ACRONYM baroque string band

“…the idiomatic performances and spacious recording by these young musicians are absolutely first-rate.” – Early Music America

ACRONYM is a 12-member string band that is distinguished by an ambitious program to unearth and revive forgotten masterpieces of the baroque era. The concert on August 15 at the Francestown Meeting house will focus on Sonatas and Canzons by Giovanni Valentini (1582-1649), who was Hofkapellmeister in Vienna from 1626-1649. With the exception of one piece, the music performed will be modern premieres of works newly transcribed from manuscript by the group’s leader, cellist and gamba player Kivie Cahn-Lipman. These works have not been performed since the early 17th century and are unpublished and unrecorded. Discussing Valentini’s only recorded work, Cahn-Lipmann says: “the one previously-performed/recorded piece is his Enharmonic Sonata, in which G Minor and B Minor are exchanged repeatedly, mostly homophonically. Valentini was fond of this sort of harmonic experimentation, and we’ll be playing a lot of music even more bizarre than this”.

Listen on YouTube to Valentini sonata

ACRONYM formed in 2012 to create the first recording of the complete “Alphabet Sonatas” of Johann Pezel. The period instrument group is devoted to resurrecting music of the past by giving modern premieres of long-lost works by forgotten composers. It’s second CD, instrumental sonatas by Antonio Bertali, was released in early 2014. Upcoming projects include concert tours of Pezel and Bertali, as well as the first recordings and modern performances of music by Samuel Capricornus, Johann Rosenmüller, and more. ACRONYM comes to EEC by way of Avaloch Farm Music Institute, where the group will be rehearsing intensively for an upcoming recording of Valentini’s music.

ACRONYM is

Violin & Viola: Adriane Post, Karina Schmitz

Violin: Beth Wenstrom, Edwin Huizinga, Johanna Novom

Viola: Kyle Miller

Cello: Paul Dwyer

Viola da Gamba: Kivie Cahn-Lipman, Loren Ludwig

Violone: Doug Balliett

Theorbo and Guitar: Simon Martyn-Ellis

Harpsichord and Organ: Elliot Figg