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Ensemble Chaconne Sings Music for Ben Franklin

Ensemble Chaconne, comprised of members Peter H. Bloom, baroque flute, Carol Lewis, viola da gamba, and Olav Chris Henriksen, baroque guitar and English guitar, will perform the musical premiere of Music for Benjamin Frankling in Cambridge, Massachusettes (February 25th, 2006). Mezzo -soprano Pamela Dellal, will be performing with the group. Other performances will take place in Pennsylvania in various locations.

Celebrating its 20th season in 2005-2006, Ensemble Chaconne has concertized across the U.S., winning praise for its compelling performance of Renaissance and Baroque music on period instruments. The Portland Press Herald hailed the group`s `virtuosity, balance and charm`. In 2005, the group released a new CD, Measure for Measure: The Music of Shakespeare?s Plays (Americas Musicworks, CD 1594).

The program includes `Mi Palpita Il Cor` by Handel, whose music was widely performed during Franklin?s first stint in London as a young apprentice printer in the 1720s, and Sonata in E minor by John Stanley, whom Franklin befriended during his later tour in London as colonial emissary (1757 to 1775). The concert also samples music from Franklin`s Paris (1776-1785), including `Rondeau Gracieux` from Rameau`s opera Zoroastre (performed at Voltaire`s Masonic funeral, where Franklin was emcee), a song by composer and keyboard virtuoso Madame Anne Brillon de Jouy (Franklin`s beloved confidant in Paris), and excerpts from Iphig?nie en Aulide by Gluck, the great exponent of French opera at the time. Rounding out the concert are songs by Francis Hopkinson and William Shield, heard in Franklin`s Philadelphia.