The Boston Camerata

Anne Azéma
Artistic Director

Joel Cohen
Music Director Emeritus

News

• [2008/11/20] "A Boston Camerata Christmas"--The Most Seraphic Holiday Gift Around
• [2008/12/6] "Boston Camerata Receives Rave Reviews for Upcoming Boston Series"
• [2008/11/8] Azéma and the Camerata Throw a Party
• [2008/10/16] The Boston Camerata at the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum
• [2008/09/21] French Singer Azema to Direct Camerata

Online Newsletter

December 2008

"Boston Camerata Receives Rave Reviews for Upcoming Boston Series"

THE BOSTON CAMERATA    ANNE AZÉMA, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR  JOEL COHEN, MUSIC DIRECTOR EMERITUS   "Exuberant and Ecstatic...A Many-Colored Tapestry"  The Washington Post - December 9, 2008           In This Issue Boston Camerata Accolades New Boston Camerata CD Release The Boston Camerata on WGBH Boston Camerata Boston Holiday Series Quick Links   The Boston Camerata  News Contact Us The Boston Camerata The Boston Camerata preserves and reawakens human memory as expressed through the art of music. It accomplishes this mission through live, historically informed, professional performances of European music of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras and early American music; through study and research into musical sources of the past; through sound recordings and media projects; and through music education and outreach.   Season's Greetings! The Boston Camerata's local concert series begins this Friday! We are so excited to perform The Brotherhood of the Star for our wonderful Boston audience.   Most recently, The Boston Camerata performed The Brotherhood of the Star in Washington, D.C. to rave reviews, found in the article below.   Our Boston Camerata Christmas CD is now in the office and available for sale - don't miss out on this fabulous holiday collection!    We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming concerts! Accolades   After The Boston Camerata's The Brotherhood of the Star performances December 7 and 8 at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., the following article appeared in the Washington Post:   --------------------------------------------------   The Boston Camerata might have been born some 54 years ago, under the star of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, but it's hard to imagine a more perfect setting for its artistry than the Dumbarton Oaks music room. It was there Sunday -- in candlelit Renaissance splendor, surrounded by tapestries and framed by marble arches -- that the Camerata kicked off its newest Christmas program, a collection of the music of the Iberian Peninsula and the New World that the Camerata is calling "The Brotherhood of the Star." "Brotherhood" is the operative word here. As Music Director Emeritus Joel Cohen explained, the cultural riches of both of these regions derive their diversity from various races and religions.     The music flowed seamlessly, knitting Gregorian chant, 13th-century cantigas, Renaissance motets, 18th- and 19th-century foot-stomping indigenous celebrations, and 20th-century chants from Moroccan and Turkish Sephardic Jews into a many-colored tapestry that rivaled those on the walls. The six singers and four instrumentalists grouped and regrouped almost imperceptibly, and there was almost as much rhythm to the morphing from one piece to another as there was in the music itself.     Sections of the program were framed by readings of the familiar Christmas portion of the Gospel of Saint Luke and some wonderful declamatory reading of Spanish texts, and the program ended in an exuberant and ecstatic free-for-all on "Convidando Esta la Noche" by 17th-century Mexican composer Juan Garcia Zespiedes.     Cohen's comments emphasized the music's diversity. To my ears, what is so fascinating is how much these pieces have in common. They share a spirit grounded in a harmonic idiom, a melodic shape and a rhythmic energy that makes their Hispanic origin unmistakable. The Camerata's elegant performance highlighted and made accessible their pleasures.     - Joan Reinthaler The Most Seraphic Holiday Gift Around   This wonderful,  specially priced three-CD set of Camerata Christmas favorites just flew into our office via Carrier Angel from London.  We are told that it will be in the stores for the holiday shopping season,  and we will also be making it available directly through our office,  and at concerts.   The beautifully designed box contains three separate programs:  "An American Christmas," "A French Christmas," and "A Spanish Christmas,"  over three hours of music in all,  performed by the Camerata's virtuoso vocal soloists and instrumentalists,  with help from supporting ensembles like the Boston Shawm and Sackbut Ensemble, the Schola Cantorum of Boston, Camerata Mediterranea, Les Amis de la Sagesse, and the Abelkrim Rais Orchestra of Fez, Morocco.  There are seventy-five tracks, about two hundred minutes of sheer joy in this generous package,  and we can't think of a lovelier way to share the true spirit of the season with your family and friends than by spreading the wealth of this heavenly music all around the cosmos.   When the first members of Camerata's inner circle heard about the Warner-Erato pricing for this set some celestial lightbulbs went off in their heads,  and orders immediately came in for five sets here,  ten sets there: like those earlybird purchasers, you won't find a better or more truly rich gift idea this season.  A word to the Wise Men (and Women)....        "The perfect holiday collection" - The Audiophile Audition   "Help to focus the mind and spirit during the weeks ahead."    - The Boston Globe "As I listened, I felt as if the sky had cracked open... Buy it and anything else directed by Cohen" - The Boston Globe A Boston Camerata Christmas: $25   For sale at The Boston Camerata concerts and Auburndale offices.   The Boston Camerata LIVE on WGBH   Tune in to host Cathy Fuller on WGBH (89.7) December 16th at 11:00am to hear an interview with Anne Azema and Joel Cohen, as well as live cast performances of excerpts from upcoming concert The Brotherhood of the Star! The Brotherhood of the Star: A Hispanic Christmas 1300-1700   Directed by Joel Cohen   Fabulous Holiday Music from the Old World (Spain and Catalonia) and the New (Mexico, Bolivia and Peru), with seductive African melodies  and rhythms. Surprising and Joyful!   "Brisk, ear-cleansing, jubilant, and inspiring." - The Boston Globe Friday, December 12, 2008 8:00 PM Follen Church Society Lexington, Massachusetts Tickets: $22/$32/$46   Saturday, December 13, 2008 8:00 PM First Church Boston Boston, Massachusetts Tickets: $22/$32/$46   Sunday, December 14, 2008 3:00 PM St. Martin's Church Providence, Rhode Island Tickets: $12/$17/$25   Friday, December 19, 2008 8:00 PM First Church in Cambridge Cambridge, Massachusetts Tickets: $22/$32/$46   Saturday, December 20, 2008 8:00 PM First Parish Church Newbury, Massachusetts General Admission: $32

