Infusion Baroque Celebrates Women Composers, Performers

Having canceled a January concert due to the wave of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant, Early Music Now returns to live performances with a return visit by Infusion Baroque this Saturday. The quartet will celebrate the little-known work of women composers and performers in the Baroque era.

Founded in 2013 in Montreal, Infusion Baroque won the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the 2014 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition. In 2017, they performed for Early Music Now in Milwaukee.

Telling stories about the music has become a feature in their performances, connecting more quickly with audiences unfamiliar with the works.

Vivaldi composed most of his vast musical output for the incredibly talented women of the Ospedale della Pietà (an orphanage for girls) in Venice. None other than Casanova was smitten by cellist Henriette de Schnetzmann‘s impromptu rendition of a concerto by Antonio Vandini. And women such as Ana Bon, Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, and Barbara Strozzi were acclaimed performers of their own compositions. These women recognized by Infusion Baroque had to fight against the norms that discouraged women from being involved at all in public music-making.

Infusion Baroque has created an eclectic quartet. The group, violinist Sallynee Amawat, cellist Andrea Steward, flutist Alexa Raine-Wright, and harpsichordist Rona Nadler, focuses on the Baroque era (1600-1750) of Western Classical music when these “broken consorts” were more common. The ensemble plays on period instruments.

At this point in history, the harpsichord and cello were most likely to contribute to a “basso continuo” line, backing the melody while higher-pitched instruments introduced the melody or decorated it with a virtuoso flourish. Although works involving two violins were more common, a flute is able to play a violin score, with substantially different colors and impacts. Programming a cello sonata and harpsichord solo allows a focus on these instruments.

The Baroque period followed the sublime perfection sought in the Renaissance era by reintroducing drama and more freewheeling roles for virtuoso instrumentalists. A reviewer for Fanfare magazine observed in 2019 that the ensemble “play with a liveliness and unforced energy that seems to grow naturally out of the music rather than being imposed on it, combining spontaneity and abandon with technical perfection.”

Infusion Baroque will play at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (914 E. Knapp St. in downtown Milwaukee) on Saturday, March 5 at 5:00 p.m. There will be a pre-concert lecture at 4:00 in the Great Hall. Parking is available in the Lincoln Center for the Arts parking lot, and on the street.

Early Music Now requires proof of vaccination against COVID-19, or proof of negative test within 72 hours – with a valid ID. A mask fully covering the nose and mouth must be worn at all times throughout the venue.

Early Music Now will sponsor Blue Heron, a choral group from Cambridge Massachusetts in a May 7 concert at St. Joseph’s Chapel. Blue Heron is engaged in a multi-season project to perform the complete surviving works of Johannes Ockeghem, one of the greatest composers of the Western tradition.