Harpsichord Spring Festival

with Margaret Irwin-Brandon

Feb 20 - March 6, 2016

Palm Springs, CA

The Harpsichord Spring Festival of three concerts celebrates the leading role of the harpsichord in the development of music in the 16th to 18^th centuries and offers the audience a personal engagement with it and its music. As a solo instrument or as the rhythmic and harmonic foundation of vocal and instrumental ensembles, the harpsichord takes on many characters and plays a panoply of roles in musical culture.

Harpsichord Spring brings an internationally celebrated roster of artists to the Coachella Valley in its premier season. Festival producer, Margaret Irwin-Brandon, harpsichordist and performer on all early keyboard instruments, Founder and Director Emerita of Arcadia Players Baroque Orchestra, will open the festival with Johann Sebastian Bach's spectacular 30 Variations on an Aria, the "Goldberg Variations."

Ms. Irwin-Brandon has selected a duo from Italy - harpsichordist Liuwe Tamminga and cornetist Bruce Dickey - to offer a program of marvelous works from the 17th century titled, "That Lascivious Cornetto...".

In a program of works from the 18th and 20th centuries, Sonia Lee and Ms Irwin-Brandon duel in a program for two harpsichords, "Tango, Fandango and Sarabande" including their own improvised arrangements of Astor Piazzolla's "Four Seasons".

The concerts are held in various Valley cities - Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs and produced by Desert Hot Strings Productions.

1. "The Goldberg Variations" by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Margaret Irwin-Brandon, Saturday, February 20, 2016, 7:00 pm, CV Repertory Theater at the Atrium, 69930 Hwy 111, Rancho Mirage, CA. 92270. $25. Reserve at: 760-984-3204 or harpsi1685@gmail.com. 

2. "That Lascivious Cornetto...", duo from Bologna, Italy; Liuwe Tamminga, harpsichord and Bruce Dickey, Cornetto, Italian works of the 17th century. Saturday, February 27, 2016, 7:00 pm, Church of St. Paul in the Desert, 125 W. El Alameda, Palm Springs, CA, 92262. $25. Reserve at: 760-984-3204 or harpsi1685@gmail.com.

3. "Tango, Fandango and Sarabande", by dueling harpsichordists Sonia Lee and Margaret Irwin-Brandon, Sunday, March 6, 2016, 4:00 pm, Christ Lutheran Church, 64565 Pierson Blvd., Desert Hot Springs, 92240, in collaboration with Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts. Free admission with food item for the local food bank or $10 donation.