Past Performances
Jaylin Brown Benefit Concert
Julie, Monster - A Queer Baroque Opera
This summer we helped local artist, Jaylin Brown, toward her goal to continue her graduate education in Spain through the Berkeley School of Music.
Julie, Monster - A Queer Baroque Opera
Julie, Monster - A Queer Baroque Opera
2021 World premiere opera performed at Firehouse Theatre in Richmond, VA
Branch House Museum Performance
A wonderful summer performance at the Branch House Museum in Richmond, VA
Springhill Studio Performance
RVA Baroque performs a Porchside Concert at Springhill Studio.
Gellman Room Concert Series Performance
RVA Baroque at the Richmond Public Library for their annual Gellman Room Concert Series.
Musical Poetry, Poetical Music, and a Prayer
We ended the year at The Firehouse Theatre with a rap and a prayer. The rap blends an 18th century showpiece for viola da gamba with original spoken verse. In the prayer, a solo soprano exclaims "Da Pacem, Domine" ("Lord, give us peace") over a harpsichord fantasia on two notes that signify hope.
Creative Team
Niccolo Seligmann
Composer
Raphael Seligmann
Librettist
PJ Freebourn
Director
The Firehouse Theatre
Producer
Victoria Kinney
Victoria Kinney
President, RVA Baroque
Jodie Kitchens
Victoria Kinney
Producer
BAROQUE FOR ALL CELEBRATION, JULY 15-17, 2022
Fresh off the success of Julie, Monster, RVA Baroque is launching its next Big Thing: Baroque for All Celebration – a three-day community music festival. The venues are spectacular. The programs are engaging and eclectic. Open mind, heart and ears are all you need to bring. The performers are Richmonders celebrating Richmond. Prices are “pay as you will.” Fifteen to fifty dollars (except the opera): let your budget and your enthusiasm decide. Refreshments and cash bar at most events. Read on for more information. Purchase tickets online through the links below or at the door.
FRIDAY, JULY 15 8:00-9:00 p.m.
Artspace Gallery, 2833-A Hathaway Road, Richmond, VA 23225
Our Favorite Things (online sales have ended, tickets available at the door)
To kick off Baroque for All, we’re reconnecting with musicians who've worked with RVA Baroque over the last dozen years. Duos, trios, quartets...we gave them only one instruction--perform something you love. Build in a little extra time to enjoy the last night of Artspace's biennial juried exhibition Radius 250.
SATURDAY, JULY 16 6:00-7:00 p.m.
The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design, 2501 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23220
Ladies Sing the Blues
In one of Richmond's grandest houses, listen to songs of hard luck and lost love from the female point of view. Some of Richmond's most electrifying singers interpret great singer-songwriters of the past 450 years: Victoria Kinney and Barbara Strozzi, E.W. Fleming Ross (Christmas Snow) and Billie Holiday, Diana Carver and Nina Simone. Jaylin Brown sings selections from her just-released EP
Tickets can be purchased at the door. Cash or Paypal
Saturday, JULY 16 7:30-8:30 p.m.
The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design, 2501 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23220 (indoors)
Who Are Your Influences?
That's a question jazz musicians ask each other when meeting for the first time. Richmond's classical composer Robert Andrew Scott’s influences go back eight centuries. We present a sampling of Robert's chamber pieces alongside works from the past that inspired and informed them. Tickets can be purchased at the door. Cash or Paypal.
SUNDAY, JULY 17 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Congregation Beth Ahabah, 1121 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23220
Interfaith Baroque
It wasn’t a thing then, but it is now. Singers from Congregation Beth Ahabah (Reform Jewish) and St. Benedict (Roman Catholic) join RVA Baroque instrumentalists in an hour of 17th century sacred music in Hebrew, Latin and English.
Tickets may be purchased at the door. Cash or PayPal accepted.
Notes from the venue:
Parking: There is a parking garage across the street from our building (on your left as you drive down Franklin Street) with free parking for this event. The entry arm will raise automatically as your car approaches it while entering the
parking garage. Please note that the Exit for the parking garage is in the REAR, and is not the same way you came in. The exit door will also raise automatically as your car approaches. Please do not leave your car in the parking garage after
the performance is over, as we cannot guarantee continued public access to the garage beyond the end of the performance, meaning if you go off for dinner, when you return you might find yourself locked out while your car is still
inside!
Entry: Please enter our campus via the large glass front doors leading to our Lobby. This is the only point of entry, and tickets will be checked at the doors. (The doors up the steps to the domed Sanctuary building are emergency exits only, not points of entry.)
COVID-19 Policy: Masks are required for all participants aged 3+ while inside the building. Please refrain from eating or drinking inside the building.
Sunday, JULY 17 6:00-8:30 p.m.
