For Amaranta Viera, Baroque isn’t just “old music.” Sure, its origins date back to the 17th and 18th centuries – days of courts and kings, plagues and no air conditioning – but for Viera, a soprano with the New York-based trio Antiche Dolcezze, Baroque is fun.

“Most people forget that there was about one hundred years of Baroque music that predates Bach and Handel,” Viera said. “Where many people think of it as serious and stuffy, our program disproves that right out of the gate. We think people will be surprised at how passionate and fun the music is.”

At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, Antiche Dolcezze will perform at the Sweet Briar College Memorial Chapel. Prior to the concert at 12:30 p.m., the group will offer a master class in Memorial Chapel.

Both events are open to the public and admission is free.

The program, “Le Nuove Musiche,” will include pieces by Claudio Monteverde (1567-1643), Giulio Caccini (1551-1618), Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677), Francesca Caccini (1587-1640), Jacopo Peri (1561-1633), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580-1651) and Luigi Rossi (1598-1653).

The Baroque style grew of the humanism of late 16th-century Italy. “[It] ushered in a flowering of arts and culture which had a profound effect on the vocal arts,” Viera said.

“The dense, text-obscuring, polyphonic textures of the Renaissance gave way to a clear, highly syllabic musical style in which nothing was more important than the words. It was the ideal vehicle to express the rich, brilliant poetry of writers like Petrarch, Guarini and Ariosto.”

The music also is challenging, with little room for error on the singer’s part. Viera hopes to convey this to students during the master class. “Our plan is to coach the students in the nuances of singing Baroque music,” she said.

“We realize that some of them may not have access to [or] be acquainted with much of the repertoire we specialize in, so we’ll aim to apply some of the more universal principles of the style … to the music they bring us.”

Antiche Dolcezze is made up of Viera, soprano Elizabeth Baber and Charles Weaver, who plays bass, lute, theorbo and guitar.

For more information, contact Nick Ross, SBC assistant professor of music, at 381-6121 or nross@sbc.edu.

— By Suzanne Ramsey, SBC staff writer

Read on for more information on the members of Antiche Dolcezze:

Amaranta Viera, a specialist in early and Baroque music, maintains an active performance schedule in New York City and beyond.

Amaranta VieraShe has made numerous appearances with One World Symphony and Les Goûts Réunis, and was featured in Monteverdi’s “Il Ballo delle ingrate” and Torrejón y Velasco’s “La Púrpura de la Rosa” at the Amherst Early Music Festival under the direction of Andrew Lawrence-King. She also has toured as a featured soloist with Piffaro, the Renaissance Band.

Highlights of the 2006-07 season include a recital of Italian monodies with lutenist Grant Herreid, J.S. Bach’s “Weihnachts-Oratorium” as soprano soloist; the role of Melissa in F. Caccini’s opera “La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina” in New York City and Boston, and a recital as part the Boston Early Music Festival’s Fringe Concerts, performing music for women’s voices from the courts and convents of 17th-century Italy and France.

Viera holds a degree in English literature from Williams College and has studied Historical Performance at the Mannes College of Music. She currently resides in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Elizabeth Baber Elizabeth Baber, a native of Kentucky, studied voice at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and now lives in New York City. Notable performances have included Monteverdi’s “Vespro della Beata Vergine,” Mozart’s “Coronation Mass,” Hildegard von Bingen’s “Ordo Virtutum,” Charpentier’s “Les Arts Florissants,” and the New York Continuo Collective’s revival of the 17th-century Italian opera “Psiche.”

She is a busy recitalist with duo partner and Antiche Dolcezze member Charles Weaver, exploring a wide range of Renaissance and baroque vocal repertoire. This season Baber was heard on Public Radio International’s “Footprints to Paradise” as a soloist and ensemble member with New York Polyphony.

In the summer of 2007, she will appear as Euridice in American Opera Theater’s production of Luigi Rossi’s “Orfeo” at Baltimore Theatre Project. The New York Times has called Baber’s singing “truly lovely,” and The Washington Post described her voice as “incredibly pure and ... nearly effortless,” combining “angelic brightness and dedication” with “an ability to seduce.”

Charles Weaver performs on lute, theorbo, guitar, and voice as a member of New York-based ensembles ARTEK and Repast, and with the lute band Ensemble Viscera. He has also appeared in concert with Hesperus, the Orchestra of St Luke’s, and the Richmond Symphony.

Charles WeaverHe has accompanied and coached baroque operas with Ignoti Dei Opera, Peabody Chamber Opera, Maryland Opera Studio, the Juilliard Opera Center and the Wooster Group. He also is on the faculty of the New York Continuo Collective, a semi-professional workshop that explores the tradition of reciting Italian poetry and its relation to 17th-century opera.

With duo partner Elizabeth Baber, he has created programs of 16th- and 17th-century song praised for their “imagination in programming.” The Washington Post has described his performances as “captivating” and “splendid.”

Upcoming engagements include concerts with Piffaro and the Yale collegium.