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2026 Capitol Hill
Chamber Music Festival
~
Period Instrument chamber music from six centuries ~
2026:
THE QUALITY OF
MERCY
The
2026 Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival celebrates
our shared humanity
through the musical depiction of experiences of
conflict resolution and compassion,
featuring 17th and 18th-century chamber music
performed by period
instrument specialists from around the country and
Canada.
September
20 - October 9, 2026
~
Please click the appropriate concert location to the
left for specific dates ~
Please
join our MAILING
LIST for updated schedule announcements
(please specify Baltimore, Annapolis or Washington,
DC)
2026
#1 • THESE
DISTRACTED TIMES •
•
September 20-22, 2026
•
Susie
Napper
~
viola da gamba
~
Elisabeth
Wright
~
harpsichord
~
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
baroque flute
~
Suites
entitled La Paix
(Peace) and Le
Guerre (War)
by Monteclair,
settings by
Francesco Barsanti
and Francesco
Geminiani of
Scottish ballads
associated with the
Battle of Flodden
Field in 1513 and a
soldier's sad
farewell, and A
Sad Pavan for
these Distracted
Times by
Thomas Tomkins,
written following
the execution of
Charles I and the
destruction of his
organ ... these all
reflect the
18th-century
composer's insight
in providing
perspective and
solace in the face
of discord and
suffering and are to
be included among
other works by the
warrior king and
flutist Frederick
the Great, Johann
Sebastian Bach and
George Friderick
Handel, alongside a
solo for viola da
gamba by Carl
Friedrich Abel.
★
★ ★
•
Monday,
September 21 at 7 PM
in Baltimore
•
•
Tuesday,
September 22 at 7 PM
in Annapolis
•
★
★
★
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2026
#2 • A CHACONNE FOR PEACE •
Melisande
Corriveau
~
pardessus de viole
~
Susie
Napper
~
viola da gamba ~
Elisabeth
Wright
~
harpsichord
~
Jeffrey
Cohan
Les Voix
humaines, the widely
celebrated prize-winning
duo of viols from
Montreal, joins us in a
program illuminating the
role of the chaconne in
France as the culminating
statement of an opera's
content at the court of
Louis XIV. In Jean
Baptiste Lully's "Phaeton"
(1683), warring nations
are unified in global
harmony. "Le Temple de la
Paix" was premiered in
1685 two days after Louis
XIV revoked the Edict of
Nantes. Chaconnes from
these operas, in
remarkable transcriptions
from 1713 for chamber
music presentation to
Louis XIV by his court
librarian Philidor l'Ainé
that Jeffrey Cohan
discovered at the
Bibliotheque Nationale in
Paris, will be presented
alongside Couperin's "La
Paix de Parnasse" and
other selections by Marin
Marais and Arcangelo
Corelli, which demonstrate
the stylistic chasm
between French and Italian
styles that was debated
vociferously in France
during the mid-18th
century (the "Guerre des
Bouffons").
The
rarely heard pardessus de
viole is the
highest-pitched member of
the fretted viol family of
stringed instruments,
corresponding to the
violin but played in the
lap, alongside the viola
da gamba or bass viol,
also fretted like a guitar
and with a range
approximating that of the
cello.
★
★ ★
•
Sunday
afternoon, September 27 at
2:00 PM
in Baltimore
•
•
Sunday evening,
September 27 at
7 PM
in Annapolis
•
★
★ ★
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2026 #3
• THE QUALITY OF
MERCY •
SHAKESPEARE IN VENICE 1600
•
October 7-9, 2026
•
Marlisa
del Cid Woods
~
baroque violin
~
Anna
Marsh
~
dulcian/renaissance bassoon
~
William
Simms
~
baroque guitar and theorbo
~
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
renaissance flute
~
Shakespeare
asserted that The
quality of mercy
is not strain’d,
it droppeth as
the gentle rain
from heaven
in The
Merchant of
Venice,
first performed in
1605. The Italian
chamber music from
this time to be
included in this
program was imbued
with humanism's
late 16th and
early 17th century
perspective that
brought human
emotion,
individualism and
an obsession with
the heroic ever
more poignantly
into public
consciousness in
all the arts.
Music embraced
greater
chromaticism and
emotional
palpability,
leading to the
unfolding of what
we think of today
as baroque style.
Stunning and
relatively unknown
musical selections
by Cima,
Buonamente,
Merula,
Frescobaldi and
"L'Eroica" by
Andrea Falconieri
are to be
performed on
instruments seldom
heard today.