Online Newsletter

November 2008

Online Newsletter
October 2008
The Boston Camerata at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Online Newsletter
September 2008
French Singer Azéma to Direct Camerata

Boston, MA--Big changes are underway at the Boston Camerata, the local early music ensemble with a major international reputation.

Directed for the last 39 years by Joel Cohen, who has led the group from modest beginnings to a round-the-globe touring and recording career, the Camerata has appointed the French-born Anne Azéma as its new Artistic Director.

Anne Azéma begins her tenure in September; at the same time, Joel Cohen will assume his new role as Music Director Emeritus.

Ms. Azéma, distinguished soprano, ensemble director, and scholar, has built a major, independent career as a leading specialist in medieval song, all the while remaining closely associated for many seasons with The Boston Camerata. With Camerata she has been present as soloist, pedagogue, and frequent guest director. She has collaborated on virtually all of the group’s tours and recordings since the early 1980s, and is a co-recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque for her role as Iseult in Camerata’s production of Tristan et Iseult.

As an independent recitalist and researcher, Anne Azéma has produced five CD recordings of music from the French and Provençal middle ages, earning numerous awards and distinctions here and overseas in the process. Her recent teaching activities include extended residencies at the University of Oregon and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as well as lectures and workshops in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and elsewhere.

Ms. Azéma will be guiding the fortunes of Camerata’s long-established in-town series, now in its 54th year, as well as planning and leading tours and recording projects. As Music Director Emeritus, Joel Cohen will continue to perform and to offer an assisting role to the new Artistic Director.

