Music by Members - Oct 15, 2015
Looking back more than a century to the recital that Arnold and Mabel Dolmetsch gave with soprano Emma Noyes in 1910 for the Musical Club of Hartford, we can only feel gratitude for the work of these pioneers in the re-discovery of early music. From the Dolmetsch Workshop, where instrument builders learned to make reproductions of viols, lutes, recorders and keyboard instruments, to the publication of The Interpretation of the Music of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries, the Dolmetsch family truly had, in the words of Sir Henry Hadow, "opened the door to a forgotten treasure-house of beauty."
For the program on October 15, 2015, harpsichordist Anne Mayo will perform Les Tendres Plaintes, by Jean Phillip Rameau and a Prelude and Terpsichore, by François Couperin. New member, Deborah Robin, recorder, and guest artist Monika Kinstler, violin, and will join Anne Mayo and Laura Mazza-Dixon for the Quantz Sonata in C.
Ms. Kinstler will also play bass viola da gamba with Ms. Mazza-Dixon on Two Fantazies and a Sarabande from Matthew Locke’s Duos for Two Bass Viols.
Harriet Wetstone, violin, Karen Benjamin, cello, and Linda MacGougan, piano, will perform the Sonata in B minor for Violin, Cello and Piano, by Jean Baptiste Loeillet.
Karen de Bergh Robinson, soprano, and Diane Day, piano, will present Cinq melodies populaires grècques by Maurice Ravel. Betty Knorr, mezzo-soprano, will join them for Gabriel Faure’s setting of a poem by Victor Hugo, Puisqu'ici-bas toute âme.
Processes Engineering department. Her musical and engineering interests collide in a passion for woodworking, and she has built several historical musical instruments, including a set of virginals and two vielles.
Betty Knorr, mezzo-soprano, studied music at the University of Texas at El Paso, and holds a degree in Classics from Trinity College, Hartford. She has studied voice with Joanne Scattergood. Betty sings with CONCORA and The Hartford Chorale. She also plays violin with the Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra. Linda MacGougan, piano, received her B.A. in Music at Yale and a M.M. in Piano Performance at UConn. Her teachers have included William Westney, Ian Hobson, and Joseph Villa, and she's participated in master classes with Walter Hautzig, Ward Davenny, and Claude Frank. Linda teaches piano in West Hartford, maintaining a studio of about 20 students, and is an active member of the Connecticut State Music Teachers Association. She performs solo piano at area nursing homes and accompanies several West Hartford elementary school choirs. Currently, she serves as President of The Musical Club of Hartford.
In the 1970s, Anne Mayo and her husband, Walter, constructed a harpsichord from a Zuckermann kit, igniting a decades-long study of solo and chamber repertoire for that instrument. Anne and Walter Mayo have served as Co-Presidents of The Musical Club of Hartford and have sung in the Hartford Chorale and with the Madsingers, a madrigal group. She has played with the Baroque Ensemble, Les Amies de Théodore on various concert series in the Farmington Valley. Anne has been spearheading the 125th Anniversary Committee for the Musical Club, editing the souvenir booklet and designing publicity materials for the events planned for the year.
Laura Mazza-Dixon teaches classical guitar and viola da gamba at the Windy Hill Guitar Studio in Granby, CT. With a degree in classical guitar from Penn State University and an MFA in Early Music from Sarah Lawrence College. She has directed the Early Music Ensembles at the Hartt School of Music Community Division. Currently she coaches the Early Music at Windy Hill Ensembles with Deborah Robin, recorder. Along with Anne Mayo, harpsichord, and Susan Allen, flute, Laura performs Baroque music with the ensemble Les Amies de Théodore. Recently she has also performed at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford with The Cathedral Viols, along with Monika Kinstler, Leland Tolo, Dana Campbell, and Carrie Crompton.
Karen de Bergh Robinson, soprano, graduated from Sarah Lawrence as a Performing Arts Major. In New York City she performed with several modern dance companies, as well as playing the soprano leads in numerous Gilbert and Sullivan productions, including the role of Princess Ida with the Village Light Opera Company. After moving to CT she sang for 15 years with the CT Opera Company as a member of their AGMA chorus. She has been a soloist in Hartford area churches, and performed in numerous duo concert performances with the pianist Paul Bisaccia in such venues as the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Wood Memorial Library. For 20 years she also worked with her husband at AcoustiCraft, Inc., a piano service and restoration company.
Harriet Wetstone, who has recently moved to Lenox, Massachusetts, is a gardener and a lover of playing and listening to chamber music. Harriet is a retired psychologist who started out as a music educator. She has studied violin with Rachmael Weinstock, Anthea Kreston, and Sarita Kwok. She is on the board of the South Windsor Cultural Arts Chamber Music Series and invites every one to check out their Sunday afternoon concerts at the Wood Library in South Windsor.
