Mélomanie
ABOUT - Mélomanie
The baroque/contemporary ensemble Mélomanie is known for its provocative pairings of early and contemporary works. The ensemble's performances of baroque and early classical music are historically informed and played on period instruments. In its contemporary practice, Mélomanie has collaborated with composers and guest artists in premieres of over fifty works, many featuring distinctly non-baroque elements—percussion, guitar, sitar, recorded sound, jazz ensemble, and spoken-word urban poetry.
Mélomanie’s 2020-2021 season will be streamed video—five 30-minute programs highlighting their newly released CDs, with baroque music, contemporary music, duos, solos, and composer interviews—recorded at the Delaware Historical Society with Meyer Media / Swan Studios. Watch for a schedule of the release of the videos!
Mélomanie--Donna Fournier, viola da gamba; Ismar Gomes, cello; Kimberly Reighley, flute; Tracy Richardson, harpsichord; and Christof Richter, violin—has delighted audiences throughout the East Coast and internationally with masterful performances of baroque and early classic treasures along with innovative collaborations with guest performers and composers.
In addition to its acclaimed recording of quartets of Georg Philipp Telemann on Lyrichord’s Early Music Series, Mélomanie’s previous recordings for Meyer Media, Florescence and Excursions, present a broad range of new works—all written expressly for the ensemble—that are captivating and ingratiating while offering novelty and challenge.
Mélomanie released its next recording on Meyer Media, Up to the Light, a double disc CD featuring the four major works from its long collaboration with award-winning composer Mark Hagerty.
Mélomanie Discography
Up to the Light
Up to the Light (2021)
Mélomanie’s fifth new-music recording, the double CD Up to the Light, captures the four major works resulting from the ensemble’s remarkable decades-long collaboration with award-winning composer Mark Hagerty.
The composer takes a novel approach with each work. Trois Rivières (remastered here from Mélomanie’s CD, Florescence), an evocative set of three chaconnes, takes full advantage of the opulent late French baroque harpsichord sound and uses all baroque instruments, including two baroque flutes. The energetic and episodic Ultraviolet (reproduced here from Mélomanie’s CD of the same name) adds an exotic array of percussion for a strikingly original sonic amalgam.
New with this recording, Icelandic Songs, Sacred and Secular is a set of colorful arrangements of traditional songs, ranging from the deeply spiritual to the harshly primitive. Also new, Up to the Light adds vibraphone and chime in an extended set of variations that reflect on the dedicatee’s life-long journey from the dark trauma of war “up to the light.”
a hint of light remains
a hint of light remains (2020)
Mélomanie’s fourth release of music written expressly for this baroque/contemporary ensemble, a hint of light remains, features its virtuosic co-founders, flutist Kimberly Reighley and harpsichordist Tracy Richardson.
Baroque, standard, and alto flute are heard in an exploration of the sonic and expressive possibilities of this instrumental pairing.
Suzanne Sorkin’s colorful and poetic a hint of light remains requires the duo’s full mastery of modern idioms.
Oliveira’s The Four Gifts of God, an extensive meditation on creation, uses baroque flute to both primitive and delicate effect.
Mark Hagerty’s Trefoil for alto flute and harpsichord features rhythmic outbursts not ordinarily demanded of these two instruments, followed by a meditative barcarole, and ending with an homage to the album’s dedicatee.
Completing the set is David Schelat’s Just a Regular Child, a refreshing and melodic evocation of childhood. The project is dedicated to the memory of Mélomanie’s long-time friend and collaborator, Brazilian composer Sergio Roberto de Oliveira.
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet (2020)
Ultraviolet is Mélomanie’s exquisite third recording of new music composed for the baroque/contemporary ensemble.
The two-disc album demonstrates the musicians’ finesse in any modern idiom, and the varied works both challenge and delight. The selections range from highly personal reflections on nature, in Larry Nelson’s Moonbow and Bonnie McAlvin’s Sandstone Peak, to vivid evocations of ancient and modern Greece, in Robert Maggio’s Aegean Airs. Exotic elements enrich the sonic worlds of Richard Belcastro’s Buddleja Davidii, with Belcastro on sitar, and Mark Hagerty’s Ultraviolet, with guest artist Chris Hanning playing percussion instruments from around the world. The composers, each with a distinctive voice, write characteristically for the instruments while drawing novel sounds from the ensemble.
It’s a stunning and varied collection of masterful works for this unique virtuoso ensemble. You haven’t heard anything like it—even if you already know Mélomanie’s work.