Wealthy English and Dutch music lovers of Margrieta van
Varick’s time would have known songs inspired by images of water and seafaring,
“picture-music” inspired by their surroundings, and a variety of
instrumental dances. In this concert, harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire and
tenor Rufus Müller will perform selections from these genres, including songs
by Henry Purcell and his contemporaries, as well as Dutch and English songs and
dances that were taken up by the great Virginalist School of seventeenth-century
keyboard composers, including William Byrd and Jan Peterzoon Sweelinck.This
event includes a pre-concert tour of the exhibition with Rebecca Allan,
beginning at 2:00 pm The concert begins at 3:00 pm, followed by a reception
with the artists. Rebecca Allan is head of education at the Bard Graduate
Center. She is also a painter whose most recent exhibition was held at the Cary
Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Bradley Brookshire is an internationally
recognized interpreter of Bach’s harpsichord repertoire and a professor of
music at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music. Rufus Müller is an widely
acclaimed performer of opera and oratorio, and recital, and an assistant
professor of music at Bard College.