Cliburn at the Bass presents Academy of Ancient Music

January 29, 2008

For immediate release
CLIBURN CONCERTS PRESENTS A SPECIAL PROGRAM OF BAROQUE MUSIC WITH THE WORLD-RENOWNED ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC

FEATURING FAMED HARPSICHORDIST/DIRECTOR RICHARD EGARR

One of the finest period-instrument ensembles in the world, performing Baroque masterpieces in the setting in which they were first meant to be heard

At First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, with a special appearance by the Texas Camerata

FORT WORTH, TEXAS, January 29, 2008--Cliburn Concerts will present the world-renowned Academy of Ancient Music in its Cliburn Concerts debut on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth (1000 Penn Street, Fort Worth).

Directed by acclaimed harpsichordist and conductor Richard Egarr, the Academy of Ancient Music is now in its fourth decade as one of the world's finest period-instrument ensembles. Dedicated to giving audiences an experience of music as it might have sounded at the time it was written, the twelve-member ensemble features Baroque- and Classical-era specialists playing the instruments first developed for this repertoire.

The program will include works by baroque masters Bach, Handel, and Telemann, performed in the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth--a setting similar to one in which these works would first have been played. At 6:30 p.m. there will be a special opening performance by the Texas Camerata, Fort Worth's own early-music group, followed by a pre-concert interview with Mr. Egarr. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Since its formation in 1973 under the direction of Christopher Hogwood, the Academy of Ancient Music has presented concerts across six continents and has made more than 250 recordings, to universal acclaim. The Washington Post calls the Academy's playing "vibrant...sparkling and fresh, filled with rarely heard details and an unflagging sense of forward motion."

For more information about the Van Cliburn Foundation, please visit www.cliburn.org.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION: general seating tickets to this special Cliburn Concerts performance are $35. Tickets are available online or by calling 817.335.9000. More information is available at www.cliburn.org.

ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn Foundation. American Airlines, Bank of America, City of Fort Worth, Eastman Kodak Company, JPMorgan Chase, Star- Telegram, Steinway & Sons, and XTO Energy Inc. are Official Corporate Sponsors, and Clear Channel Communications and RadioShack are the Cliburn's Corporate Sponsors. Official Sponsors are the Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, The Burnett Foundation, Once Upon a Time..., and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Star-Telegram is the principal media partner and WRR 101.1 FM is the official radio station of Cliburn Concerts.

ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC

Richard Egarr, Music Director
Paul Goodwin, Associate Conductor
Christopher Hogwood, Director Emeritus

VIOLIN I
Pavlo Beznosiuk
Pierre Joubert
Persephone Gibbs

VIOLIN II
Rodolfo Richter
Joanna Lawrence
Iwona Muszynska

VIOLA
Trevor Jones

CELLO
Joseph Crouch

DOUBLE BASS
Tim Amherst

THEORBO
William Carter

FLUTE
Rachel Brown

HARPSICHORD
Richard Egarr

Concerts across six continents and more than 250 recordings since its formation by Christopher Hogwood in 1973 demonstrate the AAM's preeminence in music of the Baroque and Classical periods.

Richard Egarr succeeded Maestro Hogwood as music director in September 2006, and his inaugural season won glowing praise from critics and audiences alike. His first tour of the United States as AAM music director in April 2007 included a critically acclaimed debut with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall. His first recording with the AAM (Handel's Opus 3 sonatas) won warm praise on both sides of the Atlantic and won the 2007 Gramophone Award for baroque instrumental music.

The vitality of the AAM's music-making continues to be fostered by a range of guest directors. This season, Maestro Hogwood-- now director emeritus--conducts the second of his series of three Handel operas leading up to the composer's anniversary of death in 2009; the renowned baroque expert Masaaki Suzuki and violinists Giuliano Carmignola and Pavlo Beznosiuk will lead projects; and the AAM continues to work with Polyphony and the Holst Singers and with the choirs of King's College Cambridge and Trinity College Cambridge.

