Musica Pacifica at Penn State Behrend March 23, 2010

Musica Pacifica, widely recognized as one of North America’s premier baroque ensembles, will perform at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, this month as part of Music at Noon: The Logan Series.

The final performance in The Logan Series’ 20th anniversary season takes place at noon on Tuesday, March 23, in the McGarvey Commons of the Reed Union Building. Admission is free and open to the public.

Mining a rich vein of Baroque literature for mixed wind and string ensemble, Musica Pacifica performs the spirited chamber concerti of Vivaldi and Telemann, colorful dance suites from the courts and opera houses of France, rousing folk music from Ireland and Scotland, and the more intimate solo, duo, and trio sonatas from countries as diverse as Poland, Spain, Austria and England.

Since its founding in 1990, Musica Pacifica has been described by the chamber-music press as “some of the finest baroque musicians in America” (American Record Guide) and “among the best in the world” (Alte Musik Aktuell). At home in the San Francisco Bay area, the ensemble artists are members of Philharmonia Baroque and American Bach Soloists, and appear with many other prominent early-music ensembles nationally and abroad.

Musica Pacifica’s stylish, high-energy, and virtuoso performances have consistently received enthusiastic reviews from critics and audiences alike. These qualities have led to appearances in such prestigious chamber and early-music concert series as Music Before 1800 and at the Frick Collection, Tage Alter Musik, the Shrine to Music Museum, the Cleveland Art Museum, the Pittsburgh Renaissance and Baroque Society, the Seattle Early Music Guild, Milwaukee’s Early Music Now, the Houston Early Music Society, the Los Angeles County Museum, the San Diego Early Music Society, and the Cambridge Early Music Society, among others. They have performed at festivals in Germany and Austria and have been heard on German National Radio and on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and “Harmonia.”

As part of their Music at Noon: The Logan Series engagement, the ensemble also will perform for students at the City of Erie’s Diehl Elementary School.

The Logan Series receives major support from the Kay Logan Trust and additional funding from the Penn State Behrend Student Activity Fee, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts and the Erie Arts Endowment of ArtsErie. For additional information about The Logan Series or Musica Pacifica’s performance, contact Dr. Gary Viebranz, series director, at 814-898-6289.