Roots in the Ground - Early Music from Italy

Paul Shipper, baroque guitar and theorbo Eric Rieger, tenor voice Aimee Rieger, baroque violin Valerie Arsenault, baroque violin Brian Arsenault, baroque viola Kim Jones, baroque cello
The Bach Parley is excited to welcome several new musicians at the November 6th and 7th performances. Aimée Rieger, a baroque violinist who recently moved to Tallahassee, is the curator responsible for choosing the music and themes of Roots in the Ground – Early Music from Italy. Eric Rieger, Aimée’s husband and voice professor at the FSU College of Music, will sing pieces by Barbara Strozzi, Benedetto Ferrari, and Claudio Monteverdi. Guest artist Paul Shipper will play Baroque guitar and theorbo, which is like a lute on steroids with up to 16 separate strings. These three new faces will join the Bach Parley’s usual suspects, Music Director Valerie Arsenault (plus a cameo by Brian Arsenault) and cellist Kim Jones.

The “Roots in the Ground” theme has profound significance for Amy Rieger, both musically and  personally. She says, “In music, a ground bass is a short theme, usually in the bass voice, which repeats continuously and allows for freedom of variation in the other voices. We know that this music was intended to highlight as many contrasting human emotions to balance the humors, or elements in the body; light and dark, joy and sorrow, love and hate, excitement and calm. Because my family and I have moved 14 times throughout Europe and the US, I have asked myself many times, “What is home?” My family is where my home is, but my violin has rooted me in a way that nothing else really can. Live music experiences can give one a deeper connection with oneself, with others, with nature, and with time and space. It is something you can return to repeatedly and yet it is never exactly the same experience. Just like the stability and freedom found in ground basses in a Ciacona, Passacaglia, Folia and other musical forms found on our program. It is this relationship with music that roots me in the ground in each new place that we call home. I am excited to share this early Italian repertoire that has been such a significant part of my journey to my new home of Tallahassee.”