Aston Magna Academy Opens at Yale

The 1997 Aston Magna Academy opens on Sunday, June 15, at Yale University, and will continue through July 6.

The Academy, part of the Aston Magna Foundation, combines a summer music festival, scholarly conference, and research institute. It brings together 80 scholars and artists for programs that explore baroque, classical and early romantic culture and music. Founded by Lee Elman and Albert Fuller in 1972, Aston Magna is well known for its re-creation of seventeenth and eighteenth century music on period instruments.

The Academy is directed by Raymond Erickson, harpsichordist, baroque music scholar, and dean of Arts and Humanities at Queens College-CUNY. Sally Sanford, soprano, is guest artistic director. Daniel Stepner, violinist, is artistic director. Enclosed are photos of Mr. Erickson and Ms. Sanford.

This year the Academy turns its attention to “From Handel to Hogarth: The Culture of Early Georgian England, 1714-1760,” and will explore the art, politics, theater, cultural history, and music of England during the reigns of George I and George II.

Free public programs of the Aston Magna Academy at Yale

Lecture-recitals, Thursdays, 8 p.m. in Dwight Chapel, 67 High St.

* June 19, “His Majesty’s Harper,” featuring music by Purcell, Handell, Tomkins, and others performed and explained by harpist Andrew Lawrence-King.

* June 26, “Concert Songs of Richard Leveridge,” music by Handel and Leveridge, performed by bass David Thomas, with Raymond Erickson, harpsichord.

* July 3, “Charlotte Mattax and Friends: A Night at the Opera,” featuring keyboard arrangements of operatic works by Handel, Rameau, and Lully, and arias and duets by Handel.

Lectures on Saturday evenings at 6 p.m.

* June 21, “English Domestic Architecture in the Age of Handel,” presented by Steven Parissien, architectural historian, Sudler Lecture Hall, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St.

* June 28, “Art, Literature, and the Stage in 18th-Century England,” Ronald Paulson, professor of art history and literature at Johns Hopkins University Sudler Lecture Hall of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St.

* July 5, “Dance in the London Theater, 1715-1760,” presented by Carol Marsh, dance historian, with dancers Ken Pierce and Linda Tomko. Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, 53 Wall St.

Academy concerts will be held in Sprague Hall on Saturday evenings, June 21, June 28, and July 5 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15; $10 for students and seniors at the door. For information and ticket reservations, call 800-875-7156.

Major funding has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional Aston Magna concerts will take place this summer in the Berkshires and at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.