A Concert with the Countess
Baroque Meets Drag
"If anyone releases standalone video of the final number, D'Urfey's "My thing is my own," it could become a Baroque viral sensation. As the Countess pranced around while making every intention in the lyrics as clear as could be, the audience spontaneously joined in on the refrain, "My thing is my own and I'll keep it so still / Yet other young lasses must do what they will." You had to be there.”
- Jason Victor Serinus, Classical Voice North America
Pacific MusicWorks explores the stories of the past and present dramatized through the medium of historical instrumentation and the human voice.
What do Shakespeare, Pepys, Purcell, Handel, Campra, Matteis, Lanier, drag, opera, cabaret, cocktails, and brunch have in common?
"The Countess is a character that has been with me even before I consciously knew or named her. She is an amalgamation of drag, classical music culture, and baroque performance practice. She has the enormous hair and impossible waist (If I do say so myself) of a high baroque aristocrat, the sensibilities of a grand twentieth-century diva, and the messiness of an after-hours open-mic. And, with camp and decadence, she winkingly plays on both registers of the parallel between opera and drag." - John Taylor Ward
Artists:
John Taylor Ward as “The Countess”, baritone
Stephen Stubbs, lute, baroque guitar, director
Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin
David Morris, viola da gamba
Maxine Eilander, baroque harp
Henry Lebedinsky, harpsichord
Tshedzom Tingkhye, dance
choreographed by Anna Mansbridge