Join us for a unique musical experience inspired by the recent conservation of the MFA’s 17th-century Spanish tabernacle, featuring St. Pete Baroque, an ensemble dedicated to giving new life to old masterpieces, giving a voice to newly discovered works, and bringing audiences the eccentric and improvisatory nature of baroque music.

The Baroque Period lasted the longest in western musical culture and spanned roughly 150 years, from 1600-1750. Yet we hear so little of it in contemporary concert halls. Most of this music was for small ensembles with unique instruments before the standardization of the orchestra that we know today. This was a flourishing point in history when cultures and ideas began to collide rapidly. The violin family had only just been invented while many instruments of the old world (harpsichord, lute, viola da gamba, viola d’amore, and baroque winds) were still widely used. You can expect to see bizarre and rare instruments in St. Pete Baroque’s performances, as they perform on period instruments and seek to capture music in the present as it was many years ago.

Marly Music Series | St. Pete Baroque 
Sunday, December 8, 2024
1:00 PM–2:00 PM
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
Marly Room
$15 for MFA Members; $30 for Not-Yet-Members

TICKETS

PROGRAM

Trio Sonata in D minor – Juan and José Pla (fl 1747-1773, 1728-1762)

Fandango from Guitar-Quintet n. 4 in D Major G. 448, arr by Raffaele Tiseo – Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)

Sonata in B-Flat Major, k. 544, Cantabile – Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

La Folia – Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

O Magnum Mysterium - Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)

Recercada Primera (ILL Tratado de glosas, Rome 1553) – Diego Ortiz (1510-1570)

Recercada Primera “La Sagna”

Recercada Segunda

Program Subject to Change

FEATURING:

DANIEL URBANOWICZ
Artistic Director
Baroque Viola d’amore/Viola/violin

As a historical performance musician, Dan has been a featured guest artist with the Colorado Chamber Players where his composition “La Folia” for two violas d’amore was premiered in 2019. Additionally Dan has appeared with the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Piccolo Spoleto, The College of Charleston, and as a guest lecturer/recitalist at Augusta University.  Apart from baroque endeavors Dan is currently a violist in the Sarasota Orchestra. Urbanowicz performs regularly with the Jacksonville Symphony and The Florida Orchestra. Dan has played with the New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the Atlantic Symphony, Gulfshore Opera, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the Firelands Orchestra, and the Plymouth Philharmonic. Urbanowicz has served as principal violist of the Augusta Symphony, Charlottesville Opera, Gulfshore Opera, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra. His principal teachers include Martha Katz and Jeffrey Irvine. Mr Urbanowicz plays on a 2017 Robert Clemens Viola. Urbanowicz’s viola d’amore is from the 19th century and is of unknown origin. Urbanowicz holds a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and a bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

SARAH SHELLMAN
Baroque Violin

Sarah Shellman is currently principal second violin with The Florida Orchestra; she joined the ensemble as a section violinist in 2002. She last appeared as a soloist on the TFO Masterworks series in March 2011, performing Thomas Ades’  Violin Concerto “Concentric Paths.” She’s also been featured on the Coffee series programs performing “Winter” and “Spring” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor with Nancy Chang.
During the summer, Shellman performs as a member of the orchestra at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz, California). She is an advocate for the performance of works by living composers as well as for the expansion of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the classical music profession.
Shellman graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in music and the University of Houston in 2000 with a master’s degree in music. While living in Houston, she played with the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, and as a freelance musician. In addition to her work on the modern violin, she has also performed with several early music ensembles as a violinist, violist, and mezzo-soprano.

SCOTT KLUKSDAHL
Baroque Cello

Cellist Scott Kluksdahl has performed for nearly four decades as chamber musician, recitalist and soloist in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Central and South America.

Following a daring New York debut program of cutting-edge modern works at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Strings Magazine identified Scott Kluksdahl as “a simply superb cellist, playing with consummate technical ease, a beautiful sound, total conviction, authority and dedication to the music.”  Scott Kluksdahl’s devotion to the works of current composers is widely regarded, and he is known for his close affiliations with Nicolas Bacri, Richard Brodhead, David Del Tredici, Robert Helps, Gunther Schuller, Augusta Read Thomas and Richard Wernick, whose works he has commissioned, studied, and recorded.  He has also collaborated with Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Tamar Diesendruck, Philip Lasser, Eric Moe, Laura Elise Schwendinger and Scott Wheeler, and he has worked closely with American legends Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, Andrew Inbrie, Donald Martino, and Ralph Shapey.  As cello soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Kluksdahl premiered Philip Lasser’s Vocalise for Cello and Orchestra at Symphony Hall, and he has made acclaimed recordings of many of these composers’ works on the CRI, Centaur, Triton, Pierian, Nimbus, Crystal, and Albany labels.

Scott Kluksdahl presented his solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony, and since then he has performed a broad gamut of his instrument’s repertory throughout the entire United States and in the major musical centers of New York City, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.   Kluksdahl has been heard in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, Dame Myra Hess Series, Phillips Collection and Tanglewood Music Festival, and continues to perform the complete cycle of Bach Suites for cello, notably at the Oregon and Philadelphia Bach Festivals.  He has been a frequent a guest chamber artist at the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, Music from Salem, Killington Music Festival, Craftsbury Chamber Players, Lancaster Music Festival, and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.  Scott Kluksdahl was a founding member of the Lions Gate Trio for two decades.  He also performed as cellist of the Veronika String Quartet, and he has been a guest artist with numerous ensembles including DaPonte, Miami and Pacifica String Quartets.

