.

Dan Crawford www.dcrawford1@unl.edu or www.dandcrawford@gmail.com _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2023 Concert Season:

NOTE: THE TIBURTINA CONCERT IS SOLD OUT, NO SEATS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

TIBURTINA Vocal Ensemble

“Ego Sum Homo: Musical Visions of Hildegard of Bingen”

Sunday, June 11, 3:00 pm

Beacon Hill Music Hall, Stroudsburg (119 Barn Rd. E. Stroudsburg PA 18301)

This unique group of 7 female singers, with instruments (medieval harp and dulce melos), on tour from the Czech Republic, will be with us all too soon at our Beacon Hill Music Hall.

Founded in 2008 in Prague by the group’s artistic director and leader, Barbora Kabatkova, Tiburtina has won acclaim as among the best in Europe in their field of Medieval and Early Music vocal performance.

This concert is wholly dedicated to the music of Hildegard of Bingen, the 12^th century mystic, composer, writer, and founder of the first independent female monastery in the Catholic Church—no small feat. The program consists of a selection of plainchant from the large collection of her sacred works that have survived for more than eight centuries—a testament to the spiritual depth and originality of her music and her texts. The program also includes a few polyphonic works by anonymous composers of that period.

Reservations: As in the past, we will accept reservations for this concert starting on May 11, one month prior to the concert date. Make your reservation(s) by emailing me on or after May 11, indicating the number of seats you wish to reserve, and the NAMES of all attendees. There is no admission fee, but instead a “suggested donation” of $15 adult, $10 senior, $5 student, at the door. We have limited seating (85), and this will be the last concert of the summer season. Make your reservations early for what will be another enriching and uplifting musical experience.

Dan Crawford, Director, Beacon Hill Concerts

dcrawford1@unl.edu or dan dcrawford@gmail.com

Artem Belogurov, Piano Recital and Lecture-Demonstration performed on a replica of one of the earliest pianos in history (1700)

Saturday, April 1, 2023, 4:00 p.m.

Beacon Hill Music Hall (119 Barn Rd., E. Stroudsburg PA 18301)

Artem Belogurov studied Piano Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music and presently teaches fortepiano at Utrecht Conservatory (Netherlands). In this concert he will play on a replica of what was probably the first “true piano,” designed and built by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua in 1700. (Three original Cristofori pianos survive, one of them in the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.)

I am so pleased to be able to share with you a concert performance on this amazing instrument by an artist fully capable of bringing out its special features and innovations, and narrating the historical context in which the first piano emerged.

Artem will demonstrate the piano’s capabilities with selections from 18^th century composers who wrote and/or played music specifically for this instrument, including Ludovico Giustini—the first to write and publish music definitely for the piano—Handel, J.S. Bach, Scarlatti, and others, all of whom played some part in ushering in this new instrument that would change the course of Western music.

Program

Ludovico Giustini (1685–1743)

Sonata da cimbalo di piano e forte in E minor, Op. 1 (13’)

Giovanni Benedetto Platti (1697-1763)

Sonata No. 5 in C minor from 6 Harpsichord Sonatas, Op. 4 (8′)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Prelude and Fugue in E minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier II (ca. 6′)

Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759)

Lascia ch’io pianga (arr. W. Babell) (5′)

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)

Tendrement (5:30); Gracieusement-Tendrement from Pièces de clavecin (5’)

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Sonata in D minor, K. 517 (3:30)

Antonio Soler (1729-1783)

Sonata in C major, R. 38 (5’)

Reservations. As in the past, we will accept reservations starting March 1, one month prior to the concert date. Make your reservation(s) by responding to this email indicating the number of seats you wish to reserve, and the NAMES of all attendees. We have limited seating (85), so make your reservations early, and please reserve for friends only if they are definitely planning to attend.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience a recital-lecture of a caliber that might only be heard at the top musical instrument museums!

Contact: Dan Crawford, Director

drawford1@unl.edu or dandcrawford@gmail.com

www.beaconhillconcerts.com

Upcoming Concert: SAVE THE DATE!

Sunday, June 11, 2023, 3:00 pm, Beacon Hill music hall, TIBURTINA, “Ego Sum Homo: Musical Visions of Hildegard of Bingen, vocal ensemble (7 women, with instruments, dulce melos, medieval harp) under the direction of Barbara Kabatkova, on tour from Czech Republic. Reservations for this concert accepted starting May 11.

Notice: The Danú concert has been moved from the Beacon Hill Concerts music hall (119 Barn Rd.) to the First Presbyterian Church, Stroudsburg, 575 Main St., Stroudsburg PA 18360. Reservations are not required (but are no longer accepted after November 29).

