Artists
Program
Preview
Performances
Bios
Artists
Musica Mundana
Raquel Winnica Young
Justin Wallace, Harpsichord
Pascale Beaudin (guest)
Scott Pauley
Program
Musica Mundana (Raquel Winnica Young and Justin Wallace) team up with guests Pascale Beaudin and Scott Pauley for an irresistible program of Italian love duets. George Frideric Handel composed twenty-one miscellaneous duets during his lifetime, and the bookends of this virtual concert will feature two of these rarely performed musical gems. Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi was composed around 1710-1711 while Handel was living in Italy. Though he was still a young composer, one can hear that he had already fully mastered the Italian vocal style. Next, each singer will present an arietta by Barbara Strozzi, who was the most prolific composer of secular vocal music in Venice during her lifetime. The playful and flirtatious Amor dormiglione gives way to the more dramatic Tradimento. A harpsichord sonata by the Neapolitan-born Domenico Scarlatti transitions to a much earlier vocal duet Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben? by the Cremonese master Claudio Monteverdi. Whilethis piece is a seemingly simple set of four variations upon a harmonic sequence known as the Romanesca, Monteverdi’s imagination is on full display here as he weaves complex chains of dissonaces between the singers in order to evoke the deep pathos of the text. Returning to Handel to close the program, Nò, di voi non vo’ fidarmi was written in 1741, just a matter of months before he penned his most popular and enduring oratorio Messiah. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear the original melodic strains which Handel would then reuse to create such famous choruses as All we like sheep and For unto us a child is born.
Preview
Performances
Musicivic Everywhere
TBD
Free Tickets
Ambler Musicivic
TBD
Free Tickets
Three Village Chamber Players
TBD
Free Tickets
Big Sky Musicivic
TBD
Free Tickets
Twin Forks Musicivic
TBD
Free Tickets
Oakmont Musicivic
TBD
Free Tickets
Bios
Justin Wallace, harpsichord
Justin Wallace has made appearances as a harpsichordist with Chatham Baroque, Quantum Theatre and Pittsburgh Camerata, and he is a founding member of Musica Mundana. His playing has taken him to festivals in Charleston, SC and Quito, Ecuador. He has been selected to participate in workshops at the Oberlin Baroque Summer Institute, the Early Keyboard Institute at the University of Michigan, masterclasses at the Barn at Flintwoods, and a formation at the Royaumont Abbey in Asnières-sur-Oise, France. He has studied privately with David Higgs (organ) and Bill Porter (harpsichord and organ), with further mentoring from Arthur Haas, Webb Wiggins, Lisa Crawford, Joseph Gascho, Jean-Luc Ho and Blandine Verlet. In addition, he has received guidance from harpsichord builders Keith Hill, Barbara Wolf and John Phillips.
Justin has served as organist for congregations in Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania. Currently, he is Assistant Organist at Shadyside Presbyterian Church.
Justin’s compositions have been performed at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle; Kodak Hall in Rochester, New York; Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City, MO; and by Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Compline Choir and Shadyside Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir. His organ music has been nationally broadcast on American Public Media’s Pipedreams.
Justin holds degrees from Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. A native of Akron, Ohio, he has lived in Pittsburgh since 2010.
Raquel Winnica, mezzo-soprano
Hailed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a “beautifully voiced singer-actor” and by Pittsburgh Magazine as “a mezzo-soprano/actress of striking voice,” Raquel Winnica Young was a finalist of the Vocal Art Song Discovery Series DC 2016, two-time winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Artist Competition, finalist in 2017 and 2018 for The American Prize in Art Song and Oratorio, as well as 2018 finalist and 2016 semifinalist of The American Prize in Chamber Music with the Bell’Art Ensemble.
Equally comfortable performing early music, new music and chamber music, Ms. Winnica Young’s career has taken her to concert halls throughout the Americas and Europe. Recent performances include Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater with Il Sonar Parlante in Ferrara, Italy and solo performances at the International Baroque festival “Camino de las Estancias” in Córdoba, Argentina.
Born in Córdoba, Argentina, Ms.Young holds a degree from the Instituto de Arte del Teatro Colon and an Artist Diploma from Duquesne University. She participated in the Oberlin Baroque Summer Institute, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Vancouver Early Music Festival and American Bach Soloists Academy.
Ms.Winnica Young is Adjunct Faculty in Voice at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches Applied Voice and Vocal Repertoire.
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