Eric Milnes (born May 7, 1959) is an American

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

, organist and conductor, especially in the field of

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...

. He began a series of recordings of all

Bach cantata The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas (German: ), are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest can ...

s with singers performing one voice per part and the Montreal Baroque Orchestra.

Career

Born in

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

, Milnes studied in New York City at Columbia College,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. He made several recordings as instrumentalist and conductor of vocal music, conducting from the keyboard instrument in Baroque practice. He has appeared at international festivals in the United States, Canada and Europe. He recorded settings by

Salamone Rossi Salamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi ( he, סלומונה רוסי or שלמה מן האדומים) (Salamon, Schlomo; de' Rossi) (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Ita ...

, a Jewish composer at the court of the

Duke of Mantua During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...

, of texts in Hebrew from the Song of Songs in 2012, with New York Baroque, an ensemble of eight singers with continuo. A reviewer noted the performances evoked a certain "flavour of secrecy", fitting music that was "underground" at the time of creation, with little variation in dynamic and tempo. A reviewer noted his recordings of four

s with singers in

OVPP In music, one voice per part (OVPP) is the practice of performing choral music with a single voice on each vocal line. In the specific context of Johann Sebastian Bach's works it is also known as the Rifkin hypothesis, set forth in Joshua Rifkin' ...

fashion and the Montreal Baroque Orchestra, as part of a planned cycle of the works, induced "animated, stylistically assured playing" with "a sure feel for tempo and Bachian rhetoric". Another part of the series, called ''Cantatas for Mary'', and presenting ''Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben'', BWV 147, ''Ich habe genug'', BWV 82, and ''Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'', BWV 1, was reviewed as enlightening, with soloists "whose stylish, energetic singing is a pure joy to hear" and an orchestra with warm, articulate strings and brilliantly resonant trumpet and horns."

References

External links

Eric Milnes
Bach Cantatas Website *

westchestermusicfestival.org
L'Harmonie des saisons
* L'Harmonie des saisons - Wikipedia (français) {{DEFAULTSORT:Milnes, Eric 1959 births Living people American harpsichordists American organists 20th-century American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) Columbia College (New York) alumni People from Huntington, New York 20th-century American people 21st-century American people 20th-century American male musicians