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Marin Baroque chamber orchestra, choir and soloists perform rarely heard music of Peru, Bolivia, Mexico and California from the 1500s-1800s. "My Pleasure, My Passion” (Tleycantimo Choquiliya) includes fourteen short works by Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, Gaspar Fernándes, Giovanni Battista Bassani, Manuel de Sumaya, and from Codex Martínez Compañón and Codex Zuola. Under the expert direction of Daniel Canosa, the Bay Area's leading vocalists and period instrumentalists present a multicultural mix of European and Indigenous melodies and rhythms in this early collection of treasures, sung in Latin, Spanish and the Uto-Aztecan language of the Nahuatl.
VOCAL SOLOISTS
![]() Katelan Bowden, sopranois a coloratura from Davis, CA. A graduate of UC Davis, Bowden, her career spans over two decades in opera, choral, lieder, Baroque, and beyond. She's sung at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, with New York Lyric Opera, Opera San Jose, and Phoenix Opera. She sings regularly with San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and has performed with Capella SF, Marin Baroque, Apollo Arts, Sacramento Opera Chorus, Camerata Chorus, and Contra Costa Children’s Chorus. | ![]() John Kendall Bailey, bassis also a baritone, oboist, pianist, lecturer, writer, composer, and conductor. He has performed with San Francisco Symphony among many other orchestras, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Midsummer Mozart and West Marin music festivals, San Francisco Bach Choir, Volti, Coro Hispano de San Francisco, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Sacred and Profane, Masterworks Chorale of San Mateo, Marin Baroque, and several dance and opera companies. | ![]() Helene Zindarsian, sopranois a frequent soloist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and has been featured with Marin Symphony, Marin Oratorio, Contra Costa Chorale, Marin Baroque, American Bach Soloists, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Opera Chorus, Mark Morris Dance Group, Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, and Park Ridge Civic Orchestra. Her album “Janabar,” a collection of Armenian liturgical hymns, internationally debuted in Messina, Italy, presented by Filarmonica Laudamo, with whom she's a regular guest. |
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![]() Dan Cromeenes, tenoris a versatile musician who has performed professionally as a countertenor soloist, choral singer, and collaborative pianist. A native of southern California, he first moved to San Francisco to perform with the ensemble Chanticleer, and has since flourished in the Bay Area’s music scene. He has sung with American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Cantata Collective, Bach Collegium San Diego, and Oregon Bach Festival. He's also staff accompanist at Santa Clara University | ![]() Jessica Winn, mezzo-sopranoreceived her bachelor's degree in music at Mannes College and her master's at San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2009 and immediately began a teaching and performing career, maintaining an active voice and piano studio since 2011. She has performed with Opera San Jose, Phoenix Opera, Berkeley Chamber Opera, Verismo Opera, West Edge Opera, Marin Baroque, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and the Manhattan Opera Studio. | ![]() Jefferson Packer, bassis a soloist at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. In addition to frequent appearances with Marin Baroque, First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo, Philharmonia Baroque, American Bach Soloist, and Grace Cathedral, he has soloed with California Bach Society, Soli Deo Gloria, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, and the Queer Chorus of San Francisco. Jefferson is also an active vocal accompanist and coach, holding a master’s degree in Piano Performance from San Francisco State University. |
![]() Corey Head, tenoris an early music specialist, opera singer, and voice teacher. He has worked with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, San Francisco Symphony, and American Bach Soloists, and has also been a soloist with Albany Consort, Bay Choral Guild, Chora Nova, Marin Baroque, Marin Oratorio, Marin Symphony, San Francisco Choral Society, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Stanford Choirs and Orchestras, and Viva La Musica. |
Music Director
Aaron Westman
Baroque Violin
Anna Washburn
Baroque Violin
Farley Pearce
Baroque Cello
Roy Whelden
Violone
Letitia Berlin, Frances Blaker
Recorders
Eugene Petrushansky
Harpsichord
Allen Biggs
Percussion
George Benton England
Baroque Guitar
Naomi Peterkin
Linda Price
Christina Schifner-Santchi
Betsy Levine-Proctor
Edward Betts
William Betts
Mark Mueller
Fred Goff
Carl Oser
Chorus

PROGRAM
Para Dar Luz Inmortal
Mission Santa Clara - Compiled by Narciso Duran (1776-1846) - California
Tleycantimo Choquiliya (My pleasures, My Passion)
Gaspar Fernándes (ca. 1565-1629) - Puebla, Mexico
Cachua: La Despedida, de Guamachuco
Anonymous, Codex Martínez Compañón, (s. XVIII) - Trujillo, Peru
Angelica Milicias
Manuel de Zumaya (1678-1755) - Oaxaca, Mexico
Lanchas Para Baylar
Codex Martínez Compañón
Concierto Pizzicato
Anonymous, Musical Archive of Chiquitos y Moxos, Ed. P. Nawrot - Bolivia
Entre los Alamos Verdes
Anonymous, Codex Zuola (s. XVII) - Cuzco, Peru
Desvelado Dueño Mio
Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco (1644-1728) - Lima, Peru
Misa a la Fuga de St. Joseph
Arr. Giovanni Battista Bassani (1650-1716) - Musical Archive of Chiquitos, Ed. P. Nawrot
Xochipitzahuatl (Flor Menuda)
Anonymous, Traditional - Central Mexico
Tonada del Congo
Codex Martínez Compañón
Eso Rigor e Repente
Gaspar Fernándes
Andres, Do queda el Ganado?
