Concert Series: Basso Celestia presents "Coffee Confections"

Basso Celestia Early Music teams up with The Ivy Bookshop and Bird in Hand Coffeeshop to curate an eighteenth century coffeehouse experience in Baltimore for two days in a row! Saturday, May 23, 7:00pm at Bird in Hand in Charles Village, and Sunday, May 24, 4:00pm at Mount Vernon Place Church in Mount Vernon.

This concert features Nicolas Bernier’s Le Caffé and J.S. Bach’s Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht BWV 211, two eighteenth century musical manifestations of the European coffee craze interspersed with translations of selections of coffee-centered poetry. Performed on period instruments, audience members will experience the harpsichord in its full beauty, alongside traverso, baroque strings, and four vocalists. Each day will have a different featured coffee flavored cocktail and dessert pairing for purchase, as well as typical coffee bar offerings. With coffee-themed book displays by The Ivy Bookshop, and all things coffee supplied by Bird in Hand, this is sure to be an experience not to miss. This concert is free, and donations are welcome at the door to directly support the artists.

By the 1650s, Europe caught on to the coffee house craze that had swept the Arabic world during the previous centuries. Replacing grogginess from the taverns with perpetual caffeination, the coffeehouse quickly became the place to engage in the latest news, culture, debate, storytelling, politics, and arts, where all classes could mix and exchange ideas. As it spread through the European continent, printed advertisements and pamphlets abounded, from detailing the methods of preparations and advertising its purported health benefits, to questioning the safety of its effects and the hesitations on introducing the new institution that was the “coffee house.” Nearly five-hundred years after the first literary reference to coffee showed up in Europe in the sketches of Venetian Botanist, Prosper Alpinus, the coffee craze continues to sweep the Western world and the global economy. From Starbucks to Folgers, Thread Coffee Roasters to Bird in Hand, iced lattes to cappuccinos, moka pot to pour over, coffee liquor to cold brew… Coffee is culture. Coffee is ritual. Coffee is Connection.

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Basso Celestia was founded in 2023 as an early music ensemble committed to nurturing a collective of musicians who are dedicated to spreading early music education and appreciation. Featuring Leah Wenger, Mo Akande, Katerina Kotar, and Cameron Kuzepski as its artistic team, the group collaborates with early music performers across the DMV to center small-scale works, striving to make them as beloved and iconic as their large-scale counterparts. Combining strong backgrounds in historical performance practice with the diverse interests of its members, Basso Celestia strives to make informative and thematically curated concert programs accessible to many audiences. Basso Celestia finishes their third season by presenting “Coffee Confections,” partnering with local businesses at the intersections of performing arts, history, literature, culinary arts, and culture.

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