Keyboard Conversations

Night Music with Sylvia Berry, fortepiano

Saturday, September 21, 2024 | 7 pm

Sylvia Berry joins Night Music, a Philadelphia-based period instrument ensemble, in a program that explores Mozart’s orchestral music in arrangements sanctioned by himself or fashioned by his student Hummel. On this intimate scale, the music’s conversational, sociable nature is especially apparent. We pair two works by Mozart (an overture and a piano concerto) with an opera overture by one of his musical heroes, Johann Christian Bach, and a work for flute, viola, and keyboard by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a late composition with a similarly conversational style that suggests his awareness of musical developments in Vienna.

Settlement Music School
416 Queen Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147 | Map

Program
Mozart, arranged by Hummel: Overture to The Magic Flute
C.P.E Bach: Piano Quartet in A minor, Wq. 93
J.C. Bach, arranged anonymously: Overture to La Calamita de’ cuori
Mozart, arranged by Mozart: Piano Concerto in A major, K. 414

Night Music
Steven Zohn, flute & co-director / Heather Miller Lardin, double bass & co-director
Karen Dekker, violin / Aniela Eddy, violin / Amy Leonard, viola / Ellen Exner, oboe

TICKETS
Tickets not required; pay what you can
Suggested donation: $30 general, $20 senior, $10 college student; 18 & under free

Keyboard Conversations

Night Music with Sylvia Berry, fortepiano

Sunday, September 22, 2024 | 3 pm

Presented by Main Line Early Music Series

Sylvia Berry joins Night Music, a Philadelphia-based period instrument ensemble, in a program that explores Mozart’s orchestral music in arrangements sanctioned by himself or fashioned by his student Hummel. On this intimate scale, the music’s conversational, sociable nature is especially apparent. We pair two works by Mozart (an overture and a piano concerto) with an opera overture by one of his musical heroes, Johann Christian Bach, and a work for flute, viola, and keyboard by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a late composition with a similarly conversational style that suggests his awareness of musical developments in Vienna.

Church of the Good Shepherd
1116 Lancaster Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 | Map

Program
Mozart, arranged by Hummel: Overture to The Magic Flute
C.P.E Bach: Piano Quartet in A minor, Wq. 93
J.C. Bach, arranged anonymously: Overture to La Calamita de’ cuori
Mozart, arranged by Mozart: Piano Concerto in A major, K. 414

Night Music
Steven Zohn, flute & co-director / Heather Miller Lardin, double bass & co-director
Karen Dekker, violin / Aniela Eddy, violin / Amy Leonard, viola / Ellen Exner, oboe

Harmonious Rivals: The Harpsichord & Fortepiano in an Age of Innovation

Ars Antiqua with soloists Sylvia Berry, fortepiano, and Michael Sponseller, harpsichord

Saturday, February 8, 2025 | 7:30 pm

While the piano was invented around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori, it took more than fifty years for it to come into its own as a popular instrument that rivaled the long-established harpsichord. Many composers and performers, including talented women who held concertos at home. opted to have both instruments at their disposal. This program features a Concertante by Jean-François Tapray that was written expressly for harpsichord and fortepiano, as well as a Concerto for two unspecified keyboard instruments by C.P.E. Bach that could have played on “mixed” instruments as well. Get a glimpse into this fascinating period when the harpsichord and fortepiano were harmonious rivals, and revel in the endless variety of color and contrast brought by quills and hammers. Buffet of French & German Pastries & Coffee to follow.

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin
191 S Greeley Ave.
Chappaqua, NY 10514 | Map

Program
C.P.E. Bach: Concerto for Two Keyboards in F Major Wq 46
Jean-François Tapray: Symphonie Concertante in D Major for Harpsichord & Pianoforte
Solo and duo pieces for Fortepiano & Harpsichord

The Ars Antiqua Baroque Orchestra
Francis Liu & Beth Wenstrom, Baroque Violin
Annie Garlid, Baroque Viola / Mark Kramer, Baroque ‘Cello

The Art of the Viennese Fortepiano: A Tribute to Mary Sadovnikoff

Presented by Museum Concerts of Rhode Island

Sunday, March 9, 2025 | 3:30 p.m.

