CUPID AND DEATH - THE OPERA
San Francisco Renaissance Voices (Todd Jolly, Music Director) ends their 2010-11 Season with the return of their Opera Early & Ancient mini-series, this year featuring "Cupid and Death" by Matthew Locke (c1621-1677) and Christopher Gibbons (1615-1676).  Considered to be England's first true opera, this comic work in the masque tradition finds Cupid and Death accidentally exchanging arrows; pandemonium ensues as Cupid shoots potential lovers and inadvertently kills them, and Death shoots those whose time of passing has come and strikes them ardent.  Mother Nature and the god Mercury intervene to return everything to order and banish Cupid.  We're not sure, but this very well may be where Monty Python got some of their early material.

Rarely-performed today, this work was given its first formal premiere on March 26, 1653 as an entertainment for the Portuguese ambassador to Great Britain.  We've assembled an exceptional cast that includes:
CUPID - Anne-Claire Baconnais
DEATH - Jesse Buddington
HOST - Maura Sipila
CHAMBERLAIN - Corey Head
NATURE - Marisa Lenhardt
MERCURY - Julio Ferrari
DESPAIR - Ann Homan
THE LOVER - Jamie Apgar
SOPRANO SOLOIST - Jennifer Paulino
BASS SOLOIST - Jeff Fields
ORCHESTRA:
Concert Mistress - Daria D'Andrea
Violin - Rachel Hurwitz
Viola - David Sego
Cello - Elisabeth Reed
Harpsichord - Susan Harvey
CHOREOGRAPHY:  Alice Ko and Leanna Sharp

WHO:  San Francisco Renaissance Voices (Todd Jolly, Music Director) with period chamber orchestra
WHAT:  Cupid and Death - by Matthew Locke and Christopher Gibbons
WHEN:  Saturday, August 20 - 8:00 pm - St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley
WEBSITE:  www.SFRV.org
TICKETS:  $25 general, $20 student/senior, at the door or on-line at:  www.SFRV.org

 

San Francisco Renaissance Voices are Artists-in-Residence with Seventh Avenue Performances (San Francisco) and made their debut in 2004 with a sold-out performance of Victoria's Requiem.  Under the leadership of Todd Jolly, Music Director and Katherine McKee, Assistant Music Director, the group has consistently earned praise for our "gossamer sound ... a sound something akin to spiritual levitation" as well as recognition for our imaginative programming and lauded as "a standout within the crowded field of Bay Area early music ensembles" by San Francisco Classical Voice (July 2009).  We are dedicated to performing and exploring the a cappella choral music of the Renaissance particularly lesser-known and rarely-performed works, as well as exploring music from this period outside of the traditional European canon and have been featured by such publications as The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday, USA Today and the national magazine Early Music America, among others.  Most recently, San Francisco Renaissance Voices was selected as "Best Classical Music" for 2010 by SFWeekly.