Grand River Baroque Festival

Grand River Baroque Festival
June 18- 20 - Ayr, Ontario

It's got fencing, a masquerade gala and a pop baroque fusion concert featuring flamboyant soprano Jean Stillwell - the Grand River Baroque Festival has got the goods to get you out of town and ready to enjoy great music in pastoral surroundings. Here's a look at what's on their programme:

FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 18
FIREWORKS MASQUERADE GALA
7:30pm    Buehlow Barn, Ayr

TICKETS    ADULT $85  STUDENT $35
Last year's Masquerade Gala featured so many Baroque inspired costumes that we have decided to do it again. This is your chance to regale yourself in something you would not wear to the office!

Come and celebrate with us at GRBF's Opening Night Masquerade Gala concert featuring music by Rebel, Handel and Vivaldi, followed by a Great Party.
REBEL     Les Éléments
HANDEL     Music for the Royal Fireworks
VIVALDI     Double Trumpet Concerto (Guy Few and Norman Engel)
VIVALDI     Concerto no.6 in e minor (Nadina Mackie Jackson)
Dancers:     Mickaël Bouffard, Anne-Marie Gardette, Marie-Laurence Primeau and Stéphanie Brochard

SATURDAY, JUNE 19
FOUR SEASONS
1pm    Knox United Church, 92 Northumberland Street, Ayr

TICKETS    ADULT $30  STUDENT $10
Aisslinn Nosky rocked The Four Seasons of Vivaldi last year. This year we are presenting her in a concert combining Vivaldi Summer and Winter with Piazzolla Spring and Autumn. Aisslinn will connect the works with her own improvisations.

Aisslinn Nosky, violin
The GRBF soloists, conducted by Eric Paetkau

Viva BiancaLuna Biffi
FERMATE IL PASSO
3pm    Knox United Church, 92 Northumberland Street, Ayr

TICKETS    ADULT $20  STUDENT $10
Viva BiancaLuna Biffi will visit us to present this program during her summer festival tour. Viva studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis specializing in singing and medieval/renaissance gamba. Fermate il Passo describes a possible story line to the birth of recitative in Italy at the beginning of the XVI century. This one woman show is presented in three acts describing different moments of the day (sunset, night and morning) as metaphors of love's moods: Falling in love, love's torment and the victory of love.

Viva BiancaLuna Biffi, voice and violetta bastarda

SPECIAL FESTIVAL PRICING FOR TWO CONCERTS
Attend both Four Seasons and Fermate il Passo concerts  ADULTS $40  STUDENTS $15

MELODIC REPAST Church Supper
5pm    Knox United Church, 92 Northumberland Street, Ayr

TICKETS $30
Continue your leisurely visit to Ayr and enjoy a hearty homemade meal at Knox United Church before the evening concert at the Buehlow Barn.

BIG BAND BAROQUE
8pm    Buehlow Barn, Ayr

TICKETS    ADULT $30  STUDENT $10
Take some early music, pour in some pop, and what do you get? Pop-Period Fusion! Enjoy the music of today in combination with the aesthetic of the past. Jean Stilwell and Guy Few will join the GRBF soloists to create this musical collage featuring music of Blood Sweat and Tears, Imogen Heap and Coldplay — along with John Dowland and Francois Couperin. Not to be missed!

Jean Stilwell
Guy Few
Terry McKenna
The GRBF Soloists

SUNDAY, JUNE 20
FEAST AND FENCING
Buehlow Barn, Ayr  Picnic begins at 12 noon  Concert starts at 1pm

TICKETS    ADULT $30  STUDENT $10
A picnic lunch accompanied by an afternoon of musical delights, including two world premieres of concerti written for our festival directors, Guy Few and Nadina Mackie Jackson — In Glorium for Trumpet and Strings, and Concerto no.2 for Bassoon and Strings by Canadian composer Glenn Buhr; and a repeat performance of the Double Concerto for Trumpet and Bassoon composed and conducted by Mathieu Lussier (premiered at GRBF in 2006).

Mathieu Lussier will perform the Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto no.5 in d minor. Cristina Zacharias and Julie Baumgartel will "fence" their way through the Sinfonia Concertante for 2 violins in G major, Op. 13 by Joseph de Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-George. Fencing demonstrations on the lawn during the breaks.

Mathieu Lussier
Cristina Zacharias
Julie Baumgartel
Guy Few
Nadina Mackie Jackson
The GRBF soloists, conducted by Eric Paetkau and Mathieu Lussier

Fencers:  Thomas Masmajean and Karl Gardner

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