Springhill Gallery, 4305 Springhill Avenue, Richmond, VA 23225 (outside)
The Coronation of Poppea (opera)
Claudio Monteverdi’s 1643 masterwork uses breathtakingly sensuous music to tell a dark tale of ambition and betrayal. With early music star and Richmond favorite Anne O’Byrne as the would-be empress Poppea. Fully staged and performed by Capitol Opera Richmond, RVA Baroque and the Latin Ballet of Virginia in an intimate private-house venue. Admission fee: $15-25 (seating limited to 50).
Our first (of many) Baroque For All Celebration is well under way with a successful first night of Our Favorite Things. We can't wait to share the rest of the weekend with you all! See you at our upcoming events.
upcoming event
INTIMATE CONCERT WITH UNIQUE ARTISTS & PROGRAM
Vienna-based bass clarinetist Anna Koch is traveling the world, linking up with local composers and folk traditions. For her Richmond visit, Anna is teaming up with composer Robert Andrew Scott. Program spans multiple worlds: folk, baroque, contemporary classical, including works evoking the natural environment.
Concert with wine and refreshments is in a private house in the Fan. Attendance is strictly limited to 30 persons. RSVP by emailing raphael.seligmann@gmail.com with your name and the number of seats you would like to claim (up to three). You will receive confirmation and the address if space is available for you.
A concert in 5 panels with a talk by artist rob womack
As part of Richmond Public Library's centennial celebration, RVA Baroque is partnering with artist Rob Womack, whose painting The Conjuror Revealed is displayed in the library’s Special Collections. After a brief talk by the artist, RVA Baroque's 30-minute program consists of pieces reflecting on the painting’s five panels, each dealing with an aspect of magic.
EVENT INFo
Jan 4, 2024 at 8 pm
RVA Baroque and members of Washington DC’s exciting ensemble Magdalena warm up an early-January evening at Black Iris, a unique bar, performance venue and artist workspace in Richmond’s downtown Arts District.
The program matches renaissance and baroque music with featured drinks from four lands:
British Ale (music by Purcell and Dowland)
French Wine (Lully, Marais and more)
Scotch and Irish Whiskey (traditional music)
Admission, not including drinks, is Pay What You Will (suggested minimum $20). 21+, please.For more information, follow our partner ensemble Magdalena on FaceBook and Instagram: @magdalena.ensemble
Jan 4, 2024 at 8 pm
RVA Baroque and members of Washington DC’s exciting ensemble Magdalena warm up an early-January evening at Black Iris, a unique bar, performance venue and artist workspace in Richmond’s downtown Arts District.
The program matches renaissance and baroque music with featured drinks from four lands:
British Ale (music by Purcell and Dowland)
French Wine (Lully, Marais and more)
Scotch and Irish Whiskey (traditional music)
Admission, not including drinks, is Pay What You Will (suggested minimum $20). 21+, please.For more information, follow our partner ensemble Magdalena on FaceBook and Instagram: @magdalena.ensemble
Gary White
Gary D. White is a professional conductor and performer on Baroque recorder and traverso flute. Splitting his time between Phila., PA and Richmond, White has worked with many world class musicians including members of the Philadelphia Orchestra in his capacity as conductor of Philadelphia Sinfonia, an award winning youth orchestra, as well Orchestra Concordia, an adult regional orchestra. He has guest conducted for Temple University, Network for New Music and many orchestras throughout the East coast. He began his formal studies on recorder and traverso with Early Music legends Gwyn Roberts and Elissa Berardi. He performs regularly with his recorder quartet, WindWay and is an active participant in many Amherst Early Music events.
As a conductor, he has championed the recorder to the modern audience, featuring European recorder virtuoso Tom Beets in the 2017 US premiere of Graham Fitkin’s Recorder Concertowith Philadelphia Sinfonia. This season, White will lead Sinfonia in the world premiere of Jamie Allen’s Nightingale Concerto with French recorder virtuoso Héloïse Degrugillier and Philadelphia Orchestra interim percussionist, Philip O’Banion as soloists.
Favorite Composer: Georg Philipp Telemann
(Brilliant composer and business man in the art of self promotion)
Underrated Composer: Francesco Maria Veracini
(He loved writing wicked fast and virtuosic movements for solo instruments that are so much fun to play and listen to!)
Favorite Drink: Whiskey Sour
YouTube link to Fitkin Recorder Concerto:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMUcrcQBrjU
YouTube link to Telemann’s Don Quixote Suite (excerpt):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s92J4YtonKk
Cameron Welke
Instrument: Lute
Ensemble: Magdalena and RVA Baroque
Home Base: Richmond
Career Highlights: International soloist. Co-founder, Magdalena. Also performs with the Washington Bach Consort, Tempesta di Mare, the Folger Consort, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Three Notch’d Road, Relic, and Hesperus. Gave the first lute masterclasses in the Dominican Republic. Explores lute duet repertoire in Duo Silvio with Richard Stone.
