Music for Benjamin Franklin - New Concert by Ensemble Chaconne

Boston, MA (AMERICAS MUSICWORKS) - Ensemble Chaconne (Peter H. Bloom, baroque flute; Carol Lewis, viola da gamba; and Olav Chris Henriksen, baroque guitar and English guitar), with mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal, performs the premiere of Music for Benjamin Franklin in Cambridge, Massachusetts (February 25, 2006) and Somerville, Massachusetts (February 26, 2006) with performances also at Butler County Community College, Butler, PA (March 25, 2006) and First Congregational Church in Chambersburg, PA (March 26, 2006). For information, call Rebecca DeLamotte 888-887-7169.

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 Iphigénie 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.

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).

Guest artist Pamela Dellal has toured the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan and has recorded for Arabesque Records, Artona, BMG, Dorian, Meridian, and KOCH International. Her singing has been called 'outstanding' (The New York Times) and 'lushly fluid' (The Washington Post).