Chamber group to perform monthly

By TOM LAVENTURE

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Ironwood — Chamber music will become a regular thing at the Historic Ironwood Theatre.

Following their fourth performance at HIT on Sunday, the Garland City Chamber Players have agreed to perform here on the last Sunday of each month going forward, said Zona Wick, president of the HIT board. The free afternoon performances will continue on Jan. 26, to include refreshments and a chance to mingle with the artists and community following the performance.

The performances are free but the aging Ironwood theatre needs donation support for renovations and programming, said Andrew McInnes, the violinist and violist with the Garland City Chamber Players. Any donations will help and be appreciated, he said.

“This piano has been here since 1923,” he said. “They are slowly bringing it back online but there is a long way to go.”

McInnes also praised the mezzanine gallery on the second floor lobby of the theatre. He demonstrated the acoustics by speaking from within the gallery and then outside of it to show the difference in tone and amplification.

“We love playing here,” McInnes said.

The chamber members present included McInnes along with Neil Paynter, pianist; Teresa Rusch, flutist, and Tiffany Darling, soprano vocalist.

The chamber group opened with the “Flute Trio in C Minor,” a collection of six trio sonatas by George Phillip Telemann. McInnes played the viola as a substitute for the piece originally written for oboe.

The group then performed “Viola Suite No. 1” by Johann Sebastian Bach. McInnes said that some believe the piece was written for the viola while others believe the piece was written for cello.

The piece may have been written for the shoulder cello, he said. The instrument, popular during its time, looks like a very thick viola, he said.

“Are there any cellists here?” McInnes said smiling.

The third piece was “Flute Trio in C Major” by Johann Joachim Quantz. According to McInnes, Quantz was an 18th century Baroque music composer who wrote and performed several pieces for the flute.

He toured Europe and his music was praised by the likes of J.S. Bach, Handel and Mozart.

The chamber performed two works by J.S. Bach for Darling to sing.

The first was an aria for soprano called “Sich üben in lieben,” which was considered a daring cantata of the time as a wedding dance with couples embracing, Darling said. The second “Bist du bei mir,” was a song written as the voice of a mother dying at childbirth, translating as “If you are with me, I go with joy.”

The Garland City Chamber Players are members of the Garland City Consort. The consort formed in 2016 as a Baroque chamber orchestra for the Chequamegon Bay area.