Music faculty members perform English baroque pieces

Tonight’s “Baroque in English” performance counters the old saying, “Those who can’t do, teach.”

Six music faculty members will play pieces from English baroque composers — including Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel — as part of UNC’s William S. Newman Artists Series.

The show is also part of the 2014 North Carolina Historically Informed Performance, or “HIP,” Festival.

The performers include three vocalists and three instrumental musicians, who will play on traditional Baroque-period instruments — the violin de gamba, baroque cello, violin and harpsichord.

“We are really trying to perform these pieces as they would have been performed in Baroque times,” said Bobb Robinson, baritone vocalist and opera director in the music department.

“It’s really uncomplicated and lets the music speak for itself.”

Robinson said he began learning how to perform baroque-style music in graduate school.

“I like baroque music because most of it was written to be performed for royalty, so you always feel sort of elevated when you’re playing it,” he said.

The coordinator of the event, Brent Wissick, said the HIP Festival aims to show that classical music is still relevant and cool.

Wissick, who is also a music professor, will be playing the baroque cello and viola de gamba in the recital. The festival hosts concerts at various venues in Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill through February.

Wissick has taught at UNC for 33 years, and he said his interest in baroque music began when he started playing the cello as a child. He said he saw a violin de gamba in a museum in Boston, and that it has been a passion and interest ever since.

Robinson said vocalists rehearsed individually before coming together with the three instrumental musicians.

“It’s always fun to be able to work with faculty colleagues on music we love,” UNC senior music lecturer Jeanne Fischer said.

“We have been rehearsing since early January and have all enjoyed the preparation process very much.”

Wissick said he is excited for the atmosphere Person Hall — a relatively small venue — will create.

“It will be more intimate than the ones in Memorial Hall,” he said.

“You’ll feel like you’re in an 18th-century salon listening to music where you can reach out and touch the musicians instead of being in a huge concert hall.”

Fischer also said the instruments played in the show will create a unique sound, which will be different from a more conventional chamber music concert.

“I hope the audience will find the concert entertaining and will leave with an appreciation for the vibrant music that was happening in 17th- and 18th-century England,” she said.

arts@dailytarheel.com