Since The Baroque Room will likely be one of our main performance spaces, I thought it might be nice to feature them in a post. This is a performance space in downtown St. Paul that functions in part as a sort of communal performance venue for the baroque music community in the Twin Cities and as a home for the Lyra Baroque Orchestra's administrative office.
I've never seen a project quite like it specifically dedicated to early music and chamber music and think that it's fantastic. It serves as something of a unifying element for what many don't realize is a thriving and active early music performing scene here in the Twin Cities. It's location, in Lowertown near the Farmer's Market, is near the offices of other performing groups and artist loft spaces, including the Zeitgeist Gallery, which often serves as a venue for various performing groups. It is a smaller venue than a university recital hall, like Sundin Hall at Hamline University, but the size lends itself to intimacy. It is also designed to be used as a reception space as well.
Overall, I think it is an incredible project and a fantastic resource for artists in the Twin Cities.
I always seem to use a lot of exclamation marks, but frankly I'm just really excited. This group and these projects have been a dream for a long time.
If you can't tell from the three exclamation marks, we are super excited for the new photos. They are posted on our Facebook page, and then I'll post them here on the site, too.
Announcing our premiere concert: Letters and Laments. This program will include the music of Handel, Monteverdi, Strozzi, and Vivaldi. We will explore themes of love and betrayal through both solo selections and duets. To give the music context we will also read from first-hand letters by the composers themselves. It promises to be a fantastic program and we are excited to present it.
Countertenor Joe Nelson holds a Master of Music degree from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where he performed the title role in Saul and the Witch of Endor. He has performed as part of the Aspen Music Festival Opera Theater Center under the baton of Jane Glover, as well as attending the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, the Crittenden Summer Opera Studio and the New England Conservatory School of Continuing Education Opera Studio. In addition to his graduate degree, he holds a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Music and Gender Studies from Lawrence University, where he presented a paper as part of the Richard A. Harrison Symposium for the Arts and Humanities.
