Early Music America Review of "Florescence" & "Soliloquy"
Mélomanie Concert — Magical Music!
Tonight was a magical night of music from the unique and provocative chamber music ensemble, Melomanie. (The setting is shown above.) This ensemble has it all: top drawer performers, an active and informed board, and enthusiastic followers. They fill a niche: all performers are equally virtuosic on Baroque era and modern instruments. Co-directors Tracy Richardson, (harpsichord) and Kimberly Reighley (flutist) design programs that combine modern, often world premiere works, with music from the Baroque. The combination works very beautifully.
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Two world premieres
Mélomanie played two new works on January 30! To think that a small local group can commission works in these hard times is nothing short of great – and they used a little inventive cooperation to do so. Elaine Funaro, harpsichordist who also heads up a non-profit organization in Durham, North Carolina, which promotes new music for harpsichord (http://www.harpsichord-now.org), joined forces with Mélomanie to commission a new work by Sergio Roberto de Oliveira.
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Brazilian Composer Makes Visit to Delaware Very Personal
Brazilian composer Sergio Roberto de Oliveira travels to Delaware to join the classical/contemporary music ensemble Mélomanie this Saturday evening for the premiere of his work, Angico. Written in fall of 2009, this work is a collaborative commission with Aliénor (of Durham, North Carolina), whose ensemble will perform the piece later in the season. This piece is an intensely personal one, inspired by de Oliveira’s family vacation home in the Brazilian mountains, built as a fulfillment of his mother’s lifelong dream.
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Composer's Work Featured on Recording by Mélomanie
By Guest Blogger, Chuck Holdeman, composer of “Sonate en Trio”, which will appear on the new Mélomanie CD Chuck is a regional composer of lyrical, contemporary classical music, including opera, orchestral music, songs, chamber music, music for film, and music for educational purposes.
What an outstanding pleasure it is for a composer to hear his work played by the terrific players of Mélomanie! The group is recording the work and I’m delighted that they will also feature a portion of the music at their October 2 soiree and fundraiser.
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SOWETO Festival double-header
Melomanie co-hosted A Concert for Peace with Pacem in Terris on June 5 at Grace United Methodist Church. The concert featured ensemble members and guest artists in a repertoire of "Music Uniting the World". This was a fundraiser for both organizations, held in conjunction with the 20th SOWETO Festival Art Exhibit at Grace Church. The music began with three vivacious movements of Paris Quartet in D Major by Georg Philipp Telemann. Guest artist & Baroque violinist Linda Kistler and Melomanie's Baroque flutist Kimberly Reighley played with such verve, switching off parts of the lively Vivement, that in the audience local conductor Lawler Rogers remarked to me, "I wanted to get up and dance after that!"
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CONCERT REVIEW: Ensemble musicians go for Baroque
By Susan L. Peña
Reading Eagle Correspondent
The ensemble Melomanie has carved out a unique niche for itself, which it demonstrated in a concert presented by the Albright College Friends of Music in the college’s Center for the Arts. Performing Friday night on exquisite Baroque instruments, including a harpsichord decorated in black, gold and red, the ensemble plays, as one would expect, Baroque music. But it also specializes in contemporary music.
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