Gaspar Fernándes
A Este Sol Peregrino
Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco
GASPAR FERNÁNDES
Portuguese-born composer Gaspar Fernándes arrived in the New World in 1599 and served first as organist and chapel master at the cathedral in Guatemala, moving to what is now Mexico in 1606 where he worked in Puebla until his death in 1629.
TOMÁS DE TORREJÓN Y VELASCO
Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco was born and raised in Spain, but he pursued his musical career in Peru. He is best known as the composer of the earliest surviving opera written in the New World, titled “La Púrpura De La Rosa.”
MANUEL DE ZUMAYA
Manuel de Sumaya, or Zumaya (b. 1680 Mexico City, d. 1755 Oaxaca), was a composer, organist, and chapel master who is usually considered the most prolific representative of Baroque music in the Americas. Author of the first Mexican opera, Zumaya’s music is found in collections in the cathedrals of Mexico and Oaxaca and other churches from the New Spain territories, now part of the US and Guatemala.
CODEX MARTÍNEZ COMPAÑÓN
Codex Martínez Compañón is the first folkloric research done in America in the dioceses of Trujillo by the bishop Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón y Bujanda (1737-1797). During his extensive visit to his spiritual domains, Martínez Compañón made notes on the most diverse aspects observed in the life of the people of his diocese, including 1,411 beautiful watercolors, 38 of which refer directly or indirectly to music. Included on his notes are 20 music manuscripts of transcriptions of what he heard while people were singing and dancing.
CODEX ZUOLA
The Codex Zuola from Cuzco, Peru, was one of the first documents about ancient Latin American music. This important collection of anonymous music was brought together by Fray Gregorio de Zuola, a Franciscan, who served some dozen years at Cochabamba in what is now Bolivia (1666-1678), and later transferred to the Urquillos and Cuzco where he died on November 28, 1709. The songs on the Zuola codex are of great interest because they can be seen as an intermediary between the Hispanic tradition of tonos humanos, and the traditional monody of the Andes area of Peru, Chile and Argentina.
HISTORY
The Spanish conquest of the New World began within a few years of its exploration and Indigenous populations were enslaved through a system of forced labor. Free Africans came to the New World beginning in 1492, but as early as 1513 the Spanish began to import African slaves to work in mines and on plantations. Although set against this backdrop of enslavement and abuse, the Catholic Church, in some cases, worked to create ties with the Indigenous and African populations. On an institutional level they were working to acculturate these populations into Spanish culture and religious practices. However, many individuals worked to preserve Indigenous languages and cultural artifacts, attempting to derive inspiration from the people of this new land for their own edification and for future generations. Preferring to shun the rigidity of the Old World, they embraced the seemingly limitless wonders of this New World. In an effort to reach out to ethnic communities, Spanish church composers incorporated Indigenous languages—African-Spanish or Portuguese dialects—and characteristic rhythmic elements, from both cultures, into newly composed music. Many of these compositions are in the form of villancicos centered on the celebration of Christmas. Other composers and clerics just wrote down what they heard in town squares, on the street, and in the countryside. These codices were treasures that are rarely heard nowadays. These multicultural mixings of European melodies and harmonic structure with African and Indigenous rhythms and melodies underpin traditional Latin American music today.