Beacon Hill Concerts presents Irish Band Danú

“AN EMERALD ISLE CHRISTMAS”

December 9, 6:00 pm, 2022

Beacon Hill Music Hall, 119 Barn Rd., E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301

“DANÚ stirs the blood and lifts the heart.” (Irish Music Magazine)

For this Christmas season 2022, we are pleased to present “An Emerald Isle Christmas” with Danú, one of the leading traditional Irish ensembles of today, on Friday, December 9, 6:00 pm, at our Beacon Hill music hall.

Celtic music lovers around the globe have been thrilled by the virtuoso players on fiddle, flutes, button accordion, percussion, and Irish pipes, and the gorgeous singing of Nell Ni Chróinín in the Irish language. Winners of major awards from the BBC and Irish Music Magazine, Danú celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new presentation of the holidays from their homeland. Music, song, and dance are a vital part of joyous community celebrations across Ireland during the holiday season. An Emerald Isle Christmas offers a taste of these extraordinary and centuries-old events. (Go to YouTube or allianceartistmanagement.com/danu/ to hear and view the group in performance.)

Danu’s PROGRAM, announced from the stage, will include some carols familiar to us, but mainly it will introduce us—through music, storytelling, poetry, and Irish banter—to what a traditional Christmas is like in Ireland today.

There will be an intermission in this concert, and refreshments will be served.

Please join us as the Danú players and singer take us on a moving and memorable musical journey to their native Ireland.

Dan Crawford

Director, Beacon Hill Concerts

BEACON HILL CONCERTS PRESENTS FALL CONCERT, 2022

VOX LUMINIS

Early Music Ensemble

Motets of the Bach Family – “The Arnstadt Connection”

Thursday, October 20, 2022, 7:00 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church (575 Main St. Stroudsburg, 18360)

“The refinement of Vox Luminis is never anything less than sublime.” (Gramophone)

On Thursday evening, October 20, 7:00 pm, the world-class Early Music ensemble, Vox Luminis, on tour from Belgium with 17 musicians (10 singers, 7 instrumentalists), will perform Motets of the Bach Family.

Here is the rich program featuring music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, and members of Bach’s family connected with the German town of Arnstadt, where several generations of Bachs contributed to musical life for more than 200 years:

Heinrich Bach: Ich danke dir Gott
Johann Michael Bach: Die Furcht des Herren
Dietrich Buxtehude: Herzlich Lieb hab ich dich, O Herr
Johann Christoph Bach: Herr, wende dich und sei mir gnadig
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata; Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4

The concert will be approximately 1 hour 15 minutes with no intermission.

Join us for light refreshments after the concert, and meet the performers.

For those of you who heard the past performances of Vox Luminis with us (this is their 5^th Beacon Hill concert), all you need is to be reminded of the high standard of excellence this group embodies. Those of you who have not heard them can listen to their music and read the biographies of the group and its dynamic founder and director Lionel Meunier at www.voxluminis.com.

Since its inception in 2004, the ensemble has been performing over 60 concerts a year, appearing on stages across Europe and around the world. The core group of soloists, mostly from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (Netherlands) is often joined by additional performers, depending on the program. The repertoire is essentially Italian, English and German and spans from the 16^th to the 18^th century. But this concert focuses on J.S. Bach and his predecessors in the Bach family, whose beautiful sacred works Bach built on and enriched. (A personal note: Vox Luminis performed some of the music of Bach’s family predecessors at a previous Beacon Hill concert in 2018, and it was then that I realized that J.S. Bach stood on the shoulders of giants.)

Vox Luminis has released 14 CDs that have enjoyed international critical acclaim and have won numerous prestigious awards. (Visit www.voxluminis.com for musical excerpts from these CDs.)

Additionally, Vox Luminis has performed extensively at festivals mainly across Europe, and has appeared at the major music halls and venues worldwide. (I have enjoyed hearing their performances at the famous Festival of Early Music in Utrecht, Netherlands, for the last 10 years running.)

Because of the unique mission of Beacon Hill Concerts—to make high-quality classical music available and accessible in Monroe County, there is no admission fee for this concert; but a suggested donation of $15 adult, $10 senior, $5 student can be given at the door.

Reservations are not necessary, but seats can be reserved in the front rows of the church (if that is where you choose to sit) by emailing the Director, Dan Crawford, at dandcrawford@gmail.com.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience a performance by an ensemble of this size and caliber in our region! Make a definite commitment in your schedule for Thursday, October 20, 7:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Stroudsburg!

BEACON HILL CONCERTS, SUMMER 2022

SCHUBERT: SONGS

BARITONE THOMAS MEGLIORANZA

with Piano Accompanist REIKO UCHIDA

Saturday, June 18, 4:00 p.m.

Beacon Hill Music Hall, 119 Barn Rd., Stroudsburg

A selection of Franz Schubert’s song settings of Goethe’s poetry arranged around the themes “Wealth and Power,” “Romance,” “Friendship,” “The Divine,” and “Shame.” With his smooth, expressive baritone voice Meglioranza gives a moving performance that enriches these songs and refreshes the spirit.