Scott Kluksdahl serves as Professor of Cello at the University of South Florida, where he is a designated Theodore and Venette Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar, and he has presented master classes in such institutions as Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  He teaches summers at the Brancaleoni International and the ARIA International Summer Festivals, as well as at the Cello Seminar at the Brown Farm in Salem, New York.  Mr. Kluksdahl’s commitment to teaching prompted the renowned cellist Zara Nelsova to remark, “It is rare to find a cellist who is equally at home as a concert artist as well as a great pedagogue. In my opinion Scott Kluksdahl has one of the great talents of his generation.”

BRENT DOUGLAS
Harpsichord/Organ

Recipient of the prestigious “Classical Musician of the Year” award presented by Creative Loafing Magazine Tampa Bay in 2016, Brent Douglas stands as an accomplished and passionate conductor with an extensive background in symphonic, operatic, and choral genres. His illustrious career has taken him across the United States and overseas, collaborating with esteemed organizations like the London Classical Players, Berlin Sinfonietta, and the National Women’s Chorus of Cuba. Notable positions held include Director of Orchestra and Chorus at Eckerd College for a remarkable nine years, Assistant Conductor for the Tampa Bay Symphony for two seasons, and Chorus Master with Gulfshore Opera and Opera Tampa. Furthermore, he has conducted captivating performances at renowned festivals and events such as the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival in Sicily, the Vienna Summer Music Festival, the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, and the Venice Symphony in Florida. In 2017, Douglas’s international career soared with a ground-breaking “blacklight” performance of “The Magic Flute” at the Düsseldorf Lyric Opera in Germany alongside the Vivazza Orchestra. With his extraordinary talent, unique concert design philosophy, and commitment to diverse programming, he has left audiences inspired and garnered acclaim from both critics and fellow musicians.

Beyond conducting, Douglas is a remarkable pianist, harpsichordist, and organist, lending his exceptional skills to performances with renowned orchestras such as The Florida Orchestra and St. Pete Baroque. He has also showcased his musical prowess with esteemed ensembles like The Springfield Symphony in Missouri, The Venice Symphony, The Sarasota Orchestra, and The Naples Philharmonic Orchestra. As an opera pianist and vocal coach, he has formed partnerships with acclaimed organizations including St. Petersburg Opera, Opera Tampa, the Springfield Regional Opera in Missouri, and the Savannah Voice Festival in Georgia.

In addition to his remarkable performing career, Douglas has made significant contributions to education and the performing arts administration field. During his tenure at Eckerd College, he not only taught choir, orchestra, piano, and organ but also led successful concert tours and initiated an innovative choral music commission project. His commitment to music education is further evident through his involvement in various adjudication panels, including the St. Petersburg Opera Guild College Competition, the Charlotte Symphony Young Professional Competition, and the Florida Vocal Association Music Performance Assessments. Notably, he served as the Managing Director of the Palladium Theater for five years, securing grants from the Pinellas County Arts Council and Music Teachers National Association for his educational initiatives and a self-founded chamber music series.

Douglas began his studies at Missouri State University and holds a Bachelor of Piano Performance and a Master of Conducting from the University of South Florida, where he studied under Dr. William Wiedrich and Dr. James Bass (UCLA). He has refined his skills through training with renowned conductors such as Leonardo Catalanotto in Sicily, Michael Francis of The Florida Orchestra, Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan, and Diane Wittry of the Allentown Symphony.

JOHN SHAW
Percussion

JOHN SHAW has been the principal percussionist with The Florida Orchestra since 1996. He is also the principal percussionist with the Eastern Music Festival, where he has been a faculty artist since 2008. Shaw earned a B.M. from Florida State University, where he studied with Gary Werdesheim, and a M.M. from Temple University as a student of noted Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist Alan Abel.

Over the past 24 years he has performed several concerti with The Florida Orchestra – including Joseph Schwantner’s Concerto for Percussion, Bela Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion, James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, and Tan Dun’s Water Concerto. His group, the Tampa Bay Steel Orchestra, was featured with The Florida Orchestra in 2005 and 2009.

With his wife, Anna Kate Mackle – principal harpist for The Florida Orchestra and Eastern Music Festival – he has commissioned several new chamber works for harp and percussion. Two such pieces, Nathan Daughtrey’s Labyrinth of Light and Michael Ippolito’s Wand’ring Fire, received their world premieres at EMF in 2018 and 2022, respectively.

Additionally, Shaw has taught at St. Petersburg College since 1996. He has performed with such artists as Sting, Seal, Idina Menzel, and Frank Sinatra, Jr., as well as Broadway touring productions of White Christmas and Anything Goes.

As an artist for Zildjian, Pearl/Adams, Grover and Freer Percussion, Shaw presented masterclasses at the Percussive Arts Society’s 2010 and 2013 International Conventions. He and Anna Kate live in St. Petersburg.

JONATHAN GODFREY
Guitar

Guitarist Dr. Jonathan Godfrey directs classical guitar studies at the University of South Florida and has been praised for his “elite artistry” (GuitarSarasota) and “invitingly poetic” performances (Boston Globe). He first gained national recognition in 2011 as the Grand Prize winner of the Boston GuitarFest International Composition Competition for his Sonatina for Guitar Solo. Since settling in the Tampa Bay area in 2012, Dr. Godfrey has become an integral part of the region’s music community, performing as a concerto soloist with The Florida Orchestra and appearing in over 80 concerts with the ensemble since 2018. He has also performed with the Sarasota Orchestra, Sarasota Opera, EnsembleNewSRQ, Choral Artists of Sarasota, Key Chorale, and members of the Jacksonville and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. He can regularly be seen performing alongside his wife, coloratura soprano Jenny Kim-Godfrey, in their duo Corda Voce. Dr. Godfrey holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University and a Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music.