Music City Baroque at Covenant Presbyterian Church

Period-instrument ensemble Music City Baroque hosts Baroque violinist Alexander Woods as guest concertmaster and soloist in a varied program of late Baroque works. From the secular side of the repertoire, J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 features Baroque oboes, natural horns and recorders alongside the violin, while a concerto by Giuseppe Tartini puts Woods' virtuosity at center stage. Vocal soloists join the ensemble for the splendid cantata that Bach composed for Epiphany during his productive first Christmas season in Leipzig. The cantata also enlists horns and oboes, this time to create an “exotic” air reflecting the occasion's liturgy (think “We Three Kings”). The third Leçon de ténèbres of François Couperin looks forward to the Lenten season with a vocal duet on text from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Music City Baroque's full roster of professional-level local musicians, all versed in historically informed performance practice, is a good sign of Nashville's increasingly diverse musical community.

Sun., Feb. 21, 4 p.m., 2010