A series of concerts in New Castle County features music for the harpsichord, a forerunner of the piano.
The performance series, called “Harpsichord Heaven,” is presented by Brandywine Baroque, an organization that focuses on early music, from the Baroque and Classical Eras. To present the music, five guest artists from across the country are headed to the First State. Karen Flint is Brandywine Baroque’s artistic director, as well as one of the performers.
“We have six players performing,” she says. “One is from Connecticut, three are from New York, one's from California, and me. Each person does an individual concert and we also put together a program - the final program, all six of us will play.”
“Harpsichord Heaven" will also feature a lecture from Arthur Haas, one of the country’s leading interpreters of early music and a professor at Yale and Stonybrook Universities.
Sharing the stage with the performers will be six antique harpsichords from Flint’s collection. The oldest dates back to the 1500s.
While the harpsichord looks much like a piano, Flint says it works - and sounds - different.
“It's lighter,” she explains. “It's actually a very fast action, so it's easy to play pretty rapidly on it.”
Concerts begin on Friday, April 24 and run through the weekend.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
