Baroque Cello vs. Viola Da Gamba! A Natural Selection of Solo Music from the 17th-18th Centuries in Hibben Gallery.

Whether new to the world of Historical Performance or a frequent visitor, you are invited to enjoy a brief yet varied look at the Baroque cello and viola da gamba as solo instruments. Heather Vorwerck (performer with Bach Collegium San Diego), with the assistance of keyboardist Ruben Valenzuela (Musical Director of BCSD), will perform solo and accompanied works for cello and viol by J.S. Bach, D. Gabrielli, Sainte-Colombe and Marais. Ms. Vorwerck will talk a bit about each instrument's distinct musical evolution and explore why the cello survived while the viola da gamba was destined for extinction. You will be welcome to see the instruments close up and ask questions after the performance.

Heather Vorwerck, Baroque cello and viola da gamba, performs regularly with Bach Collegium San Diego and has recently played with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra. She has performed with San Francisco Bay Area ensembles Galileo Project and the California Bach Society, as well as Apollo's Fire (Cleveland) and as gamba soloist with the Rotterdam Baroque Orchestra. Ms. Vorwerck is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory where she was the recipient of the E. Russell Award for Excellence in Historical Performance and was a student of Catharina Meints. She studied with Jaap ter Linden and Anneke Pols at the Royal Conservatory in The Netherlands.

Ruben Valenzuela, harpsichord, is the Music Director and founder of Bach Collegium San Diego. Under his artistic direction, BCSD has brought to the San Diego community highly acclaimed, historically informed premiers of music from the Renaissance, Baroque and early Classical eras. He has led the ensemble on several international tours to the Festival Internacional del Órgano Barroco in Mexico City, and most recently to Bolivia for the IX Internacional de Música Renacentista y Barroca ‘Misiones de Chiquitos’. As a musicologist, he has conducted research at the Centro Nacional de Investigación, Documentación e Información Musical, Carlos Chavez (CENEDIM) and presently at the Archivo del Cabildo of Mexico City Cathedral. He is the Director of Music & Organist at St Peter's Episcopal Church, Del Mar.

Four times per year, audiences enjoy these unique concerts of vocals and instruments from the Medieval, Baroque and Renaissance periods performed in one of the Museum’s most popular collection galleries of European paintings, the Hibben Gallery. Holding these concerts in the gallery space allows audience members to better understand the culture and context of the time period in which European art was created and helps connect the art and music.

Presented in partnership with the San Diego Early Music Society.

This program is free after Museum admission.

The Museum will offer free admission on Sunday, May 19, 2013 in celebration of International Museum Day.