The Somerville Museum Presents:
Early Music Afternoons with Duo Maresienne & Special Guests
Thirty-Third Season 2023–2024
I. Sunday, October 29, 2023
From Recorder to Lute (& Viola da Gamba!): Musical masterpieces of the German Baroque. Virtuoso recorder player Aldo Abreu joins Duo Maresienne (Olav Chris Henriksen, baroque lute; Carol Lewis, viola da gamba) in sonatas, concertos, fantasies, partitas and suites by Weiss, Baron, Telemann, Bach, and others.
II. Sunday, November 19, 2023
Pantomime: Plucked Instruments in 18th-century England. Olav Chris Henriksen, English guitar and baroque lute, performs a selection of dance pieces, fantasies, and other musical treats by J.C. Bach, Straube, Marella, and Anne Ford, among others.
III. Sunday, January 28, 2024
Ballads, Fancies, & Courtly Airs. Mezzo-soprano Carrie Cheron joins El Dorado Ensemble (Carol Lewis, Karen Burciaga, James Perretta, Mai-Lan Broekman & Alice Mroszczyk, violas da gamba; Olav Chris Henriksen & Matthew Wright, lutes, bandora & cittern) in a concert of songs & instrumental music from 17th-century England by Tomkins, Simpson, Robinson, Weelkes, Lawes, and others.
IV. Sunday, March 10, 2024
Symphonies en Trio: More Delightful Music from 17th- & 18th-century France. Flutists Na’ama Lion and Peter H. Bloom join Carol Lewis, viola da gamba, and Olav Chris Henriksen, baroque guitar & theorbo, for a program of music for winds and strings together, including works by Gaultier, La Barre, and Marais.
V. Sunday, May 12, 2024
Diferencias: Renaissance Instrumentals from Italy and Spain. Duo Maresienne (Carol Lewis, violas da gamba; Olav Chris Henriksen, lute & theorbo) perform ricercars, toccatas, diminutions & dances by Ortiz, Dalza, dalla Casa, Selma, Kapsberger, and others.
All concerts take place at the Somerville Museum, One Westwood Road (at Central St.), Somerville, MA, and begin at 3:00 p.m. For further information, please call 617-666-9810 or go to www.somervillemuseum.org. Admission is $25 for the general public, $20 for students, seniors, and Museum members. Tickets for all concerts to be purchased at gate.
Past seasons
Reviews of the Duo Maresienne
“The Sarabande was a special highlight, beautiful and stately; Lewis’s many double stops were silken, and her “bridges” between phrases (almost miniature cadenzas), whether indicated on the printed page or not, sounded like spontaneous ornamentation by an inspired player.”
THE BOSTON MUSICAL INTELLIGENCER
“In Carol Lewis’s capable hands, phrasing evolved with perfect naturalness, intricate ornaments an integral part of beautifully shaped melodic lines.”
THE BOSTON MUSICAL INTELLIGENCER
“Duo Maresienne lavished great skill and enthusiasm… a wealth of prismatic, keenly-phrased playing of instruments once thought to be worthy, historic and dull.”
THE BOSTON GLOBE
“Lutenist Olav Chris Henriksen stretched the lines in the well-known second movement to offer a great fluidity to the work. THE LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR (LINCOLN, NE)
“We were treated to a display of dazzling technical virtuosity and passionate playing of gut-gripping intensity that held the audience frozen still in its seats. The ensemble between Carol Lewis (who really did make the viol sing) and Olav Chris Henriksen was perfect – and had the polish of long practice.”
EARLY MUSIC REVIEW, ENGLAND
“For her part, the gambist Carol Lewis offered us a brilliant demonstration of her instrument. Her technique and her musicality, her breathtaking dexterity transported us, in Marin Marais’ Grand Ballet, to a distant time, where music was not noise but elegance and discretion… The[theorbo’s] subtle sonority, its nuances full of finesse found in Henriksen an ideal interpreter.”
CENTRE PRESSE, POITIERS, FRANCE
“Olav Chris Henriksen’s mastery of the archlute was illustrated in Saracini’s Toccata seconda… Hen- riksen’s solos on the Baroque guitar on Giovanni Battista Granata’s three dances were exemplary.”
KANSAS CITY STAR
“Henriksen’s technical and musical accomplishments in the solos, as well as in the ensemble pieces, were remarkable. The listeners witnessed a performance which was perfectly transparent in tone and consistently correct in style.”
BASELLANDSCHAFTLICHE ZEITUNG, SWITZERLAND
“Particularly noteworthy (was) the wonderful soprano gamba work by Jordi Savall and Carol Lewis… “Ludi Musici from Germany” (composed by Samuel Scheidt in the early seventeenth century) was gorgeous, suggesting burgundy shadows of melancholy and included imitation between gambas that finally burst into a joyful chorus in “Galliard Battaglia XXI.”
STYLUS FINE ARTS ONLINE NEW ENGLAND ARTS REVIEWS
“Henriksen performed a wonderful virtuosic division on “Suzanne un jour.” Carol Lewis’ ornaments on the top line were lively and entertaining throughout.”
NEWSLETTER OF THE VIOLA DA GAMBA SOCIETY-NEW ENGLAND
“There were some wonderfully vivid performances such as… the brilliantly florid playing of gambist Carol Lewis.”
THE BOSTON HERALD
“I was impressed by Henriksen’s powerful and vibrant technique. He seems to get a lot more volume out of his instrument than most players, but without sacrificing tone.
LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA QUARTERLY
“Guitarist Olav Chris Henriksen played with panache, especially in “Cumba”, a transcription of an African dance.”
THE BOSTON GLOBE