Favorite Composer: Marin Marais (included in our concert)
Most Underrated Composer: Antonin Losy von Losenthal
Favorite Drink: Manhattan
Video: Dalza - Calata ala Spagnola
Niccolo Seligmann (they/them)
Instrument: Bowed Strings
Ensemble: RVA Baroque and Magdalena
Home Base: Maryland
Career Highlights: Currently the most widely-heard medieval fiddler in the world. Featured in TV and video game soundtracks (The Witcher, Civilization VI, Pentiment). Composer of operas (Julie Monster, MINERVA) and music for the stage (An Iliad, Ghost Quartet). Performs nationally with Alkemie, The Broken Consort, Concordian Dawn, Eya, Hesperus, Washington Bach Consort, and Wherligig. Performance degree in viola da gamba, Peabody Conservatory.
Personal Details: I got into early music at age five. I was born with six fingers and toes on all hands! (Gone now)
Favorite Composer: Johannes Ciconia (1370-1412)
Most Underrated Music: Anonymous Cyprus Manuscript, Torino J.ii.9, c. 1420
Favorite drink: Belle Isle Yuzu Moonshine (a Richmond favorite; plays well with others and delish on the rocks)
Video: Polyphonic Diminutions on Fortuna Desperata
MIRA FU-EN HUANG
Instrument: Voice
Ensemble: Magdalena Ensemble
Home Base: Baltimore, MD
Career Highlights: Opera roles of Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Euridice (L'Orfeo), Semele (Semele), and Cupid (Venus and Adonis). Professional performer of early and new music on both coasts of the US and abroad. Passionate writer, researcher, and dabbler in instruments and multi-tracking. Administrator specializing in nonprofit management by day.
Favorite Composer: Subject to change, but currently Henry Purcell (featured on our program, so be sure to stop by!)
Most Underrated Composer: Chiara Margarita Cozzolani
Favorite Drink: Yuzu Sake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te2aSTIcyKs
Raphael Seligmann
Instrument: Baroque violin and viola Ensemble: RVA Baroque Home Base: Richmond Career Highlights: Founder and Artistic Director, RVA Baroque. Librettist, modern Baroque operas Julie, Monster and MINERVA. Independent scholar and author of peer-reviewed articles on Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Mentor and music teacher to underserved children in Richmond since 2009. Board member in several local nonprofits. Banker by day. Personal Details: Proud father of string instrument virtuoso Niccolo Seligmann and rising ballet star Hart Isaacoff Favorite Composer: Niccolo Most Underrated Composer: Anonymous (there's plenty out there to give the big names a run for their money) Favorite drink: Kir (white wine and creme de cassis [black raspberry liqueur]) -- substitute champagne and it's a Kir Royale
RVA Baroque March Madness
A Rivalry 300 Years in the Making
In the spirit of the NCAA championships, four baroque heavy-hitters take their best shot. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann. The audience judges each round and chooses the ultimate winner. Who will emerge as the Best Baroque Composer?
Who Will Emerge Victorious!
Besides the unique audience-driven format, the concert will introduce RVAB's newest musicians, David Raposo (baroque cello), Ivan Tavinogradov (baroque violin), and Joshua Hahn (baroque flute).
Visit the Richmond Public Library's website for the event listing at https://rvalibrary.libcal.com/event/10817210
Trio Sonatas at St. Mary’s Episcopal 6/26 @ 7pm
Trio Sonatas
For Baroque composers, the combination of two treble instruments and a bass sparked innovation and personal expression.
On Wednesday, June 26 at 7:00 pm RVA Baroque will perform a concert of trio sonatas at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (12291 River Road, Richmond, 23238).
Featuring music for strings, winds and keyboard by Biber, Corelli, Telemann and others.
Admission is free.
Dealer’s Choice- Free Concert at The Gellman Room
Dealer’s Choice
Maybe it's the election. RVA Baroque is in a democratic groove. For our next Gellman Room concert at the Richmond Public Library, our musicians took charge of the playlist. Seven RVAB performers have programmed their passion projects. And what a fun, diverse lineup they've picked!
Here's a sample.
Longtime RVAB violinist Arden Clark wants to highlight her new instrument, the small pipes. She chose a traditional Christmas melody that also exists as an Italian vocal duet and a movement from Handel's Messiah. We're putting all three versions in a medley. Here are some bits from Monday night's rehearsal.
We'll share more samples from the program over the next two weeks. In the meantime, mark your calendar for Saturday the 28th at 2:00. You won't want to miss this concert.
Admission is free.
Free Early Music Concert at Bruton Parish, 11/2 at 8pm
Chamber Music
Richmond's period-instrument ensemble presents an intimate evening of chamber music in one of the nation’s oldest houses of worship. Bruton Parish Church was founded in 1674 and the current structure was built in 1715. This period is when many of the composers we feature were active.
Our concert is built around the unique acoustics and visual aesthetics of the space, with music by Corelli, Bach, Biber, and Vivaldi. The church’s large double-keyboard harpsichord is highlighted in a sonorous piece by Antoine Forqueray imitating church bells.
RVA Baroque is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For more information visit us on Facebook Instagram.