Berlin

Harpsichords of Germany

CLASSICAL MUSIC: This 30th season of the ARTEK (The Art of the Early Keyboard) Series is dedicated to the memory of the ensemble’s founding director Elizabeth H. Guiher.

The Immanuel Lutheran Church on the Upper East Side will be home to the ARETK (The Art of the Early Keyboard) Series, a two-day mini festival of concerts, workshops and discussions celebrating the German Harpsichord.

On Friday evening, the New York City early music ensemble ARTEK, directed by harpsichordist Gwendolyn Toth will play Bach’s “Overture in the French Style” and the “Concerto After the Italian Taste,” while a performance of Bach’s Concerto for Four Harpsichords, with Dongsok Shin (Ms. Toth’s husband), Bradley Brookshire and Stephen Rapp as soloists, will close the festival on Saturday.

This is a new opportunity to enjoy Bach, get a taste of Toth’s new harpsichord, a magnificent copy of a 1739 instrument by Johann Heinrich Gräbner of Dresden, and learn more about historical keyboard technique and early fingering.

ARTEK offers two uniquely engaging interactive workshops: one by Ms. Toth demonstrating the use of both a harpsichord and a clavichord (thought to be the best instrument to learn keyboard touch in the 18th century), and one by Mr. Shin, technician for the Metropolitan Museum and the Metropolitan Opera, on harpsichord quilling and maintenance. 

ARTEK (The Art of The Early Keyboard) Series I Immanuel Lutheran Church. Mar 13-14