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~
Earlier concerts last 2025 season
~
1 • The
18th-CENTURY HARPSICHORD IN SPAIN •
•
August 1-3, 2025
•
Irene
Roldàn
~
solo harpsichord
~
 Sebastián
de Albero (1722-1756)
Recercata
prima – Fuga prima
–
Sonata primae
Antonio
Soler (1729 - 1783)
Preludio
IV in F minor
Preludio
I in D minor
Preludio III in C Major
Carlos
Seixas (Portugal, 1704
– 1742)
Sonata
in F minor – Moderato
Minuet in F major
Sonata in F minor–
Allegro
José
de Nebra (1702 – 1768)
Sinfonia
II in E minor
Sinfonia
VIII in C
Major-minor
Félix
Máximo López
(1742 - 1821)
Variaciones
del Fandango
espanol
The
listener will step into the heart of
18th-century Iberia, where the vibrant
court of Madrid stood as a focal point
for the flourishing of rich keyboard
music. Domenico Scarlatti, with his
masterful keyboard sonatas, cast a
considerable shadow over contemporaneous
composers unfairly labeled as mere
imitators. Sebastian de Albero, Jose de
Nebra, and the Portuguese Carlos Seixas
forged unique voices while incorporating
a wide range of influences into their
work, from the Spanish Golden Age and
Iberian folklore to Italian virtuosity.
Hidden gems, like Nebra's symphonies,
await discovery. As Scarlatti's sonatas
remain iconic, the listener will delve
into the overlooked brilliance of these
composers, poised for a deserved
spotlight in the keyboard repertoire.
Award-winning
harpsichordist Irene Roldán
(www.ireneroldan.com)
was born in southern Spain in 1997.
Described by the press as one of the
most prominent Spanish harpsichordists
on the international scene (ABC
Sevilla), Irene currently lives and
works in Basel, Switzerland. She gained
international recognition in 2021, when
she won first prize, never previously
awarded in this competition, as well as
the audience prize at the III.
International Harpsichord Competition
«Città di Milano». In the same year, her
ensemble Flor Galante secured the first
prize at the IV. International Bach
Competition in Berlin. One year later,
Irene was honored with the prestigious
Bach Prize and an additional special
award at the XXXIII. International Bach
Competition held in Leipzig, Germany.
★ ★
★
• Friday
evening, August 1 in Washington
at 7:00 PM •
• Saturday
evening, August 2 in Annapolis
at 7:30 PM •
• Sunday
afternoon, August 3 in Baltimore
at 2:00 PM
•
★ ★
★
Irene
Roldàn’s participation in these
performances has been made possible
with help from the Honorary
Consulate of Spain in Seattle and
from to the Programme for the
Internationalisation of Spanish
Culture (PICE) of Acción Cultural
Española (AC/E), which seeks to
promote Spanish culture through the
inclusion of Spanish artists and
creators residing in Spain in the
programming of cultural events
outside of Spain.
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2 •
BAROQUE IN TRANSITION II •
•
August 5, 6 & 10, 2025
•
~
harpsichord
~
Marlisa
del Cid Woods
~
violin ~
Jeffrey
Cohan
~
renaissance and baroque traverse
flutes
~
The canzona, having
appeared in the 1570's
as a more vocally
inspired instrumental
form following the
earlier ricercare,
evolved into the
familiar sonata as it
became ever more
instrumentally
idiosyncratic and
virtuosic. The
17th
century saw the
development of wildly
new instrumental colors
alongside intense
discussion and
disagreement between
proponents of the
diverging Italian and
French styles.
In
a continuation of last
year's exploration, early
17th-century works for
violin with Renaissance
transverse flute, violin and
harpsichord
illuminate a period
of transition between
Renaissance and Baroque
styles, and contrast with
early 18th-century trios for
these instruments.
★
★ ★
• Sunday,
August 10 in Annapolis
at 7:30 PM •
★
★ ★
|
Irene
Roldàn
~
harpsichord
~
Jeffrey
Cohan
Irene
Roldàn and Jeffrey interpret the
phenomenal music by Johann Sebastian
Bach for flute and harpsichord
alongside four sonatas by Domenico
Scarlatti for solo harpsichord and one
with flute.
★
★ ★
•
Thursday
evening, August 7
in Annapolis
at 7:30 PM •
• Friday
evening, August 8 in Washington
at 7:00 PM •
• Sunday
afternoon, August 10 in Baltimore
at 2:00 PM
•
★
★ ★
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The
Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival has
since 2000 presented chamber music by
familiar as well as little-known composers
from the Renaissance through the present on
Capitol Hill in period instrument
performances which shed new light upon early
performance practice and contemporary works.
Unpublished works from the Library of
Congress are given particular attention, and
many have received their modern day
premieres during these concerts, in addition
to premieres of works by Slovenian
composers. The Capitol Hill Chamber Music
Festival is a nonprofit corporation in the
District of Columbia and an affiliate
organization of Early Music America.
~ updated September 9,
2026 ~
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for additional concert information via email
and occasionally by snail mail.
for
concert announcements including additional
program information.
by writing to: CHCMF@aol.com ~
thank you!
CHCMF
banner: detail from "Indeterminate
Landscape" by James C. Holl.
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