BRATTLEBORO-After a warmly received concert as part of the summer's Pikes Falls Music Series, Ensemble Amphion Baroque is back with "Bigwigs of the Baroque," a concert of chamber works by premier French, German, and Italian composers of the 18th century: J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, and Jean-Féry Rebel.
This time around, though, audiences will hear this ensemble of top-shelf instrumentalists at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) downtown.
Of the venue, Amphion's founder and director, Jesse Lepkoff of Marlboro, says in a video preview of the event, "I'm very excited about playing in the museum. First of all, the acoustics are wonderful. And to be surrounded by art just gives it a different dimension; it adds to the experience, I think, for the audience and for the players."
As comfortable behind a Baroque flute as he is on a blues harmonica, Lepkoff's musical landscape traverses bossa nova to blues to early music - Medieval and Renaissance - and to Baroque.
A diverse ensemble
The ensemble Lepkoff has gathered for Oct. 27 has performed in festivals and venues throughout New England with historically informed techniques on period instruments bringing to life the true spirit and sounds of what Lepkoff calls "music of passion and style."
Lepkoff, who plays Baroque flute and recorder, received his graduate education at the Royal Conservatory in the Netherlands with baroque flutist Wilbert Hazelzet. Having performed such music widely in venues such as Tanglewood, Aix-en-Provence, and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, he also performs regularly, tours, and records with The Boston Camerata.
A singer-songwriter in other idioms, he won the Vermont Blues Society's Blues Challenge competition in 2022.
Lepkoff will be joined on Baroque violin by Emlyn Ngai, who has performed extensively in Canada and the U.S. as both a modern and historical violinist. As concertmaster of Tempesta di Mare, he's performed in the U.S. and Europe and taught in schools and programs of note and recorded widely.
Peter Sykes, featured on harpsichord, has performed in numerous music festivals throughout the country. Having appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, he's heard in concert and on recordings with Boston Baroque, among others. He serves on the faculty of New York's Juilliard School as principal instructor of harpsichord.
Ensemble cellist Reinmar Seidler performs and teaches a wide range of repertoires on both modern and baroque cello and has performed throughout North America and Europe. He's directed the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, Case Western University Baroque Orchestra, and other groups. When not playing or conducting, Reinmar is an active climate change researcher.
An 'essential endeavor'
In a recent exchange with The Commons, Lepkoff discusses the relevance and appeal of that period's music: "Baroque music possesses qualities that are healing and revitalizing. It comes from a world unsullied by the digital age and before the internal combustion engine - a quieter time, a less hurried time.
"Not only that, but its musical system based on the interval of thirds and chords was new at the dawn of the Baroque. I think one can hear in it a reveling in the lushness and beauty of the harmonies as well as an innocent excitement of discovery.
"Baroque music," he continues, "came about as a need for music that was more emotionally connected to the text and poetry of songs. It was the first music to attempt to directly express certain emotions in a conscious way.
"For me personally, I find baroque music to be 'romantic,' so poignant it touches a certain nostalgia for earlier times; it embodies emotions that cannot be captured in words.
"Renaissance music, which came before Baroque, had a much different aesthetic and was more cerebral. To me, Baroque music has an affinity with the beauty of nature."
Lepkoff believes that, like nature, Baroque music is revitalizing and that it "reflects the overtone series, the vibrations found in nature."
"Baroque music can have a rarefied quality. Being supported by royalty, it was developed to an utmost refinement, like a diamond cut in exquisite detail.
"For me, it is an essential endeavor to keep Baroque alive, to hear and play this music with the instruments of the period with their softer more sensitive sounds and with the sensibility of its passion and style.
"I truly believe these vibrations heard live, coming from historical instruments in a temperament with its pure intervals, resonating in an appropriate acoustical space such as the BMAC, as opposed to through a digital medium, can be transporting, even transcendental."
Watch a video preview of Ensemble Amphion's concert at bit.ly/786-baroque. For more information and to purchase tickets ($25) for the Oct. 27 event, visit brattleboromuseum.org.
This Arts item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.