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Past Events
Saturday, 2nd October 2021, 20:00
Album release: Miscellanea
Artem Belogurov & Menno van Delft
organ, fortepiano, harpsichord
Kasteel Amerongen Drostestraat 20 3958 BK Amerongen
On 2 October in the magnificent Kasteel Amerongen, MouseEar founders Artem Belogurov and Menno van Delft will present selections from their new triple album, Miscellanea. This album features rarely heard gems from the keyboard-music collection of the late Christopher Hogwood performed on four original, historical instruments: a fortepiano by Zahler (1805), a Kraemer clavichord (1803), and the Kirckman harpsichord (1766) and Bätz house organ (1813) in the instrument collection at Amerongen. On 2 October, Belogurov and Van Delft will present a selection of works from the album on harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ, including solo works, pieces for four hands, and the spectacular Sonata in D major for two keyboards KV 448 by Mozart, which will be heard in the unique combination of harpsichord and fortepiano.
The Hogwood collection is a treasure trove of 18th- and 19th-century keyboard music, with an especial emphasis on music by lesser-known composers. Many of these pieces are not available in a modern edition or cannot be found online; thus, this evening will be a true voyage of discovery!
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COVID-19 info:
The current measures make it possible to organize concerts in which two-thirds of the auditorium capacity is used. It is therefore mandatory for visitors aged 12 and over to present a corona admission ticket (proof of vaccination/testing/recovery) at the entrance. There is no need to keep a distance in the building, but we ask you to still wear a mouth mask when moving around in the building.
This means that it is possible that you will have to take a seat right next to other visitors. Since everyone in the auditorium has had to show the corona admission ticket, it is safe to sit directly next to other listeners.
This CD presentation is a collaboration between Kasteel Amerongen and MouseEar Concerts.
Photo by Noelia Nicolas
Sunday, 19th September 2021, 12:00, 14:00 & 16:00
Spielerei Trio
Augusta McKay Lodge, violin
Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde, cello
Artem Belogurov, fortepiano
Huis Akerendam, Velserweg 20, 1942 LD Beverwijk
MouseEar is back!
We are pleased to announce that the 2021-22 season of MouseEar Concerts is beginning in September with the Spielerei Trio in the historic Huis Akerendam in Beverwijk. On Sunday, 19 September, international artists Augusta McKay Lodge (violin), Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde (cello), and Artem Belogurov (fortepiano) will present a programme of trios by Haydn and Beethoven. The true star of the evening, however, might be the fortepiano: this copy of an instrument by Johann Andreas Stein has not one but two different actions, one with bare wooden hammers and the other with the more familiar felt-covered hammers. Both will be used during the course of the evening, giving listeners the unique chance to hear two different, 18th-century sound worlds in one concert.
This concert is a collaboration between MouseEar and Fonds Sluyterman van Loo.
Sunday, 13th December 2020, 13:00 & 17:00
À Amsterdam:Music published and written in 18th century Amsterdam
POSTSCRIPT
Aysha Wills, traverso
David Westcombe, traverso
Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde, cello
Artem Belogurov, harpsichord
Akerendam, Velserweg 20, 1942 LD Beverwijk
The scene is a warmly-lit house on the Grachtengordel in 18th-century Amsterdam: remnants of a hearty dinner remain on the table, but the guests have repaired to the salon, where the musicians among them have taken up their instruments or seated themselves before the harpsichord. As the musicians begin to play, you notice that the music was printed neither in London nor Leipzig but right here in Amsterdam.
This programme celebrates Amsterdam and its role as one of the main music-publishing centres in 18th-century Europe. Building on its success in book publishing in the previous century, Amsterdam became fertile ground for music as well: at one point in the 18th century, there were no fewer than 76 houses publishing music! Of special importance ar the firms of E. Roger and his daughter in the first half of the century and J. J. Hummel and J. Schmitt in the second half.
The music on this programme comes from the catalogues of these publishing firms. Among the most famous of Roger’s hundreds of publications are Corelli’s Concerti Grossi op. 6 and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Hummel and Schmitt popularised the music of Haydn, Mozart, C.P.E. Bach, and scores of other galant and Classical composers of note, both in the Netherlands and in northern Europe.
We have selected a variety of chamber works published in Amsterdam — beautiful, intriguing, and well-crafted works by both composers living and working in Amsterdam and foreigners who found fame here through the publishing industry.
Postscript
Founded in 2018, Postscript features Aysha Wills and David Westcombe (traverso), Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde (violoncello), and Artem Belogurov (historical keyboards); this quartet aims to add their own “p.s.” to music composed in centuries past, approaching the music with both thoughtfulness and verve such that the works communicate with the same vibrancy as when they were first written.
This is concert is a co-production with Fonds Sluyterman van Loo
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COVID19 Info:
Please arrive no longer than 15 minutes before the concert starts. Don't forget to bring your masks as they are now required to wear inside in public spaces. Please check the latest government regulations here - https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/coronavirus-covid-19/nederlandse-maatregelen-tegen-het-coronavirus.
