Midsummer Music Dream Aug. 3-10 Courcelles Quebec CA

Concert: Our Brooklyn Return!

Please join us for a concert in our hometown of Brooklyn Heights. It will be held at Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church on Henry Street. The date is Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 3:00PM. Admission is $10 for admission to the concert only and for $20 you receive a copy of the new CD. FOR MORE INFORMATION EMAIL US AT kathymcdonald1@aol.com or 718 643-4608
Hope you can join us.

Concert at the Brooklyn Historical Society

Sunday, March 22, 2:00 – 5:00 PM
BaroQue Across the River Chamber Music Concert with Wine and Cheese Tasting



Founded in 2000 by flutist Kathy McDonald, BaroQue Across the River is a chamber music concert series based in Brooklyn performing on original instruments in historical settings. This will mark the group’s fourth concert at BHS!

Alan Kozinn of the New York Times recently reported “BaroQue Across the River opened the concert with two elegant French cantatas — Rameau’s “Impatience” and Montéclair’s “Ariane et Bacchus” — to which Michèle Eaton brought a sumptuous tone, a keen dramatic sense and striking agility in the ornamental vocal scoring…” September 30, 2008.

The mostly-British program includes works by: Purcell, Stanley, Pepusch and John Loillet of London.

Concert Tickets $25 members, $30 non-members. Seating is limited. Tickets include wine and pastry tasting. Special thanks to Michael Towne Wine & Spirits and to Lassen & Hennigs for their support of the event.

Our Quebec Festival

I have started to update the web site...finally. This unfortunately has to be done whenever there is a break in teaching and concerts. So, while the site is incomplete it does have numerous updates.

This year we have returning faculty performers, Beverly Au, Jerome Ducharme, Valerie Belanger, Dale Stuckenbruck, Barbara Fusco-Spero, and James Erikson. New this year will be Lex Dashnaw, leading a community choir and Dale's "Kammermusik" baroque string ensemble.

Save the link and check back regularly. Hope that some of you can be with us!!
www.midsummermusiquebec.com

GALA POST HOLIDAY CONCERT- Baroque Across the River Participates

Start the year off with an amazing Early Music concert. Here is the information:
SUNDAY, January 4, 2009 at 3PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHO: Gala Post-Holiday Concert! (Adesso Early Music, Alta Wind Band, Anime Barq., ARTEK, Baroque Across the River, Bklyn Barq., Callisto Ascending, Ens. Breve, Ens. Viscera, Glissando Duo, Infiorare, My Lord Chamberlain's Consort, NY Continuo Collective, Parthenia, Sinfonia Praetorius)
WHAT: Gala Multi-Group Post-Holiday Concert - Over 60 musicians and 15 ensembles performing in a Gala concert of early music. Each ensemble will perform a short selection in addition to large group opening and closing pieces.
WHERE: Immanuel Lutheran Church, 122 East 88th St. at Lexington Ave., New York, NY
PRESENTED BY: Immanuel Lutheran Church, ARTEK, Gotham Early Music Scene
ADMISSION: Free; Donations accepted
CONTACT: www.midtownconcerts.org
WEB: http://www.gemsny.org

Thanks to our friend, Michael Sanita, at Polyphony.com (www.polyphony.com) who keeps a list of the best concerts in Early Music held each month in New York City. He does all of us a great service in furthering the cause of Early Music. Thanks, Michael.

Wishing All a Happy Holiday Season

From us to you....Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year! from the McDonald-Bianculli Duo

November 26 BaroQue Across the River @ St. Bart's (Park&51st St.)- The Joys of Coffee

The Joys of Coffee

18th-century coffee houses were the hub of news and inevitably a place where new ideas were formed. BaroQue Across the River offers a coffee break with a well-known favorite aria from J. S. Bach's "Coffee Cantata" (BWV 211) as well as the delightful lesser-known cantata "Le CafÈ" by Nicolas Bernier.

BaroQue Across The River, now in its eighth season, presents concerts on original instruments in historical settings. Engaging New Yorkís finest early music performers, B.A.R. has brought concerts to Brooklynís historic Borough Hall, the Brooklyn Historical Society, Wyckoff House Museum, Akwaaba Mansion, Lefferts House, Zion German Lutheran Church, The Society for Ethical Culture, the Stevenson Academy of Fine Arts and the Bruce Museum in Greenwhich, CT. In 2007-08, BAR Concerts included a summer festival in Quebec, Canada and a concert for ìMusic on the Heightsî series at the historic Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, NY.

