UCDAVIS -- DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC

The instruments featured at the festival include two harpsichords and a chamber or "continuo" pipe organ. The festival will represent the inaugural concert of one of the harpsichords. Made by Joop Klinkhamer of Amsterdam, it is a reproduction of an instrument by Michael Mietke, who built harpsichords in the late 1600's and early 1700's for the court at Berlin. J. S. Bach bought one of Mietke's harpsichords in 1719 and brought it to the court of the young arts patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. Mietke's instruments were similar to 17th century French harpsichords, and had thinner than average bentsides, an attribute that may create a more penetrating sound. Only three of his original instruments remain.

The other harpsichord was made in the workshop of John Phillips, who attended UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley and who has been building harpsichords for three decades. The Phillips French double harpsichord is patterned after one designed by Andreas Ruckers in 1646 and modified by Blanchet in 1756 and Pascal Taskin in 1780. The Ruckers family began building harpsichords in Antwerp at the end of the 16th century; their harpsichords were later refashioned by French harpsichord makers into more complex instruments. Many modern harpsichord makers consider the Ruckers family to be among the greatest harpsichord designers of all time.