The orchestra's pioneering recordings under Maestro Hogwood for Decca's L'Oiseau-Lyre label cover much of the Baroque and Classical orchestral canon, including the first recordings on period instruments of many works, such as Mozart's complete symphonies and prizewinning opera recordings of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart with Emma Kirkby, Cecilia Bartoli, and Joan Sutherland, among other acclaimed soloists. The AAM has also recorded for the EMI, Chandos, Erato, and harmonia mundi labels. These recordings include discs of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell (with the Choir of King's College Cambridge), Pergolesi, English coronation music, Handel's Messiah (with the Choir of New College Oxford), and several discs for harmonia mundi of music from Bach to Tavener under associate conductor Paul Goodwin, Maestro Egarr, and Andrew Manze.

The AAM is orchestra-in-residence at the University of Cambridge. Visit www.aam. co.uk for more details.

RICHARD EGARR
Director and Harpsichord

Richard Egarr is one of the most versatile musicians performing today. He has worked with all types of keyboards and performed repertoire ranging from fifteenth- century organ intabulations to Dussek and Chopin on early pianos to Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano. Mr. Egarr enjoyed his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge. His study with Gustav Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance. Today he is director of the Amsterdam-based Academy of the Begijnhof and the Academy of Ancient Music.

As a conductor, Richard Egarr has worked with specialized ensembles and modern orchestras alike, directing a wide range of repertoire from Bach's St. Matthew Passion to John Taverner's Ikon of Light. Recent guest productions include Handel's Esther; Acis & Galatea; Alcina; many performances of the Messiah; L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed il Moderato; Haydn's The Creation; Purcell's Fairy Queen; Bach's B minor mass; Telemann's St. Matthew Passion; and Stokowski arrangements with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Last season, Mr. Egarr directed a staged version of Purcell's Dido & Aeneas--a production that will be revived in 2008. His debut at the Flemish Radio Orchestra (conducting Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique) prompted a second invitation, and he also appeared with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and at Glyndebourne, where he recently conducted a staged version of Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

As a soloist, Mr. Egarr has performed extensively in the major music festivals throughout Europe and Japan. He toured the United States in 2006 with Bach's Goldberg Variations to great critical acclaim. He has also appeared as orchestral soloist, recently with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble.

In chamber music, Mr. Egarr and violinist Andrew Manze form an "unequalled duo for violin and keyboard" (Gramophone). They have toured Europe and North America with music from the Stylus Phantasticus and late Baroque. They have recently turned to later repertoire with performances of Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, and Hubert Parry.

Richard Egarr records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa. His solo discs include works by Frescobaldi, Gibbons, Couperin, Purcell, and J.S. Bach, and the complete recording of the keyboard works of Johann Jakob Froberger. Recent recordings include "Per Cembalo Solo" (Gramophone Editor's Choice), Bach's Goldberg Variations, and a disc with Fantasies & Rondos by Mozart. Many of his recordings with violinist Andrew Manze have been awarded international prizes, including a Gramophone award, a Grammy nomination, a Prix Caecilia, and an Edison Award. With the Academy of Ancient Music he has recorded the complete Bach harpsichord concerti and Handel's Concerti Grossi Op. 3.

TEXAS CAMERATA
Proudly based in Fort Worth, Texas Camerata continues its fifteen-year tradition of performing the music of the Baroque and early Classical eras with an emphasis on historical style by presenting an annual subscription series and additional concerts throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Under the leadership of artistic director Kristin Van Cleve, Texas Camerata's programs combine a captivating mix of familiar and less well-known vocal and instrumental chamber music. Introducing its audience to "hidden gems" while simultaneously providing fresh interpretations of the Baroque "classics" remains the primary focus of Texas Camerata.

PROGRAM

JS BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050

HANDEL Concerto Grosso in A minor, Op. 6, No. 4, HWV 322

TELEMANN Concerto in D major for Flute, TWV 51:D2

JS BACH Concerto in G minor for Harpsichord, BWV 1058

HANDEL Sonata Ã5 in B-flat major, HWV 288

TELEMANN Concerto in A major for Flute, Violin, and Obbligato Cello from Tafelmusik, TMV 53:A2

Contact: Sevan Melikyan Dir. of P.R.
email: sevan@cliburn.org
phone: 817.738.6536
web: http://www.cliburn.org