Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, closed its 2024-25 season with a celebration of two of George Friderich Handel’s favorite operatic divas: Faustina Bordoni and Santina Tasca. 

Handel composed signature works for the two Venetian powerhouses and mezzo-sopranos Meg Bragle and Gabriela Estephanie Solis performed duets and arias the great baroque music master wrote for Bordoni and Tasca in concerts May 17 at the Trinity Center in Center City and May 18 at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill.

Two of Tempesta’s intrepid musicians who are part of Philadelphia’s accomplished band of period players – lutenists Richard Stone and Cameron Welke – performed a delightful extension of the season Sunday, June 1, at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Bryn Mawr. The pair, known as the “Duo Silvio,” played music by Bach, Vivaldi and Weiss.

During the Renaissance and Baroque eras, the gut-strong lute was as popular as the metal-strung guitar is today. But while the more elegant lute held sway with the aristocracy, the more forceful guitar gained popularity. Particularly, throughout the immense Spanish and Portuguese Empires, the guitar became the popular instrument of choice – and remains so to this day throughout Latin America.

Stone and Welke performed Bach’s “Sinfonia,” BWV 29; Weiss’ “Duet in D,” “Duet in C,” and “Duet in F;” and Vivaldi’s “Variations on the theme, Folia.”

The venue for the recital, the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, was worth the trip over to the Main Line in and of itself. Built in the 19th century in response to the “Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement,” which began in England’s premier university, it’s an architectural showcase of the commitment within the Church of England to re-establish the traditions of the 16th century pre-Reformation Church in England.

For more information, visit tempestadimare.org.

N.E.A. Grants

Several weeks ago, Tempesta di Mare Executive Director Ulrike Shapiro announced that the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra had lost $30,000 in government funding. Shapiro responded to the loss in a statement about the Trump administration’s cancellation of grants traditionally awarded to local arts institutions throughout the country.

“Like countless other organizations, schools, institutions and agencies,” she wrote, “Tempesta di Mare learned last Friday that our previously awarded grant of $30,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts had been withdrawn.

“I just filed an appeal,” she continued. “I also spoke earlier this week with The Philadelphia Inquirer, where I quoted the NEA’s motto that “a great nation deserves great art.”

Shapiro goes on to request that local lovers of all the arts – music, theater, film, visual arts – step up and defend federal funding of the arts by writing to our elected government representatives – local, county, state and federal – to remind them that they represent our interests.

In a similar vein, Helen Eaton, Chief Executive Officer of Settlement Music School, which operates five branches including one in Germantown, wrote, “This past Friday, we were one of many arts organizations across the country that received a deeply concerning email notifying us that our grant from the NEA was being cut off. The reason given was that the project in question no longer aligns with the priorities of the current (Trump) administration. 

 “At Settlement,” Eaton continued, “we are fortunate. Our NEA grant for this school year has already been received in full. That $40,000 directly supported 113 children who attend Kaleidoscope, our full-day arts-integrated pre-school. But given the direction of these policy changes, we do not expect this critical funding to be renewed for the next school year.”

 Like Ulrike Shapiro, Eaton encourages those who love and value the arts to rise to the challenge by contacting our local elected officials to register our disagreement with the currently emerging policy of eliminating the arts from the lives of everyday Americans. 

 You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net.