Eric Milnes
{{short description|American harpsichordist, organist and conductor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eric Milnes
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|05|07}}
| birth_place = Huntington, New York, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = {{plainlist|
}}
| occupation = {{plainlist|
- Harpsichordist
- Organist
- Conductor
- Academic teacher
}}
| organization = {{plainlist|
}}
| awards =
}}
Eric Milnes (born May 7, 1959) is an American harpsichordist, organist and conductor, especially in the field of Baroque music. He began a series of recordings of all Bach cantatas with singers performing one voice per part and the Montreal Baroque Orchestra.
Career
Born in Huntington, New York, Milnes studied in New York City at Columbia College, Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music. 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, a Jewish composer at the court of the Duke of Mantua, 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 Bach cantatas with singers in OVPP 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
{{Reflist|30em
| refs =
| last = Pettitt
| first = Stephen
| url = http://www.classical-music.com/review/rossi-1
| title = The Songs of Solomon Vol. 2:Holiday and Festive Music
| journal = Classical-music.com
| date = 20 January 2012
| accessdate = 2 May 2019
}}
| last = Vernier
| first = David
| url = https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-13299/
| title = J.S. Bach: Cantatas for Mary/Montréal Baroque
| website = classicstoday.com
| date =
| accessdate = 2 May 2019
}}
| last = Wigmore
| first = Richard
| url = https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/js-bach-cantatas-nos-72-81-155-156
| title = JS BACH Cantatas Nos 72, 81, 155 & 156
| journal = Gramophone
| date = 18 December 2018
| accessdate = 29 April 2019
}}
| url = http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Milnes.htm
| title = Eric J. Milnes & Montréal Baroque / Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works
| website = Bach Cantatas Website
| year = 2018
| accessdate = 29 April 2019
}}
| url = https://clevelandclassical.com/les-delices-quire-cleveland-a-conversation-with-guest-conductor-eric-milnes/
| title = Les Délices & Quire Cleveland: a conversation with guest conductor Eric Milnes
| website = clevelandclassical.com
| date = 18 December 2018
| accessdate = 29 April 2019
}}
| url = https://www.challengerecords.com/artists/1382531226
| title = Eric Milnes
| publisher = Challenge Records
| date =
| accessdate = 29 April 2019
}}
}}
External links
- [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Milnes-Eric.htm Eric Milnes] Bach Cantatas Website
- {{discogs artist}}
- [http://www.westchestermusicfestival.org/team.htm Westchester Music Festival] westchestermusicfestival.org
- [https://www.harmoniedessaisons.org/en/ L'Harmonie des saisons]
- L'Harmonie des saisons - Wikipedia (français)
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milnes, Eric}}
Category:American harpsichordists
Category:20th-century American conductors (music)
Category:American male conductors (music)
Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni
Category:People from Huntington, New York
Category:20th-century American people