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Cool limestone brick walls, ornate wrought iron details and three story high ceilings gave the main room of Castle Caenan on Johnson Drive in Shawnee the right ambiance and acoustic for a cozy evening of early European music. The Jewell Early Music Society treated its audience like royalty at the launch of the third annual Jewell Early Music Summer Festival (JEMS Festival) with a program of German and Austrian Baroque music by Schütz, Muffat, Ristori, Pachelbel and, of course, J.S. Bach.

The Kansas City Baroque Consortium under the leadership of Trilla Ray Carter, joined with members of St. Louis Baroque and local singer/scholars Jay Carter, Ben Winters, Anthony Maglione, and Sarah Tannehill Anderson to present a series of concerts that provide an enlightened escape from the heat. This year’s theme is The Grand Tour and 150+ years of European musical treasures will be examined, played and sung over the 10 days of the festival. The opening concert was also a fundraiser for the Joplin Instrument Fund which Carter, a Joplin native, is coordinating.

“Paratum cor meum, Deus” from Heinrich Schütz’s Symphoniae Sacrae, op. 6, SWV 257 was sung by countertenor Jay Carter. Audiences unfamiliar with the countertenor voice may well marvel at Carter’s well-placed resonance and strength of line. He sang the alto with a bright brilliance. Carter has a formidable early music education and his interpretation was flawless. I encourage interested readers to attend his Baroque Outside the Box presentation Monday, August 1^st at William Jewell entitled “Rhetorically Singing.” He is as engaging a demonstrator as he is a performer; just don’t be alarmed by his low speaking voice.

The ensemble seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves as they performed Sonata No. 1 a 5 in D major “Armonico Triuto” for five strings and continuo by Georg Muffat . Four lively movements were loaded with all of the charming Baroque conventions. There were soaring and cascading, arc motives, suspensions that pushed and pulled as well as the detailed ornamentation that seemed to curl the ends of phrases. They also performed Partie IV in E-moll from Musicalische Ergotzung by Johann Pachelbel which raced along with lighting fast runs which was as fun to watch as listen to.

Sarah Tannehill Anderson joined Jay Carter and therobo player Jeffrey Noonan, for Giovanni Alberto Ristori’s “Amor ah! Amor meus” from Divoti affetti alla Passion di Nostro Signore. Never having heard a piece by this mysterious Italian composer who spent most of his career in Germany, I was intrigued. The piece had only recently been resurrected by Bruce Carvell of St. Louis and is described as a Lenten chamber duet. I didn’t have the best vantage point to see the singers’ expressions but having been a Catholic from St. Louis, I often expect these early liturgical pieces to be dripping with an over-the-top, breast-beating, almost operatic fervor. The interpretation Friday night was wonderfully sung but with a respectful, stable sorrow. I think a juicier, cathedral acoustic would have melded their beautiful voices but it was still breathtaking to hear something so old sound fresh and new.

The evening concluded with Aus der Tiefen, Cantata 131 by J.S. Bach. Bass Benjamin Winters from Octarium and William Jewell Choral Director, Anthony Maglione joined Carter and Anderson as they created a well rounded, super group of a quartet. Winters wowed in the second movement arioso, “So Du willst, Herr.” He expertly coordinated with the Baroque oboe, played by Charles Wines while the soprano soared above in a descant-like counterpoint. Few basses have the flexibility to pull off the complicated runs but Benjamin Winters sang them with confident ease. In the tenor aria, “Meine Seele wartet auf den Herrn,” Maglione and Carter continued the solo/counterpoint motive. Their timbres were so similar and their vocal lines overlapped that at times it was difficult distinguish their voices which gave this movement a tighter and distinctly different feeling than the previous duet. The balance was perfect throughout the cantata, voices together and in tandem with the greater ensemble.

The JEMS festival has a stable of musicians who have studied at this country’s finest early music institutions such as Longy, Oberlin, Yale and The Westminster Choir College. They have had the privilege of working with some of the most esteemed conductors in the field such as Simon Carrington, Nicholas McGegan, Helmut Rilling, and Trevor Pinnock. Some are highly distinguished scholars publishing noteworthy compositions, articles, podcasts and books. They chose to come to Kansas City to work with early music students and avid fans for this exciting festival. We are fortunate, indeed.

The American early music movement has been simmering on the East and West coasts for nearly thirty years and William Jewell College deserves a round of applause for bringing together such a talented group of musicians to enlighten and entertain the Midwest. Escape the heat and take The Grand Tour this weekend and next week. You will feel transported. 

REVIEW: 
Jewell Early Music Summer Festival (JEMS Festival)
Concert 1 (REVIEWED)
The German and Austrian Baroque
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Renee Kelly's at Caenen Castle
12401 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, Kansas 66216
For more info visit http://jewell.edu/william_jewell/gen/william_and_jewell_generated_pages/WJC_Events_Calendar_m41.html 

 UPCOMING:
Concert 3
The English Renaissance
Saturday, July 30, 7:30 p.m. 
Founders' Hall at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
415 West 13th Street, Kansas City, MO 64105
For more information contact Trilla Ray-Carter: jemsfest@gmail.com. 

The Jewell Early Music Workshop
August 1-5, William 
The Jewell Early Music Workshop for vocal, choral and instrumental performance explores historically informed performance practice of the Baroque period. Hosted by William Jewell College, participation is open to advanced high school and college musicians, accomplished amateurs, and instructors. Participation fees are $125-$250 for the week. Interested observers may attend morning or afternoon sessions for $10 which includes the daily afternoon Seminar Series: "Baroque Outside the Box", exploring rhetoric, gesture, performance practice and research of early music.

The Workshop Seminar Series: Baroque Outside the Box!
Illuminating discussions and informal performances for the interested observer and ingenious learner.
August 1-4, 3:30-4:45 Gano Chapel, William Jewell College
Topics include: "Rhetorically Singing", the language of early music, with Jay Carter, countertenor; "Why Corelli Counts" with Jeff Noonan, lute; and "Harmonia Artificiosa - Altered Tunings in the High Baroque" with Bill Bauer, violin.
For more information contact Trilla Ray-Carter: jemsfest@gmail.com.

Free Workshop Showcase Concert
Featuring participants and faculty of the 2011 Jewell Early Music Summer Workshop.
Friday, August 5, 5:00 p.m. 
Liberty United Methodist Church
1001 Sunset Avenue, Liberty, MO 64068
Admission is Free 
Special Evening Concert and Dinner package is available for August 5th.
Please inquire for details at jemsfest@gmail.com 

Concert 4
Final Concert: Handel, the Ultimate Cosmopolitan
August 5, 8:00 concert, 7:00 pre-concert talk
Liberty United Methodist Church
1001 Sunset Avenue, Liberty, MO 64068
For more information contact Trilla Ray-Carter: jemsfest@gmail.com.

Top photo: Kansas City Baroque Consortium

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.