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On Sunday, October 23 at 3:00 PM in Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, Kirkby and Lindberg will perform Love Songs, Lute Solos and Laments, a program focusing on the 17th Century golden age of lute songs from Britain and Italy, and some of the treasures to be found away from the big names of the period.
Preferred seating tickets are $60 (including a post-concert Q&A with Emma and Jakob); and General Seating tickets are $30.
Tickets may be purchased by credit card at http://www.mapc.com/calendar/2011/10/23/music-on-madison-emma-kirkby-soprano-jakob-lindberg-lute/ or by calling 212-288-8920.
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Emma Kirkby, soprano
As a classics student at Oxford and then a schoolteacher, Emma Kirkby sang for pleasure in choirs and small groups, always feeling most at home in Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. She joined the Taverner Choir in 1971 and in 1973 began her long association with the Consort of Musicke. Emma took part in the early Decca Florilegium recordings with both the Consort of Musicke and the Academy of Ancient Music, at a time when most college-trained sopranos were not seeking a sound appropriate for early instruments. She therefore had to find her own approach, with enormous help from Jessica Cash in London, and from the directors, fellow singers and instrumentalists with whom she has worked over the years. Emma feels privileged to have been able to build long-term relationships with chamber groups and orchestras, in particular London Baroque, the Freiburger Barockorchester, L’Orfeo (of Linz) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Fretwork, the Purcell Quartet and now with some of the younger groups, such as Florilegium and the Armonico Consort. To date, she has made well over a hundred recordings of all kinds, from sequences of Hildegarde of Bingen to madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque, works of Mozart, Haydn and J. C. Bach. Recent recordings for BIS include: “Händel – Neun Deutsche Arien” with London Baroque, “The Queen’s Music – Italian vocal duets and trios”, and “Orpheus in England – Dowland & Purcell” with Jakob Lindberg. In 1999 Emma was voted Artist of the Year by Classic FM Radio listeners; in November 2000 she received the Order of the British Empire, and in June 2007 was delighted to be included in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for appointment as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. BBC Music Magazine, in an April 2007 survey of critics to find the “20 Greatest Sopranos of All Time”, placed Emma at number 10. In June 2008, Emma received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Oxford University, and in June 2011, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the Queen's Medal for Music in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the musical life of the nation.
Jakob Lindberg, lute
From the age of fourteen, Jakob Lindberg studied with Jörgen Rörby, who gave him his first tuition on the lute. While studying at the Royal College of Music, he further developed his knowledge of the lute repertoire under the guidance of Diana Poulton and decided towards the end of his studies to concentrate on renaissance and baroque music. Jakob Lindberg is now one of the most prolific performers in this field, and has numerous recordings for BIS. He has brought Scottish lute music to public attention, he has demonstrated the beauty of the Italian repertoire for chitarrone and he has recorded chamber music by Vivaldi, Haydn and Boccherini on period instruments. He is the first lutenist to have recorded the complete solo lute music by John Dowland, and his recording of Bach's music for solo lute is considered to be one of the most important readings of these works. Jakob Lindberg is an active continuo player on the theorbo and arch lute and has worked with many well-known English ensembles including The English Concert, Taverner Choir, The Purcell Quartet, Monteverdi Choir, Chiaroscuro, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The Academy of Ancient Music. He is also in demand as an accompanist and has given recitals with Emma Kirkby, Ann Sofie von Otter, Nigel Rogers and Ian Partridge. It is particularly through his live solo performances that he has become known as one of the finest lutenists in the world today; he has given recitals in many parts of Europe, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Australia, Canada and the USA. Jakob Lindberg has also been professor of lute at the Royal College of Music in London since 1979.