The five-octave Viennese fortepiano of the late 18th century was a pivotal inspiration for composers such as Marianna Martines, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, who all came to it at different points in their lives. For Martines and Haydn, both born during J.S. Bach’s lifetime, it was a later revelation. For Mozart, raised at the harpsichord and clavichord, it became his preferred concert instrument as a young man. For Beethoven, this was the first piano he encountered, and for which he composed many major works. This program features celebrates the inspiration they all found in this colorful and expressive instrument, which is by turns powerful and plaintive, thunderous and intimate. Works include Martines’s Sonata in A major, Mozart’s Sonata in F major (K. 332), and Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata.

This concert will pay tribute to Mary Sadovnikoff, who was among the first Americans to build historical fortepianos, upon which she performed and recorded extensively. Sadovnikoff was one of the founders of the Museum Concerts Series in Providence.

St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Great Hall
50 Orchard Avenue
Providence, RI 02906 | Map

Program
Martines: Sonata in A major
Haydn: Adagio in D-flat major from Sonata in A-flat major, Hob. XVI: 46
Beethoven: Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2
Mozart: Modulating Prelude, K. 624
Mozart: Sonata in F major, K. 332
Mozart: Adagio in C major for Glass Harmonica, K. 617a and Eine kleine Gigue, K. 574

The Art of the Viennese Fortepiano

Presented by Ravensong Historic Keyboard Series

Friday, March 14, 2025 | 7 pm

The five-octave Viennese fortepiano of the late 18th century was a pivotal inspiration for Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, who all came to it at different points in their lives. For Martines and Haydn, both born during J.S. Bach’s lifetime, it was a later revelation. For Mozart, raised at the harpsichord and clavichord, it became his preferred concert instrument as a young man. For Beethoven, this was the first piano he encountered, and for which he composed many major works. This program celebrates the inspiration they all found in this colorful and expressive instrument, which is by turns powerful and plaintive, thunderous and intimate. Works include Haydn’s Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI: 48, Mozart’s Sonata in F major (K. 332), and Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata.

Hill-Physick House
321 South 4th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106 | Map

Program
Haydn: Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI: 48
Haydn: Adagio in D-flat major from Sonata in A-flat major, Hob. XVI: 46
Beethoven: Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2
Mozart: Modulating Prelude, K. 624
Mozart: Sonata in F major, K. 332
Mozart: Adagio in C major for Glass Harmonica, K. 617a and Eine kleine Gigue, K. 574

Emmanuel Music’s Lindsey Chapel Series

J.S. Bach’s English Suites for Harpsichord

Thursday, April 10, 2025 | 12 pm

Sylvia Berry performs Bach’s English Suite in E minor (BWV 810) as part of Emmanuel Music’s six week series of free Lenten concerts presented in the architectural and acoustical gem that is Lindsey Chapel. Free admission.

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Lindsey Chapel
15 Newbury St,
Boston, MA 02116 | Map

Haydn’s Vienna

Saturday, April 26, 2025 | 8pm

The Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra features fortepianist Sylvia Berry and soprano Sarah Moyer in a program that revels in the stunning grandeur of 18th-century Vienna. As part of their season’s theme, “A Musical (R)evolution,” this concert features revolutionary works by Haydn, his brilliant student Marianna Martines, and his beloved friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (Pre-concert talk with founder and director Dylan Madoux and Sylvia Berry at 7 pm.)

St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral OKC
127 NW 7th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73102 | Map

Program
Martines: Sinfonia in C major, (Ouverture)
Mozart: Voi avete un cor fedele, K. 217 
Haydn: Symphony No. 64 in A major, Hob. I:64
Martines: Il primo amore
Haydn: Keyboard Concerto in D major, H.XVIII:11