Co-presented by Sarah Hagen and the Sid Williams Theatre Society
Italian for “Morning Music,” Mattina Musica is a concert series of classical music, each taking place on a Monday morning. Patrons are warmly invited to meet in the Sid lobby at 9:45 am for tea, coffee, and conversation before the 10:30 am concert.
The series is hosted by pianist Sarah Hagen and she is joined by guest performers at each concert. The musicians, all known for their perceptive, eloquent, and entertaining commentary, will take time to offer personal insights into the music.
Can you think of a better way to spend a Monday morning?
This concert features Anne Grimm and Benjamin Butterfield in a concert of duets.
ANNE GRIMM
Dutch Soprano Anne Grimm has been recognized internationally for her “captivating voice” (Globe and Mail) and “expressive technique” (Classics Today).
On the concert stage she has toured Europe and recorded regularly with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ambronay, Salzburg) as well as with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging , the Amsterdamse Bachsolisten under Roy Goodman (Concertgebouw), the Rotterdams Philharmonic under Rozhdestvensky and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under Christian Zacharias. She has performed Mozart’s “Exultate Jubilate” for the Royal Household of the Netherlands and Belgium under Massimo Zanetti and toured with Frans Bruggen and the Orchestra of the 18th Century in Rameau’s “Les Indes Galante”.
She has been a soloist with multiple orchestra’s and groups in North America such as Tanglewood, the National Arts Center under Pinchas Zuckerman, Toronto’s Tafelmusik and Continuum, Victoria Symphony, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Cleveland Baroque, CBC Music from Montreal and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. Recently she toured to Calgary and New York with Aventa and presented a recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Leupold Trio.
In Opera she has performed with the Netherlands Opera (Orfeo), European Baroque Orchestra (Samson & Dalila), National Reisopera (Die Zauberflote), at the Holland Festival and Toronto Masque Theater (King Arthur) and Pacific Opera Victoria (Semele). She also appeared with Christophe Rousset in France and at the Halle Handel Festspiele as well as Potsdam Festival Sanssouci.
Anne Grimm has recorded for Erato, Harmonia Mundi, NM Classics, Vanguard Classics, Troubadisc and Sony.
BENJAMIN BUTTERFIELD
Regarded by the Washington Post as a tenor who sings “…with taste, authority and agility…” and having “… a creamily sweet timbre…” (Opera News) Benjamin Butterfield is equally at home in the opera and concert repertoire having performed with companies from New York to San Francisco, Toronto to Vancouver; London, Paris and Rome to Israel and Taiwan.
On the concert stage Mr. Butterfield performed recently with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in Carmina Burana with Bramwell Tovey and sang in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Vancouver Symphony under Andrew Grams where he was “…the star amongst the soloists…” (Globe and Mail). In Europe he sang the arias in Bach’s St. John Passion for Jan Willem de Vriend with the Residentie Orkest of the Netherlands and the St. John Passion Evangelist for Choeur Ardito in Switzerland under Nicolas Reymond. Other engagements included Chicago’s Music of the Baroque with Jane Glover and the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony under James Conlon. Mr. Butterfield returned for Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic with Jean-Marie Zeitouni as well as Beethoven’s Ninth with the Colorado Symphony under Jeffrey Kahane. He also presented the neglected American art song of Randy Newman for Toronto Masque Theater.
In a diverse career with over 30 recordings to his credit, particular highlights have included performances at the San Carlo in Naples and at Epidaurus, Greece in Stravinsky’s Persephone with actress Isabella Rossellini, performances at the BBC Proms and at Carnegie Hall, debuting at New York City Opera as Tamino in The Magic Flute as well as touring with that company to Spain. Other tours included performances throughout Europe with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre and Trevor Pinnock with the English Concert. He also toured throughout the UK in the Barber of Seville with Welsh National Opera under Carlo Rizzi, sang the role of Wilhelm Meister in Mignon and Almaviva in the Barber of Seville at Le Capitole in Toulouse and performed Britten’s War Requiem with the State Orchestra of Thessalonika and the London Symphony Chorus. Other highlights have included performances at Houston Grand Opera and at the Palace of Versailles with Canada’s Opera Atelier, several summers at the Carmel Bach Festival in California with Bruno Weil, Messiah with the Detroit Symphony under Paul McCreesh and with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston with Grant Llewellan, as well as invitations from Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony in Washington to perform the music of Mozart and Ravel.
Other performances of note include L’enfance du Christ with L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg under Frederic Chaslin, Handel’s Jephtha in Paris and Berlin with the RIAS Kammerchor and Haydn’s The Seasons with Yannick Nezet Seguin and L’ Orchestre Metropolitain in Montreal. He also sang with the Toronto Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis in Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet and Gurrelieder with Jukka Pekka Saraste. With Pinkas Zuckerman and the National Arts Center in Ottawa he sang in the Black and White Opera Gala and with the New York Collegium under Andrew Parrott he presented one-to–a-part readings of Handel’s Dixit and Nisi Dominus. Under Nicholas McGegan he has performed in the St. Matthew and St. John Passions with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, performed in Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln at the Toronto International Choral Festival, performed in Penderecki’s Polish Requiem with the Vancouver Bach Choir and portrayed the Mad Woman in Britten’s Curlew River at Festival Vancouver under Bruce Pullan and director Kico Gonzales Risso. Of particular note was participating in the St. Matthew Passion in Tokyo and Matsumoto with the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa.
Prof. Butterfield teaches voice for the School of Music at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and he also teaches and performs at summer vocal training programs, including Opera Nuova (Edmonton), Opera on the Avalon (St. John’s), the Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Italy) and VISI (Vancouver).