Sonata à Quattro

press release: A new period-instrument chamber group, Sonata à Quattro, is giving a Fringe Concert during Madison Early Music Festival, of a fabulous program called The Lübeck Connection. The MEMF theme this year focuses on music in the fabled choir library at St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck; all the pieces on the SAQ program were written by composers represented in that library.

The concert takes place on Wednesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm, at Pres House. Tickets will be available at the door, for general seating, at $20/general admission, and $10/seniors, students, and MEMF participants.  We accept cash, check or charge. A marzipan reception follows.

The ensemble comprises violinists Nathan Giglierano and Christine Hauptly Annin, Marika Fischer Hoyt on viola, cellist Charlie Rasmussen, and harpsichordist Daniel Sullivan. Additional musicians joining us include soprano Kristin Knutson, violinist Thalia Coombs, violist Micah Behr, and Phillip Serna and Eric Miller on violas da gamba.

One other performance of this program will take place:

Sunday, July 15, at 7:00 pm, St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 11 E. Main St., Waukesha

https://stmatthiasepiscopalchurch.ticketleap.com/the-lubeck-connection

The period-instrument ensemble Sonata à Quattro was formed in 2017, as the Ensemble-In-Residence for Bach Around The Clock, the annual community music festival in Madison.  

The ensemble’s name refers to baroque chamber music scored for three melody lines plus continuo.  The more-familiar trio sonata format, which enjoyed great popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries, employs a continuo with only two melody instruments, typically treble instruments like violins or flutes.  In contrast, a sonata à quattro includes a middle voice, frequently a viola, in addition to the two treble instruments and continuo; this scoring has a fuller, richer sonority, and can be seen as a precursor to the string quartet.

The initial mission of SAQ was to accompany singers and other soloists who needed backup musicians to perform Cantatas, Concertos, and choral works at the festival.  But SAQ quickly expanded its scope to embark on a career independent of BATC.