Two paintings of heads by 16th century painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The left face depicts Fire, the right face depicts water.

Resident Company

The Elements

Music of the Baroque

Performances

Oct 28

Performance Run Time: Approximately 2 hours

Music of the Baroque Orchestra
Laurence Cummings, conductor and narrator*
Gina DiBello, violin

RAMEAU Suite from Naïs
TELEMANN Ebb und Fluth (Ebb and Flow), TWV 55:C3
VIVALDI “Autumn” from The Four Seasons, RV 293
REBEL Les Elémens* (The Elements)

Laurence Cummings, music director of the Academy of Ancient Music, explores life’s basic building blocks—earth, air, fire, and water. The watery Neptune splashes through Rameau’s Suite from Naïs and Ebb und Fluth, Telemann’s own “Water Music.” Vivaldi leads the earthly charge in “Autumn” from The Four Seasons. All the elements dance and twirl in Rebel’s shocking Les Elémens.

A brown-haired woman dressed in black plays the violin.

Currently celebrating its 54th season, Music of the Baroque’s professional chorus and orchestra is one of the leading ensembles in the country devoted to 18th-century music. The ensemble has drawn particular praise for its performances of the major works of Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn. The Chicago Sun-Times writes, “Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra may be the big guys on the local classical music scene, but in terms of sheer quality of performance…Music of the Baroque inhabits the same stratosphere.” Music of the Baroque supports and enhances music education programs at Chicago public high schools through its "Strong Voices" program, and offers free community concerts at venues such as the Kehrein Center for the Arts in Austin.