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After a two-year hiatus, Seraphic Fire’s popular Enlightenment Festival returns to South Florida featuring historical music to charm the mind and ear.
Songs of love by English composers are paired with Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas of anticipation to create two weeks of joyful, charming, and intellectually engaging performances.
In addition to the ravishing voices of Seraphic Fire in both solo and choral works, the Enlightenment Festival welcomes back South African harpsichordist Leon Schelhase and the Seraphic Fire Period Band. Pre-concert lectures are by James K. Bass, associate conductor (week one) and by nationally recognized Bach performance specialist and soprano Dr. Nola Richardson (week two). The February edition of the Seraphic Saturday Podcast (Feb. 12 release) will act as an audio introduction to the festival.
More information on programs, podcasts, tickets, and Seraphic Fire at seraphicfire.org or by calling 305-285-9060.
Program 1:
If Music Be the Food of Love – A Valentine’s Concert
Thursday, Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m., Miami, St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
Friday, Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m., Coral Gables, St. Philip’s Episcopal
Sun, Feb. 20, 4 p.m., Miami Beach, All Souls Episcopal
My Bonnie Lass She Smileth, Thomas Morley
Fine Knacks for Ladies, John Dowland
Weep, Weep Mine Eyes, John Wilbye
All Creatures Now are Merry-Minded, John Bennet
Sweeter than Roses, Henry Purcell
She Loves and She Confesses Too, Purcell
If Music Be the Food of Love, Purcell
Selections from Dioclesian , Purcell
Selections from The Fairy Queen, Purcell
Selections from Moore’s Irish Melodies, Anonymous, arr. Quigley
The second installment of the Enlightenment Festival opens with “If Music Be the Food of Love,” exploring the profound and frothy delights of the English-language love song.
Featuring amorous music from Henry Purcell’s ravishing Fairy Queen & Dioclesian combined with English madrigals and the love songs of the Irish bard Thomas Moore, Seraphic Fire and harpsichordist Leon Schelhase take the audience on a romantic adventure that contrasts the light and the sublime.
Program 2:
Johann Sebastian Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Friday, Feb 25, 7:30 p.m., Coral Gables, First United Methodist
With nearly 20 years performing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in South Florida, Seraphic Fire continues this exploration with three of his vocal-instrumental works. Two cantatas of anticipation — Annunciation cantata Hertz und Mund und Tat und Leben (BWV 147) and Advent cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 62), and the g minor Lutheran Mass (BWV 235) serve as a solo and ensemble showcase for the Seraphic Fire forces. The highlight of this program will be the final chorale of Cantata 147, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, one of the most recognizable pieces of Baroque music.
Dr. Nola Richardson, a regular member of Seraphic Fire’s soprano section, leads the pre-concert talks for the Enlightenment Festival. Nationally recognized as an interpreter of both historical and contemporary music, Dr. Richardson holds the distinction having won all three of the major American Bach competitions.
Tickets and subscriptions are on sale now at SeraphicFire.org and by phone at 305-285-9060. The festival companion Seraphic Saturday Podcast will be available for download on Feb. 12 using the Apple Podcast app, Spotify, or any platform where fine podcasts may be found.
