Chamber Music Society concert at Bethesda will feature music of Bach, Handel

The Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach will present a concert featuring soprano Joélle Harvey and oboist James Austin Smith, performing the music of Bach and Handel at 7 p.m. today at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea.

Harvey has performed in numerous venues around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House and with the New York Philharmonic. Smith also has performed globally and has worked with the International Contemporary Ensemble and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

They will be joined by guest artists including violinists Tessa Lark, Chad Hoopes, violist Arnaud Sussmann, cellist Efe Baltacigil, and harpsichordist Kenneth Weiss.

The program will include Bach's "Wedding Cantata," BWV 202, Dissipate, You Troublesome Shadows, which is one of of Bach’s few secular cantatas. In addition to Bach, Harvey will perform Handel’s motet Silete Venti (Be silent, winds). As an interlude to the two vocal works, Smith will perform Handel's "Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G minor," a piece reminiscent of baroque dance suites that were popular in France at the time of the concerto's composition.

"We are thrilled to have Joélle Harvey and James Austin Smith as a part of our 10th-anniversary season," said Ahmad Mayes, executive director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach. "This is our first baroque concert in quite a while, and it is very exciting to have performers who are known internationally for their expertise in this style of music. Bach and Handel were two of the greatest composers of their time, and their music is as timeless and beautiful today as it was when it was first composed.”

Tickets for the concert are $75 and are available on the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach's website, WeAreChamberMusic.com, or by calling 561-379-6773. The church is at 141 S. County Road.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Chamber Music Society concert at Bethesda will feature music of Bach, Handel