This year’s monthly concert series co-sponsored by SFEMS and the California Jazz Conservatory concludes the afternoon of Sunday, May 10, with a performance by the viol duo Halifax & Jeffrey. Their program will showcase some of the ways in which violas da gamba were used for expressive ornamentation and improvisation during the instrument’s golden age in England.
Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey have been musical collaborators for the past decade, originally joining forces to explore and expound the music of diabolical viol virtuoso Antoine Forqueray. They performed on the SFEMS concert series in 2008 and are the “house band” for the popular and innovative Barefoot Chamber Concerts.
Their May 10 concert will present a program of Elizabethan and Jacobean covers and originals, including variations on songs, dances, and ground basses from the early 17th century, as the viol emerged as the dominant instrument in English music. The program includes music by Tobias Hume, John Dowland, Christopher Simpson, and the justly celebrated “Anonymous.”
In England, the viol, which had spent most of the 16th century playing fantasies based on vocal-style part music, emerged in the early years of the 17th century as a virtuoso instrument in its own right, with elaborate idiomatic versions of the songs, dances, and ground basses of the period. At the court of James I and Charles I, viol players had unprecedented status as musicians of the “private music” of the court.
This program presents some of the outstanding pieces from these early years, from anonymous florid settings of Dowland’s famous “Lacrimae” to the original and entertaining inventions of Tobias Hume, a Scot brought to England by James I (who was originally King James VI of Scotland), and ultimately to the lovely duo divisions by Christopher Simpson, who carried the cultural legacy of the royal court into the post-apocalyptic years of the British commonwealth.
The concert begins at 4:30 p.m., at the California Jazz Conservatory (formerly The Jazzschool), 2087 Addison St., between Shattuck and Milvia, in downtown Berkeley. The venue is one block from the downtown Berkeley BART station, and parking is easily available at the Addison Street parking garage. Street parking is free on Sundays and also relatively easy in the afternoon. The school’s café is open prior to and during the concert, allowing audience members to enjoy a glass of wine, coffee, or a light snack.
All tickets are $15; reservations are highly recommended, as the venue is small and intimate. For reservations and information, please call the California Jazz Conservatory at 510-845-5373 or email [email protected].