 “I've sung with The Boston Camerata for many a season and many scores of concerts,” she continues, “and occasionally directed a Camerata production with my wonderful musician colleagues. This year, however, marks my first as Camerata's Artistic Director, and I am thrilled at the opportunity. The overall title of this new season is ‘Lands of Pure Delight’, says Azéma. “The common theme of these concerts is exploration: migrations and immigrations, yearnings for distant love and dreams of lands not yet known.”   ”

The Boston Camerata, founded in 1954 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, was directed from 1969 to 2008 by Joel Cohen, who remains active with the ensemble. Camerata’s discography now numbers over 30 recordings, with a fresh Christmas compilation scheduled for release in October 2008. The early music group tours extensively the world over, most recently, in 2007-2008, to France, Australia, and New Zealand.

August 2008
A Cruise To Remember
by Meghan Getz, Administrative Assistant

40 percent chance of rain, 50 percent chance of rain, 60… we anxiously watched radars and weather forecasts as Sunday approached, and prayed to the weather gods to let that rain hold out just until Sunday night.  The Boston Camerata’s summer fundraising cruise with Tall Ship Formidable in Boston Harbor was scheduled for August 3^rd at 3:00pm, and we looked forward to a wonderful afternoon of sailing, fine fare, music, and champagne.  As we arrived at the marina for Tall Ship Formidable, we were informed we could board the boat, but we couldn’t set sail until our captains knew what the ominous band of weather was going to do.  So, in true Boston Camerata trouper form, we brought our supplies on board, welcomed our guests, and began the festivities.  Joel and Anne were magnificent, as always, and regaled us with songs about love, the sea, and adventure from our upcoming concerts.  As their heavenly music wafted over the Boston Harbor, black clouds were gathering in the heavens above. 

Thunder rolled in the distance, and our captain announced that the weather band was moving in very quickly, and we might have wanted to move down into the cabin “five minutes ago,” calmly pointing to the wall of rain moving swiftly in our direction.  We scrambled to get our guests and food below deck before the rain hit, but before everyone could make it downstairs to a dry seat, the storm hit like a mighty army in the middle of a crusade.  The boat reared back and forth, and I was nearly knocked overboard by a particularly strong gust, caught only by netting existing only to prevent that very calamity, as we were trying to usher our guests down below amidst the pouring rain… and hail.  The hail came down in powerful torrents – the first time I’ve been caught outside in that form of the elements, and the last time I ever plan to be.  The last person on deck, I finally made it down into the cabin, hail tumbling behind me as I hurried to get to the bottom of the stairs. 

I glanced around at our stunned-looking guests, and sheepishly laughed at my now-soaked party dress as I said hello to Kathryn Welter, executive director, and our board president Ken Turino, who magnificently popped open some much-needed champagne.  Immediately, what seemed to be a horrible turn of events became one of the most memorable and wonderful experiences of my career in the arts.  We passed around food, desserts and champagne while Anne and Joel sang hilariously bawdy sailors’ tunes accompanied by the booming thunder and pounding rain.  We all felt transported to a different time and place, part of a truly unique transcendent musical experience.  Our guests joined in to the round “Hey, Ho, Nobody Home,” and naturally some mutterings of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” wafted in and out of conversation.  Gradually, the storm blew over, the sun came out, and we moved back up on deck of our ship Poincare.  Anne and Joel treated us with a few more songs, the desserts started to disappear, and we decided to call it a day before the next string of rain hit. 

That night, reflecting on the afternoon’s events, I decided that I preferred the rainstorm over a completely sunny day sailing around the Boston Harbor.  Our guests were incredibly equable and good-humored, and the music provided by Anne and Joel instantly took all thoughts away from the elements around us.  No, we never left the dock, and yes, we all got a bit (and in my case, completely) wet, but we experienced a togetherness and a shared camaraderie not often encountered in formal fundraising events.  I am truly honored to be a part of The Boston Camerata, with its musicians who can turn the greyest skies into a lovely adventure, and look forward to the season to come…and perhaps an indoor fundraising event.

