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Gems of 17th-Century Harpsichord Music

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Gwendolyn Toth webGwendolyn Toth will play a harpsichord recital of music from Dutch, German, and French early manuscript sources including the well-known Bauyn manuscript. Music of Froberger, Scheidemann, Chambonnières, and others.

Gwendolyn Toth ~ harpsichord

Recognized as one of America’s leading early music performers, Gwendolyn Toth is a conductor and early keyboard artist based in New York City. “Her interpretive skills are sensitive and intelligent, and she clearly has a gift for program conceptualization.” (The New York Times). She has conducted at Sadler’s Wells Theater in London, BAM in New York City, Skylight Theater in Milwaukee, Astoria Music Festival in Oregon, Carmel Bach Festival in California, Washington Bach Consort in Washington DC, and for the German Radio network in Cologne, Germany. Opera News has honored Gwendolyn as an “Outstanding Young Conductor” and she was the recipient of the Newell Jenkins Prize for excellence in early music performance. In February, 2020 she received a feature profile on VAN, the prestigious international classical music magazine.

Gwendolyn is the founder and director of New York City’s period instrument ensemble, ARTEK, specializing in music of the early Baroque period. Under her direction, the ensemble released the first North American recording of Monteverdi’s opera, Orfeo, to outstanding critical acclaim. Other CDs include Love Letters from Italy, I Don’t Want to Love, Monteverdi’s Madrigals Book 5 and Complete Madrigals Book 7, and Solo Cantatas of Rosenmüller. Gwendolyn and ARTEK have appeared at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum, and major churches in New York City; at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; and at the Regensburg Tage Alte Musik Festival in Germany and the Boston, Berkeley, Bloomington, and Indianapolis early music festivals in America.

As a soloist on historical organs, Gwendolyn has performed on the 1434 organ in Sion, Switzerland; the 15th-century organ in Oosthuizen, Netherlands; the 1655 organ in the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam; the 1509 organ in Trevi, Italy; the 1531 organ in Krewerd, Netherlands; the 1553 Niehoff organ in Lüneburg, Germany; the 1649 organ in Zeerijp, Netherlands; the 1696 Arp Schnitger organ in Noordbroek, Netherlands; and the 1714 organ in St. Michael’s Church, Vienna among many others. Her numerous CD recordings of Renaissance and baroque music have been recorded on historic Dutch organs in Noordbroek, Zeerijp, Oosthuizen, Eenum, and Krewerd in the Netherlands, and (forthcoming) Ostönnen, Germany. Gwendolyn also has a solo recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations performed on a lautenwerk, a reconstruction of Bach’s lute-harpsichord, strung in both gut and metal strings.

Gwendolyn holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in organ performance from Yale University and did post-graduate study with Ton Koopman at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In addition to being the director of ARTEK, she is currently Adjunct Professor of Historical Performance Practice at The Graduate Center, CUNY; Orchestra Director at Manhattan College; and music director at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New York City.

1:15 – 2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

In person at The Church of the Transfiguration, 1 E 29th St, New York City

Live Streaming: You can watch on your computer in any of two places by clicking on the name you wish: our website or YouTube.

 

Midtown Concerts sponsors lunchtime performances of music of the 18th century and earlier. Ensembles are chosen by a panel of early music specialists from the metropolitan area.

Time: Thursdays, 1:15–2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

Concerts are in person at St. Malachy's Church, 239 West 49th Street, Manhattan, AND live streamed.