Crescendo Celebrates 20 Years of Choral Concerts

Crescendo, the early-music organization based in Lakeville, Conn., is offering the public a musical treat over the weekend of Oct. 28 and 29 called "Fantastic Baroque!" — a celebratory concert marking Crescendo's 20th anniversary that will feature festive Baroque music for chorus, soloists, accompanied by a period instrument orchestra.

Attendees will hear some of the period's greatest masterworks, sacred polychoral motets, and oratorio excerpts, and choruses from some of the most famous Baroque operas.

For these two concerts, the performers will be the Crescendo Chorus and Period Instrument Orchestra, and will feature the following soloists: sopranos Christina Kay of New York City; Alicia DePaolo of Philadelphia, Penn.; countertenor Augustine Mercante of Philadelphia; tenor Gregório Taniguchi of New York City; and bass-baritone Anicet Castel, of Paris and New York City. The concerts will be directed and conducted by Christine Gevert, Crescendo's founding artistic director.

The Crescendo Early Music Ensemble is an award-winning nonprofit founded by Gevert in 2003, when it began presenting concerts year-round in northwestern Connecticut, the Berkshires, and the mid-Hudson Valley of New York. The ensemble's instrumentalists and nationally recognized soloists who regularly collaborate with Crescendo bring the performances to a level comparable to that of the best musical ensembles in the country. Gevert, who is also firmly committed to educational outreach, has coached high school singers and young musicians in the area as part of the organization's Young Artist Program. She and chorus members visit local schools to work with and tutor interested students. Some of these talented youngsters are included in Crescendo's performances. In 2014, Crescendo won the prestigious Chorus America /ASCAP /Alice Parker Award.

Gevert is currently the music director at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lime Rock. She holds a master's degree in organ and early music performance from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany, and a bachelor's degree in music theory from the Conservatorio Nacional de Chile. She has taught and conducted master classes in early music, harpsichord, and baroque vocal technique at the university level and numerous music festivals in Chile, Germany, and the U.S. In recent years, Gevert has given solo harpsichord recitals at the Early Music Festival in Poland, the Wanda Landowska Auditorium in France, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, among other international venues.

The 20th-anniversary concerts will be held on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. at Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, and on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. at Trinity Church, 484 Lime Rock Road, (parking through Dugway Road entrance). Attendees will have the chance to meet the performers afterward at a brief reception.

In the past, Crescendo's "special concerts" — of which this is one — have sold out, so early purchase of tickets online is encouraged at Crescendo's website: www.crescendomusic.org. Any unsold tickets will be sold at the door 45 minutes before each performance.

These concerts are generously underwritten by the Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation. For these concerts, support has also been provided to Crescendo from CT Humanities (CTH), and the Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.