Musical Exploration: Music from Monticello, presented by the Rosewood Chamber Ensemble (Barbara Hopkins, flute; Judy Handler, guitar).

Music from Monticello

Presented by the Rosewood Chamber Ensemble: Historical Programs on Period Instruments

ldi, two opera arias, two songs by Francis Hopkinson, a popular march, Irish and Scottish music as well as Jefferson’s campaign song. This is a special opportunity to hear this music played on period American instruments, including flutes made in Connecticut and a Martin guitar from Pennsylvania, as well as reproductions of European instruments from the 1800s. Comments about the instruments and stories about Jefferson create an interesting framework for the music.

Music from Monticello

Tunes from Riley’s Flute Melodies by Edward Riley (1769-1829), arranged by Leo Welch

• Bonny Charlie
• March in 40 Thieves
• L’ete
• Cupid God of Soft Persuasion (arranged by Judy Handler)

The Plain Gold Ring by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), period arrangement by Sarah Corcoran

Duke of York’s March by Christopher Frederick Eley, arranged by Judy Handler

Sonata Opus 5, No. 8 by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), arranged by Erwin Schaller/Handler

• Preludio
• Allemanda
• Sarabanda
• Giga

Beneath a Weeping Willow’s Shade by Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791), arranged by Judy Handler

Rondo: My Generous Heart Disdains, from Seven Songs

Fisher’s Hornpipe (Anonymous)

Coming Through the Rye )Anonymous), Lyrics by Robert Burns

Jefferson and Liberty (Anonymous)

1800 Campaign Song

Home Sweet Home by H.R. Bishop (1786-1855), period arrangement by C.M. Sola

Sonata Opus 2, No. 11 Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), arranged by Rudolf Buttmann

• Preludio
• Fantasia
• Gavotta

Batti, Batti, from Don Giovanni Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791), period arrangement by Fernando Sor

The Rosewood Chamber Ensemble is in its ninth season of entertaining audiences with their programs based on the music and people of the early United States. The Greater Boston Flute Association wrote about their Boston concert, "The pieces were played with great style and joy, resulting in a captivating performance." An appealing element of every concert is the background stories they tell about the periods, historical figures, music, and instruments they use. Barbara plays these concerts on historical flutes, including wooden Asa Hopkins flutes, made in Litchfield, CT circa 1830. Judy enjoys performing on her nineteenth century Martin parlor guitar as well as a reproduction of a Panormo guitar from the 1830s.

Barbara and Judy have taken their unique blend of musicality, humor, and scholarship to many notable venues including the Adams National Historical Park, Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, Litchfield Historical Society, and the National Flute Association Convention in New York and Washington D.C. The high quality of their programs has earned them five grants from the Evelyn Preston Memorial Trust Fund to present concerts and a grant from the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts in 2013 to support their recording project, Songs & Dances of Early America. Their repertoire ranges from familiar Stephen Foster songs and lively dances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the classical European music enjoyed in the U.S. in the 1800s.

Award winning flutist Barbara Hopkins is a cousin of the early American woodwind maker Asa Hopkins, who lived and worked in Litchfield, Connecticut. She moved to Hartford in1990 to play in the Hartford Symphony, having no idea that Asa Hopkins existed, or that her ancestors were from Hartford. She has "come home" in a way she never dreamed of. Barbara received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University, where she studied with Samuel Baron. She earned her Master of Music from The Mannes College of Music under Thomas Nyfenger, and her Bachelor of Music at The Hartt School with John Wion. She currently serves as Assistant Principal Flute with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and teaches at The Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford and Manchester Community College. She has released three CDs including Telemann Methodical Sonatas, Vol. 1, Short Concert Pieces for Flute and Piano and Andersen Etudes, opus 15. Flute Talk magazine recommends her Andersen CD, writing, “Hopkins plays these virtuoso etudes with taste and a technical ease that many students work for years to never achieve.” The Flute Network praised her Telemann recording as, “full, rich, and highly musical,” and the best selling Short Concert Pieces disc was partly funded by a grant from The Hartt School Community Division. Barbara has been a top prize winner in the National Flute Association Competition and the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, and was awarded a fellowship to Tanglewood Music Center, where she had the honor of playing principal flute under Leonard Bernstein.

Judy Handler has presented concerts and workshops at numerous venues throughout the United States including the University of Arizona, Commons Theater in Chicago, the Boston Classical Guitar Society and the Guitar Salon in New York. As co-founder of the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society, Judy helped develop one of the largest groups of its kind in the United States. She performs nationally with her husband, guitarist/mandolinist Mark Levesque. They have received critical acclaim for their CDs, Passion, Two Guitars Live! and Acoustic Blend and are also featured on five CDs produced by the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society. Judy is a founding member of the New American Mandolin Ensemble that performed in Germany & the Netherlands in 2014 and Portugal and Spain in 2016 as well as presenting concerts in the U.S. She studied under internationally renowned performer and teacher Oscar Ghiglia at The Hartt School, where she received her Master of Music degree, and at the Aspen Music Festival. Judy’s B.M. degree is from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. She has also studied abroad, earning a Certificate from the Vila-Seca Salou Conservatory in Spain and a Diploma of Merit from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. Judy teaches and runs performance classes at a private studio in Vernon, CT.