Director, writer, and soprano Jessica Gould continues to enjoy a formidable reception for her maiden film project, Babylon: Ghetto, Renaissance, and Modern Oblivion, on the international film festival circuit, having garnered 90 awards and counting from festivals across the globe. Having become a filmmaker by virtue of the pandemic out of a need to continue presenting classical and early music through the prism of history in the absence of live performance, Ms. Gould’s ever expanding laurels include Best Picture (Asti International Film Festival), Best First Time Director (Dreamer’s Short Film Festival Bucharest), Best Original Script (London International Monthly Film Festival), Best First Time Director (Silk Road Film Awards Cannes), Best Short Documentary (Tokyo International Short Film Festival and 1st Monthly Film Festival Belgrade), Best Documentary (Hollywood Blvd Film Festival and Woodengate Film Festival), and Best Social Justice Film and Best Musical Film (Oniros Film Awards). The laurel of Best Musical Film has also been awarded her from Silk Road Film Awards Cannes, The Cannes World Film Festival, and the Omnia Film Awards (Italy). From Greece, she has garnered Best Black Lives Matter Film and Best Music in a Short (Mykonos Film Festival) and Best Music Documentary (West Side Mountain Doc Fest, Epirus). From the Parma International Music Film Festival, she awarded the coveted Violetta d'Oro Prize for Best Soundtrack.
Ms. Gould’s program notes include essays for Carnegie Hall, the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia), the Da Camera Society (Los Angeles), NYU Villa La Pietra (Florence), Palazzo Grimani (Venice), and Villa Finaly La Chancellerie des Universités de Paris – La Sorbonne (Florence), the Clarion Society (New York City), among many others. Her creative nonfiction, satire, and essays have been published in the literary journals Belle Ombre, The Blue Nib, Exquisite Pandemic, and Months to Years. A soprano, artistic director, Italian translator, and researcher, she performs and records in Europe and the United States. As the Founder and Artistic Director of Salon/Sanctuary Concerts, based in New York City, her original projects have received grants from numerous foundations and institutions, generous support which has enabled the series to blossom into one of the more significant presenters of historical performance in New York City and beyond.
She holds a BA from Macalester College in Art History, Music, and Political Science, and studied Fine Arts at the Rhode Island School of Design, Parsons School of Design, and the National Academy of Design. Ms Gould studied film history and theory under Joel Doerfler and Linda Schulte-Sasse in the United States and Maria Grazia Bucchioni and Vito Tobbia in Italy.
Aaron Fagerstrom (Audio Mixing and Mastering) is a prize winning classical pianist and freelance audio engineer and videographer based in Northern Minnesota. A graduate of Rowan University, he has completed projects for the Vienna Summer Music Festival, Thief River Falls Evangelical Free Church, the Northern Lights Music Festival, as well as Salon/Sanctuary Concerts. His overflowing schedule includes projects for musicians in almost every genre, from Christian rock to early music, from Broadway musicals to rap, with clients ranging from classical orchestras to solo actors, choral ensembles, and jazz groups.
For his work on Babylon, Aaron has garnered Best Sound Design awards from the Rome Movie Awards, 1st Monthly Film Festival Belgrade, Indie Short Fest, and the Vesuvius International Monthly Film Fest.
CREDITS
Jessica Gould
Script, Program Concept & Direction
Aaron Fagerstrom
Music Mixing and Mastering & Video Production
Debbie Patzelt
Production Assistant
Salon/Sanctuary Concerts
Producer
NYU Casa Italiana-Zerilli-Marimò
Co-Producer
Performers (In order of appearance)
Ezra Knight: Psalm verses & narration
The Bacchus Consort
Andrea Molnár, recorder
Eniko Kiss, violin
Nóra Kallai, descant viol
Julia Regos, tenor viol
Zsolt Szabó, bass viol
Artúr Shallinger-Foidl, harpsichord & director
Balázs Laczkó Peto, percussion
Voices of Music
Hanneke van Proosdij & David Tayler, directors
Elizabeth Blumenstock & Alana Youssefian, baroque violins
Elisabeth Reed, viola da gamba
Hanneke van Proosdij, harpsichord
David Tayler, baroque guitar
The Kaleidoscope Ensemble
Arianne Abela, conductor and artistic director
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Michele Kennedy, soprano
Cecilia Duarte, mezzo-soprano
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Noah Horn, tenor
Haitham Hadar, tenor
Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone
Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Adam Cockerham, lute
Jessica Gould, soprano
Lucas Harris, lute
Yacouba Sissoko, kora & voice
The Southern Sons
The Fisk Jubilee Singers
Ma Rainey
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Big Mama Thornton
Kevin Nathaniel Hylton, mbira & voice