Welcome to Museum Concerts’ 37th season! We are pleased to present a series of exciting concerts of early music from some of the most prominent performers from around the country. The acclaimed Ensemble Rebel from New York will open the season with fiery instrumental works from Biber to Bach. Our popular Thanksgiving weekend concert brings Michael Collver and the New England Waites to usher in the Christmas season with gems from the Italian Renaissance. January features the vocal trio Liber unUsualis (winner of the First Prize at the 2002 International Young Artists's Early Music Competition in Antwerp, Belgium) performing music of Machaut. Michael Bahmann will play a Valentine’s Weekend concert for us of Romantic music on an historical piano, and the season closes with Mozart Fest--orchestral and choral works by Mozart and Haydn, featuring the Brown University Chamber Singers and guest artist Pamela Murray, soprano. This promises to be a delightful year - please join us!

This year we are pleased to offer several new ticket options--a flex pass for 3, 4, or 5 subscription concerts at a reduced rate, as well as the option of buying single tickets in advance through ArtTixRI.com, the new ticket service for the Rhode Island cultural community. All concerts will be held on Sunday afternoons at 3:30 p.m. at St. Martins Church, Orchard Ave, on the East Side of Providence. The building is handicapped accessible.

Museum Concerts of Rhode Island is one of the longest-lived arts organizations in the state. Through its annual series of concerts of early music (music composed before the twentieth century), Museum Concerts presents a variety of musical styles and genres. In addition to programs featuring the medieval chants of Hildegard von Bingen, the Renaissance music of Shakespeare's Italy, the power of Bach, and the elegance of Mozart, Museum Concerts has presented such diversified programs as 13th-century Portuguese music and poetry and 15th-century Sephardic music.

Museum Concerts showcases the talents of musicians of local, regional, and international repute. The roster of past performers includes lutenist Paul O'Dette, recorder player John Tyson, harpsichordist John Gibbons, the Boston Camerata, Anonymous 4, and the chamber orchestra Musica Aeterna. Acclaimed local musicians include the founder of Museum Concerts, fortepianist Mary Sadovnikoff, harpsichordist and organist Peter Sykes, soprano Margaret Frazier, fortepianists Michael Bahmann and Stephen Martorella, violinist Laura Gulley, recorder player Margaret Cushing, flutist Kathryn Roth, and countertenor Frederick Jodry, director of Schola Cantorum of Boston.

Founded in 1967 and originally presenting concerts in the galleries of the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Museum Concerts' present location is St. Martin's Church on Orchard Avenue, near Wayland Square.

All concerts are held on Sunday afternoons at 3:30 p.m. Senior, student, and children's rates are available. For ticket information, go to ArtTixRI.com or call 401-621-6123.

Partial funding for Museum Concerts' season is provided by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.

Museum Concerts 2003-2004 Season Calendar:

January 18, 2004 - LIBER unUSUALIS

February 15 - A ROMANTIC PIANO VALENTINE

March 21 - MOZART FEST!

LIBER unUSUALIS * JANUARY 18
"Unrequited: Machaut and the French Ars Nova"

Melanie Germond, soprano; Carolann Buff, mezzo-soprano; William Hudson, tenor

Liber unUsualis, an award-winning young trio of musicians that brings Renaissance and Medieval music to life both here and abroad, presents music by one of the most intriguing composers ever, Guillaume de Machaut, and his contemporaries. In the complex, sensuous ars nova musical style, themes of courtly love and political conquest prevail in flowing melodies that weave stories of lovers' longings and battles won. Machaut remains a favorite not only of Early Music aficionados but also of contemporary music lovers for his flair and imagination.

A ROMANTIC PIANO VALENTINE

* FEBRUARY 15 *

Romantic Piano Music for

Valentine’s Day Weekend

Michael Bahmann, period piano

Rhode Island’s own Michael Bahmann plays romantic works of Schumann and Chopin for Valentine’s Day weekend on an 1843 Rosenberger piano from Vienna. Featured will be Schumann’s opus 6 Davidsbündlertänze, along with fantasies, impromptus and nocturnes of Chopin. Michael is known both here and abroad for his beautiful phrasing and exquisitely expressive style. His piano, which will be brought in for the concert, was played at the time of Schumann and Chopin.

MOZART FEST! * MARCH 21

Pamela Murray, soprano; the Brown University Chamber Chorus, Frederick Jodry, Director; period instrument ensemble

Celebratory church music of the youthful Wolfgang for soprano, chorus, strings, trumpets and tympani; also featuring Haydn’s sublime Salve Regina. Join us and acclaimed guest artist Pamela Murray for an afternoon of beautiful, rousing, and joyful music.

For Season Passes please write to Susan Millis, Treasurer,
130 Phillips Rd., East Greenwich, RI 02818.

Season Pass, all 5 concerts: $65
Senior $55
Student $35

Season Pass, any 4 concerts $55
Senior $45
Student $30

Season Pass, any 3 concerts: $40
Senior $32
Student $22

Partial funding for Museum Concerts' season is provided by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.