Saturday, 7th March 2020, 16:00
Archive Event III: CLAVICEMBALO ASSIMILATO
Goska Isphording, harpsichord and electronics
Looiersgracht 60, 1016 VT Amsterdam
On 7 March, MouseEar Concerts is proud to collaborate with Looiersgracht 60 to present new-music virtuoso Goska Isphording in a programme of contemporary music for harpsichord and electronics. Looiersgracht 60, an exhibition centre for art, design and architecture, offers its inspiring gallery spaces as a canvas against which technologies from the 15th and 21st centuries will combine to create a sonic landscape. The programme features works for harpsichord and electronics principally composed in the last two decades, including an interactive work by Yannis Kyriakides in which the audience controls the unfolding of the piece. Other featured composers include Peter Ablinger, Ton Bruynèl, Ewa Trebacz, Hugo Morales Murguia, and Kuba Krzewiński.
Goska Isphording enjoys an international performing career as soloist and chamber musician, having appeared at such festivals as Gaudeamus Week, ISCM World Music Days, and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, among others. She is also active in commissioning new works for harpsichord, several of which will be performed on this concert. In addition to concertising, she teaches contemporary harpsichord technique at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.
Looiersgracht 60 & Archive Series
Throughout its history as a cardboard factory, beer bottling plant, and its current use as an exhibition space, Looiersgracht 60 has had many functions - all of which have left their trace on the building, inspiring the launch of the Archive Series. Stemming from Looiersgracht 60’s commitment to preservation and to promoting dialogue between the past and the present, the Archive Series events are unique, site-specific temporary installations investigating the theme of archiving, combined with theoretical talks and discussions with the artist. For the third edition of the Archive Series, Looiersgracht 60 is delighted to collaborate with MouseEar and present ‘Archive Event III: CLAVICEMBALO ASSIMILATO’.
Visit www.looiersgracht60.org for more information
Tickets for this concert are FREE; please reserve your ticket via e-mail: info@looiersgracht60.org
Photograph by Jean-Baptiste Millot
Thursday, 14th November 2019, 20:15
Bach at De Waag:
The Anatomy of genius
Pierre Hantaï, harpsichord
Theatrum Anatomicum, De Waag, Nieuwmarkt 4, 1012 CR Amsterdam
In the 17th century, both medical professionals and the public at large were invited into the Anatomical Theatre in De Waag to delve deep into the mysteries of the human body. On 14 November 2019, the Theatre will once again become a space of experimentation, observation, and learning as harpsichord virtuoso Pierre Hantaï explores the anatomy of genius in an all-Bach program.
Built in 1691, the Anatomical Theatre was the site of public cadaver dissections as education in anatomy for surgeons and for the curiosity of the general public. Typically, the surgeons performed these dissections on the bodies of criminals, as depicted in Rembrandt’s famed painting, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (De anatomische les van Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632; Mauritshuis collection). A concert dedicated to the works of a single composer is, in a certain sense, also a dissection: the many layers of the composer’s work are made visible, offering the listener a more detailed and intricate look at the essence of the music.
Pierre Hantaï was inspired to take up the harpsichord by Gustav Leonhardt, with whom he later studied. Renowned not only for his technical brilliance but also for his “emotional eloquence” (Gramophone), Hantaï appears frequently on international stages as both a soloist, alongside his brothers (Marc, traverso; Jérôme, viol), and in such ensembles as La Petite Bands and Le Concert des Nations.
Image by Michele Ahin, license
Friday, 29 March 2019, 19:15
Whispering nights
Menno van Delft, Dalyn Cook, Artem Belogurov, harpsichords & clavichords
David Mackor, lute
Embassy of the Free Mind Keizersgracht 123, 1015 CJ, Amsterdam
Six heads of gods and goddesses. Four brilliant musicians. Three clavichords. Two harpsichords. One lute.
One unforgettable event: Whispering Nights
On 29 March at 19h15 in the iconic Huis met de Hoofden, MouseEar concerts launches its first season with a celebration of early keyboards and their music. MouseEar founders Artem Belogurov and Menno van Delft will be joined by lutenist David Mackor and keyboardist Dalyn Cook in a house music experience like no other.
Built in 1622, the Huis met de Hoofden is known for the six ornamental heads adorning its façade. Legend has it that the six heads represented a band of thieves who had attempted to rob the residents of the house, but the heads in fact depict six Greek gods and goddesses: Apollo, Bacchus, Ceres, Diana, Mercurius, and Minerva.
The evening begins in the Grote Sael of the Huis met de Hoofden with music for two harpsichords; the house will then come alive with three different short programs for clavichords and lute performed simultaneously in three different rooms. The public - divided into small groups that will visit each room - will delight in the rare intimacy afforded by these combinations of instruments and spaces. The evening will draw to a close with all four musicians performing together.
“Whispering Nights” marks the premiere of the MouseEar concert series, which was established to explore both the rich history and exciting future of historical keyboard instruments in Amsterdam. This evening promises to take listeners where they have never been before. For lovers of early music and historical keyboards, it will be an old favourite made new; for newcomers to these instruments and repertoire, it will be an evening rich with discovery.