For more information: November 26, 2008 1:15 pm "Midtown Concerts" St. Bartholomew's (Park Ave, & 51st Street NYC)For more information: http://www.midtownconcerts.org/html/november_2008.html

Heights Music Masters Record Graceful Album In First CD Collaboration

Howe’s Brooklyn
Heights Music Masters Record Graceful Album In First CD Collaboration
by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 10-01-2008
By Sam Howe & Friends

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS HUSBAND and wife team KATHY McDONALD and PASQUALE BIANCULLI have been making music together since 1977 when they met as students at SUNY Stony Brook. With McDonald playing flute and Bianculli guitar, they have toured throughout North America, Europe and the Caribbean, started a music festival, directed a Brooklyn ensemble, and taught their trade. Now, after 24 years of marriage, the duo has paired their mastery of technique and sensitivity to record their first album together — “Hill of Slane: Psalms, Sonatas & Sojourns.”
The cleanly and masterfully produced album has both Brooklyn and Ireland at heart. Bianculli was born and raised in Greenpoint and two of the six composers, FREDERIC HAND and ARLO McKINNON JR., are Brooklynites. McDonald has lived much of her life in the borough, and the album was recorded and produced with support from another local, JOHN KILGORE, to whose generosity and flexibility with his studio the couple attribute much of their success.

Read the Full Article

BaroQue Across the River- a hit at the GEMS Festival

from the NY TIMES...September 30, 2008 - BaroQue Across the River, a Brooklyn group, opened the concert with two elegant French cantatas — Rameau’s “Impatience” and Montéclair’s “Ariane et Bacchus” — to which Michèle Eaton brought a sumptuous tone, a keen dramatic sense and striking agility in the ornamental vocal scoring.

Kathy McDonald contributed the appealing flute obbligato in the Montéclair, and Arthur Haas, harpsichordist, and Martha McGaughey, on viola da gamba, kept the continuo parts lively and vital.




Congratulations to Kathy, Michèle, Arthur and Martha for a job well done. It was a beautiful concert and the praise was well-deserved. Suzanne Bona, the host of "Sunday Baroque", (seen here with Kathy) emceed the event and did the unimaginable - she was able to get classical musicians to talk about what they do in an intelligent and meaningful fashion!! No small feat, Suzanne!! Thanks to Ron Hatem for the great photos.



READ THE FULL REVIEW

HILL OF SLANE CD Released!!!

Our new CD has been released. It is available through CD BABY which will market the CD for us. They will also post it for Digital Distribution, so you can download one piece or the entire CD. You will also be able to buy at concerts. 

The CD comes with a booklet along with photos by myself and Richard Sutor. It was recorded by John Kilgore and mastered by Richard Price. 

We look forward to reading your comments and knowing what you think about our music.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 10, 2008

The McDonald-Bianculli Flute & Guitar Duo release Hill of Slane – Psalms, Sonatas & Sojourns

 

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Kathleen McDonald and Pasquale Bianculli have released a CD of music for flute and guitar. It is called Hill of Slane - Psalms, Sonatas & Sojourns and features the music of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, as well as contemporary composers Carlo Domeniconi, Frederic Hand, Arlo McKinnon, Jr., and Richard Charlton. The Hill of Slane is the legendary place in County Meath, Ireland (about 35 Miles NW of Dublin) where St. Patrick was to have lit the first Paschal Fire in the year A.D. 433.
 The “Hill” was a spiritual inspiration for composer, Arlo McKinnon, who contributed the title track.

 

The other works on this CD collection include J.S. Bach’s Sonata in E minor BWV 1034,  played on baroque flute and modern guitar, Sonata in G Major “Hamburg”, by C.P.E. Bach, Sonata, op 37, composed in 1996 by Carlo Domeniconi, Frederic Hand’s Psalm of Thanksgiving (1995), and the first commercial recording of Sonata? by Richard Charlton.

 

Pat and Kathy, long-time musical collaborators, have been married for 24 years. This is their first recording together. Music has taken them to Curaçao (International Trade Center), Rotterdam (De Douelen) as well as Paris, Quèbec, British Columbia, Italy and Jamaica. Kathy specializes in baroque flute and directs her own ensemble in Brooklyn, NY, Baroque Across the River. Besides C.W. Post, Pat also teaches privately and at the United Nations International School. The CD was recorded in New York at Kilgore Sound and Recording by John Kilgore and mastered at Candlewood Digital LLC by Richard Price.

Hill of Slane is now available from CD BABY (www.cdbaby.com),  and  soon it can be digitally downloaded from iTunes (www.iTunes.com).

BaroQue Across the River presents: Pro Musica Antiqua Oslo