727 755 1917
~Season 4
Concert Dates Below~
~Note from the director~
Dear Baroque Music Lovers,
I wanted to take a moment to lay out my vision for St Pete Baroque’s 4th season and beyond. It is hard to believe we are now in our 4th season! The past three years have been an absolute whirlwind. You are receiving this letter because you are part of our journey! When I began with the idea of bringing period music to Tampa Bay in 2020 I had no idea where this would lead me. There were tons of emails exchanged, many coffee dates with friends, and no shortage of love for baroque music and old instruments. Highlights of the past three seasons include receiving a grant to perform in the Palladium, receiving a wonderful review from nationally acclaimed music critic Betsy Schwarm, a successful collaboration with The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, appearing on the Tampa Bay Morning Blend, having numerous articles written by Kurt Loft in Creative Pinellas, and importing 5 guest artists from out of town who brought their talents to St Pete audiences. Additionally 75% of our programs have been free and open to the public, which allows every kind of person to pique their curiosity and experience sounds and sentiments from another time. We estimate that nearly 1000 people have experienced our concerts for free.
If all of that is not exciting enough I am the most excited about our future! Season 4 is looking bright and brimming with possibilities and I have an exciting announcement to make: We are presenting 5 programs this year and each program includes a special guest artist. These guest artists are coming from near and far, a violist d’amore from New York City, a viola da gamba player from Boulder Colorado, a baroque flute player from Washington DC, and a wonderful soprano from right here in Tampa.
In the spirit of collaboration, I need help from you! Please consider making a pre-season donation in any amount on our website stpetebaroque.org. Seriously, any amount from a couple dollars or upwards is really make or break for us. Our success story over the past three seasons has been because of you! Your sense of adventure and love of baroque music is what keeps me going and all of us going here at St Pete Baroque. Thank you, I cannot wait to see you at our concerts!
Yours Truly,
Dan Urbanowicz
Artistic Director
ABOUT ST PETE BAROQUE
We are dedicated to giving new life to old masterpieces, giving a voice to newly discovered works, and bringing audiences the eccentric and improvisatory nature of baroque music.
The Baroque Period lasted the longest in western musical culture and spanned roughly 150 years from ~1600-1750. Yet we hear so little of it's music in concert halls today. Most of this music was for small ensembles with unique instruments before the standardization of the orchestra that we know today. This was a flourishing point in history when cultures and ideas began to collide rapidly. The violin family had only just been invented while many instruments of the old world (harpsichord, lute, viola da gamba, viola d'amore, and baroque winds) were still widely used. You can expect to see bizarre and rare instruments in our performances. We perform on period instruments and seek to capture music in the present as it was many years
WELCOME TO ST PETE BAROQUE!
Tampa Bay's Baroque Music Ensemble.
"[Of St Pete Baroque's debut performance] The requisite Italian Baroque characteristics were there: sunniness, serenity, and effusion in turn. Gallo’s work demands close interaction and response between players, and the ensemble – Yuan Yuan Wang, violin; Scott Kluksdahl, cello; and Urbanowicz, not on standard viola, but on the more richly voiced viola d’amore – offered a seamless performance."
Betsy Schwarm
Music Historian - Author - Arts Critic
