'Bad Boys of Baroque' theme of Music Festival Wednesday

Monday, July 29, 2013

Violinist Allison Edberg and her colleagues in Ensemble Voltaire will present "Bad Boys of the Baroque" Wednesday, July 31 as the Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues in the sanctuary of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

The free 7:30 p.m. concert will explore the music of composers who are known to have been misfits, subversives, ne'er-do-wells or even criminals.

While national temperament might be a reason for such reputations, the composers represented -- coming from France, Germany, England and Italy -- speak to the contrary, and may rightly be described as "bad boys."

Music of J.S. Bach, Leclair, Forqueray, Rosenmüller, Finger and Balzter will be performed by Edberg, Christine Kyprianides, viola da gamba, and Thomas Gerber, harpsichord.

"I'm thrilled to have Ensemble Voltaire perform for us again," Eric Edberg, the festival's founder and artistic director, as well as a DePauw University music professor, said. "This is one of the country's finest early-music ensembles, performing Baroque music on period instruments."

The ensemble has performed this concert to rave reviews in both Lafayette and Indianapolis.

Noted for the beauty of her playing as well as for her versatility, violinist Allison Guest Edberg is one of the preeminent performers of baroque and modern violin. Equally at home as an orchestral and chamber musician, she also performs regularly as a violist.

Ms. Edberg has performed throughout North America, collaborating with many of the top baroque ensembles, including Chatham Baroque, Ensemble Galilei, Apollo's Fire, the Foundling Baroque Orchestra, the Washington Bach Consort, La Monica and The Vivaldi Project.

She is frequently featured at the Bloomington Early Music Festival and the Indianapolis Early Music Festival.

Gerber, meanwhile, is a founding member of two early music period instruments ensembles: Ensemble Voltaire (formerly Ensemble Ouabache), a chamber music group formed in 1987 which is currently ensemble-in-residence at Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis; and the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, formed in 1996, which is presently ensemble-in-residence at the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center of the University of Indianapolis.

He is harpsichordist of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra as well as of the liturgical early music ensemble Musik Ekklesia. Recent appearances have included the Early Music Festival of St. Louis and the Bloomington Early Music Festival.

Kyprianides has concertized throughout the world as a cellist and gambist with such early music ensembles as Huelgas Ensemble, Musica Antiqua Köln, Collegium Carthusianum, Les Arts Florissants, Ganassi-Consort, Les Adieux and others.

She presently performs in Ensemble Voltaire, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, and Echoing Air. She is also active as a musicologist; her research interests include performance practice issues and the relationship of music and the press in Victorian England.

The Greencastle Summer Music Festival is designed to bring the community together with a theme of "friends making music for friends." Free concerts, supported by donations, are staged every Wednesday through Aug. 21 beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of Gobin Church.

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