Acclaimed young New York male soprano Michael Maniaci will be the featured artist in Con Gioia Early Music Ensemble’s concert at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 21, at Balch Auditorium, Scripps College, Claremont. Maniaci will be joined by Con Gioia’s founder-director and harpsichordist Preethi de Silva, violinist M. Anne Rardin, lutenist and baroque guitarist Jason Yoshida, and viola da gambist Denise Briesé.
Maniaci won the 2003 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the 2003 ARIA Award. He has gained attention for his rare, thrilling voice and sensational stage presence. Maniaci’s performances have received critical praise from the Washington Post, the Toronto Globe and Mail, and the New York Times.
The Con Gioia program, Music of Love Lamentation and Joy, includes arias from Handel’s operas and from Bach’s sacred works. Maniaci will sing several works from the seventeenth century, including songs by Henry Purcell, Barbara Strozzi, and Giulio Caccini. De Silva will perform solo works for harpsichord by the seventeenth-century German composer Johann Jakob Froberger.
Admission is free for this concert, which is co-sponsored by Friends of Con Gioia and the Music Department of Scripps College.