Chamber Music on the Fox salutes women musicians with concert

The Chamber Music on the Fox series kicks off the new year with a pair of concerts celebrating women musicians.

The concert is titled “Court, Convent and Stage: Redefining the Early Modern Woman” and features the early-music multinational ensemble Black Tulip. The concerts will be at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at New England Congregational Church in Aurora and at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 8 at First Congregational Church of Dundee in West Dundee.

Mark Fry of Elgin is a professional trombonist who cofounded the Chamber Music on the Fox series in 2014. Fry is the acting bass trombonist for the Chicago Lyric Opera, and bass trombonist of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Philharmonic. Chamber Music on the Fox presents chamber music concerts in Aurora and in the Elgin area and will soon bring concerts to the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock.

“This particular concert, they’re doing women composers — a lot of these composers are not well-known,” he said. “The reason why it’s called ‘Court, Convent and Stage’ is that’s the places where women were able to actually be musicians during that period in history.

“I feel that’s a very important mission for Chamber Music on the Fox. We present a lot of standard literature … but I also want to introduce our audiences to some great music they might not have had a chance to hear before.”

“Court, Convent and Stage: Redefining the Early Modern Woman” features works by Francesca Caccini, Élisabeth Jacquet De-la Guerre, Isabella Leonarda, Barbara Strozzi and other female composers of this time frame.

And while Chamber Music on the Fox isn’t specifically an early-music series, he said, once a year he likes to bring in an early-music group to perform.

“They are actually playing on period instruments, instruments from that period that aren’t typically performed in modern music,” he said.

Black Tulip features soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg, Mirja Lorenz on recorders, Phillip W. Serna on violas da gamba and Joel Spears on lutes and theorbo.

While most everyone knows what a recorder is, other period instruments aren’t as familiar. Lutes and theorbos are predecessors to the guitar, he said. The violas da gamba is a predecessor to the modern cello.

“They’re very soft, they’re very subtle, they don’t project quite as much as modern instruments,” he said. “Yet, they’re incredibly beautiful, they’re unique.”

Throughout the concert, the musicians will talk about the instruments and educate the audience, he said.

“That’s one thing that our audiences really love, getting to see these musicians up close and personal in smaller venues,” he said. “I’m actually very eager to learn more about the theorbo. I learned about it in music history class in college, but that’s about it.”

He calls Chamber Music on the Fox a “hybrid chamber music series,” he said. Outside ensembles, like Black Tulip, are often brought in to perform.

“Then we do some in-house concerts. I will design a program and we will hire some musicians to play those pieces,” he said. “Black Tulip features a very fine soprano singer (Stoppelenburg) who specializes in music from that era. She’s certainly one of the best in the Chicago area.”

Black Tulip reached out personally to request to perform at a Chamber Music on the Fox concert, he said.

“We were like, ‘Yes, absolutely, you’re fantastic, we’d love to have you,’” he said.

Fry occasionally performs on one of the Chamber on the Fox concerts and will perform at the season finale concerts in May with his own large brass ensemble, 3rd Coast Brass.

He hopes people come out to the concert because it’s not only a great deal, it’s a show with top-notch musicians performing interesting music.

“It sounds a little cliché … but our mission statement is, we bring world-class chamber music to our community,” he said. “And with this concert, I feel really confident backing those words up.”

Chamber Music on the Fox

When: 2:30 p.m. Jan. 7 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 8

Where: New England Congregational Church, 406 W. Galena Blvd., Aurora; and First Congregational Church of Dundee, 900 S. 8th St., West Dundee

Tickets: $15-$25

Information: chambermusiconthefox.org

Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.