Reserve your seat(s) by emailing dandcrawford@gmail.com with your request and the names of attendees. (Reservations not necessary)

Suggested donation $15 adult, $10 senior, $5 student (at the door)

Presented by Beacon Hill Concerts, Director, Dan Crawford

ENSEMBLE CORRESPONDANCES

Early Music ensemble with 18 vocalists & instrumentalists

On Tour from France!

One of the foremost European Early Music groups, Ensemble Correspondances, under the direction of the dynamic Sebastien Dauce, in two grand performances of the secular and sacred music of seventeenth century France!

TWO CONCERTS:

Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 7:00 pm

“PLAISIRS DU LOUVRE,” (French masters of the 17th century)

First Presbyterian Church, 575 Main St., Stroudsburg, PA

Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 7:00 pm

“MEMBRA JESU NOSTRI” by Dietrich Buxtehude

First Presbyterian Church, 575 Main St., Stroudsburg, PA

MAY 10, 7:00 PM: “PLAISIRS DU LOUVRE,” recreates the secular musical realm of 17th century French society when the Louvre was the center of the courtly and artistic worlds, and lavishly supported by French royalty. In this theatre of power, music was both an object of entertainment as well as an instrument of magnificence, reaching its high point under the musician-king Louis XIII and le Roi Soleil, Louis XIV.

The Program for this concert includes selected pieces by the French masters Boesset, Moulinie, Chambonnieres, Couperin, Guedron, and others, illustrating how they worked together to produce the finest music of this Grand Siecle. Night, love, mystery, metamorphosis, and mythology are some of the savory themes of their musical productions.

MAY 11, 7:00 PM: In “MEMBRA JESU NOSTRI” by Dietrich Buxtehude, director Sebastien Dauce explores the rich tradition of Lutheran music from the Baroque. Buxtehude was organist at the Marienkirche in Lubeck, Germany—regarded as one of the most important posts in North German church music.

The rarely-performed Membra was originally written as a seven-part cycle of cantatas for a series of Sunday afternoon church concerts called Abendmusiken. Separated from the formal liturgical framework, Membra is a unique piece of sacred music, both in its text and style. The seven cantatas are intended as contemplations of the individual parts of Christ’s crucified body: feet, hands, side, breast, and face, while exemplifying Buxtehude’s compositional style with its expressive melodic phrasing and yearning harmonies. The work promises to be one that will be both accessible and richly rewarding for our audience.

The program also includes Buxtehude’s motet: “Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, O Herr,” and two of his short works centering on the fragility of human life: an arrangement of Luther’s hymn “Mit Fried und Freud Ich Fahr Dahin” (With Peace and Joy I Now Depart); and Klaglied, a beautiful elegy written upon the death of his musician father.

Plan to attend both concerts! Don’t miss this opportunity to hear these great performances, of the quality and grandeur that one would expect to find only in the major concert halls.

Tell your friends, and mark your calendars now!

Reservations. There is open seating for both concerts at First Presbyterian Church and reservations are not necessary. However, you can request reservations at one or both concerts for seat(s) in the reserved front section by emailing the Director, Dan Crawford, at dandcrawford@gmail.com with your request and the names of attendees. (Your reservation is official when you receive a confirmation.) As usual, there is no fee for this concert, but a suggested donation of $15 adults, $10 seniors, $5 students (at the door).

See and hear more at www.ensemblecorrespondances.com

Anne Azema, singer and narrator

“The Joyous Queen: Medieval Songs of Valorous Women”

Saturday, May 28, 2022, 4:00 p.m.

Beacon Hill Music Hall, 119 Barn Rd., E. Stroudsburg PA

Anne Azema, an American icon in her genre of medieval song, in a one-woman show will bring her insight, language skills, crystalline voice, and gift for theater (along with her knee-held instruments, organetto, harp, and hurdy-gurdy) for what should be an unforgettable musical experience.

Her program, “The Joyous Queen,” (in her words) “is an exploration of female spirit and power in medieval history and imagination, via songs and poems from Provence, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. These works sing and speak of medieval women both imaginary and real: women of legend like Queen Iseult the Blonde, and also archetypal symbols of the feminine: the Distant Beloved, the Virgin, the joyful Queen of May. Passion, joy, sorrow, and humor inform these priceless treasures of eight centuries past, still living and ageless in their contemporaneity.”

Reservations for this concert accepted starting April 28, (one month before the concert date) by emailing Dan Crawford at dandcrawford@gmail.com with your request and the names of attendees. (Your reservation is official when you receive a confirmation.) As usual, there is no fee for this concert, but a suggested donation of $15 adults, $10 seniors, $5 students (at the door).

Beacon Hill Concerts