Photography: Jolie Snavely
Washington Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble announce their
2017-18 Concert Season and 20th Anniversary
The Washington Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble will celebrate 20 years of making music for great spaces this season with an explosion of concerts and collaborations! Our very first formal concert was given on February 28th, 1998 at the Church of the Reformation on Capitol Hill, DC, with a program called “Music from the German Kingdoms, 1475-1675.” WCSE was founded by musicologist Michael O’Connor who had just completed his PhD coursework at Florida State University, and was seeking like-minded brass players in the DC area who shared a love of early music. Current artistic director Michael Holmes is the only founding member still performing with the ensemble today, and remembers the ensemble’s humble beginnings vividly: "Reflecting on our 2o years, It has been a privilege to be a part of the ensemble during its early years and to watch it grow into a full-fledged professional ensemble of experts in their craft." In the early years, the ensemble quickly elevated its profile, performing with several of the more prominent historically informed ensembles, primarily in the Eastern USA. The ensemble also recorded and produced two CDs (2001 and 2004) and recorded for two anthologies that supplemented Craig Wright’s collegiate music history textbooks.
Our 2017-18 season is jam-packed with concerts and collaborations in the DC/VA/MD area and in Tennessee during our exciting Tennessee tour in February 2018. The tour will serve both as a celebration of our 20 years together and as a connection to new audiences in that region. On September 10th, we will open the season by presenting our large-scale double-brass-choir program “Grand Tour” of the European Courts on the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer concert series, in collaboration with organist Christopher Betts. Our tour program Divisioni e passaggi: Renaissance and Baroque Improvisations and Other Diversions will be presented twice at home, and at the Cumberland Early Music Festival in June 2018. On November 19th and December 3rd, WCSE will return to McDaniel College to perform with the McDaniel College choirs and Masterworks Chorale of Carroll County to observe the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in music by early 17th-century German masters.
On April 8th we will rejoin Vera Kochanowsky and Carmina & Illuminare for a program of music from the Spanish and Italian renaissance. Then, on May 5th WCSE will join forces for the first time with the Harford Choral Society in a program of music from 16th and 17th century Venice, including polychoral music by the often-celebrated organist/composer of the Basilica di San Marco, Giovanni Gabrieli. Finally, WCSE is now formulating plans for a series of recordings of music by the Venetian composer Giovanni Priuli, who was one of Giovanni Gabrieli’s pupils. Priuli’s music has figured into our programs for over 15 years, and we have grown very familiar with his highly inventive, quirky, and beguiling style. Plans are to release a complete album within the next year or two. Please visit WCSE on Facebook and Twitter often this season to receive updates about that project, and for concert announcements and reminders.
Our 2017-18 season is jam-packed with concerts and collaborations in the DC/VA/MD area and in Tennessee during our exciting Tennessee tour in February 2018. The tour will serve both as a celebration of our 20 years together and as a connection to new audiences in that region. On September 10th, we will open the season by presenting our large-scale double-brass-choir program “Grand Tour” of the European Courts on the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer concert series, in collaboration with organist Christopher Betts. Our tour program Divisioni e passaggi: Renaissance and Baroque Improvisations and Other Diversions will be presented twice at home, and at the Cumberland Early Music Festival in June 2018. On November 19th and December 3rd, WCSE will return to McDaniel College to perform with the McDaniel College choirs and Masterworks Chorale of Carroll County to observe the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in music by early 17th-century German masters.
On April 8th we will rejoin Vera Kochanowsky and Carmina & Illuminare for a program of music from the Spanish and Italian renaissance. Then, on May 5th WCSE will join forces for the first time with the Harford Choral Society in a program of music from 16th and 17th century Venice, including polychoral music by the often-celebrated organist/composer of the Basilica di San Marco, Giovanni Gabrieli. Finally, WCSE is now formulating plans for a series of recordings of music by the Venetian composer Giovanni Priuli, who was one of Giovanni Gabrieli’s pupils. Priuli’s music has figured into our programs for over 15 years, and we have grown very familiar with his highly inventive, quirky, and beguiling style. Plans are to release a complete album within the next year or two. Please visit WCSE on Facebook and Twitter often this season to receive updates about that project, and for concert announcements and reminders.