April 2008

Camerata Stuns them Down Under! “Stunning,”  said the critic of the Sidney Morning Post on hearing Boston Camerata’s singers perform in Borrowed Light.   We were on an extended tour February-March with the Tero Saarinen Dance Company in Australia and New Zealand,  ten performances in all.  Huge, cheering crowds greeted the music and dance production at theaters in Perth and Wellington. The Wellington church where we gave our American Vocalist program was filled to the brim with enthusiastic fans. “Thank you for coming here,  finally,  after all these years,” said one New Zealand fan to us post-concert.  The reviews we saw in the papers were just as warm and welcoming: “Lustrous,” said the Wellington Dominion Post of the musical performance. “The ravishingly beautiful singing from The Boston Camerata...turns the dancers and the audience around the great wheel, moving in the ocean of love."   We even got a Maori welcoming ceremony in our honor soon after our arrival in New Zealand (they sang and danced for us, we offered a Shaker song in friendly response). Well,  thank you. And the love was reciprocal....musicians were blown away by the summer weather,  the vegetation,  the beaches,  the animals (Anne Azéma took portraits of  a wild kangaroo),  the birds (ornithologist Donnie Wilkinson spotted over a hundred species,  list on request),  the wine (aaah, general enthusiasm), et cetera et cetera.  The only downside was the monster jetlag on returning....but we survived that trial and are looking forward to future performances with Tero and his gifted dancers.  Stay tuned for announcements of the next tour! And to read soprano Lydia Brotherton's touchingly-written travel souvenirs of Australia and New Zealand please click here Our photo:  Singers and dancers on rehearsal break at the St. James Theater,  Wellington,  New Zealand .  --Joel Cohen,  April 2008 In Perth, Camerata singers Frazier, Azéma, Wilkinson, Hershey, and Brotherton socialize with an unidentified bystander.

February 2008

The Boston Camerata Announces New Leadership

 February 1, Boston, MA – Big changes are underway at the Boston Camerata, the local early music ensemble with an international reputation.Led for the last 39 years by Joel Cohen, who has brought the group from modest beginnings to a round-the-globe touring and recording career, the Boston Camerata will be appointing the French-born Anne Azéma as its new Artistic Director.

 Anne Azéma will begin her tenure in September; at the same time, Joel Cohen will assume his new role as Music Director Emeritus.

 Ms. Azéma, distinguished soprano, ensemble director, and scholar, has built a major, independent career as a leading specialist in medieval song,  all the while remaining closely associated for many seasons with The Boston Camerata.  With Camerata she has appeared as soloist, pedagogue, and frequent guest director.  She has been present on virtually all of the group’s tours and recordings since the early 1980’s,  and is a co-recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque for her role as Iseult in Camerata’s production of Tristan et Iseult.

 As an independent recitalist and researcher,  Anne Azéma  has produced five CD recordings of music from the French and Provençal middle ages,  earning numerous awards and distinctions here and overseas in the process.  Her recent teaching activities include extended residencies at the University of Oregon and the University of Tennessee,  Knoxville, as well as lectures and workshops in Germany,  France,  the Netherlands,  and elsewhere.

Ms. Azéma will be guiding the fortunes of Camerata’s long-established in-town series, now in its 54^th year, as well as planning and leading tours and recording projects.  As Music Director Emeritus, Joel Cohen will continue to perform and to offer an assisting role to the new Artistic Director.

 “Anne’s presence in Camerata is a wonderful and continuing gift of musicianship and artistry,” says Ken Turino,  president of the Boston Camerata’s board. “We are happily anticipating a new era as she leads us all forward.”

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Anne Azéma is one of the world's leading interpreters of early vocal music. She has been acclaimed by critics on four continents for her original, passionate, and vivid approach to songs and texts of the Middle Ages.

Ms. Azéma has also been widely praised in many other repertoires, from Renaissance lute songs to Baroque sacred music to twentieth-century music theatre. De Volkskrant, an Amsterdam publication, noted that "Azéma is, in her genre, as great as Callas or Fischer Dieskau."

Since 1993, Anne Azéma has been not only the performer but also the creator of her programs. She researches and edits the repertoire, frequently transcribing the material herself from original sources. Her genuine and personal involvement with musical scholarship, combined with her performer's flair for immediacy of communication, give her recitals and recordings both a historical depth and an expressive "edge" that are unique in the field. 

Ms. Azéma’s most recent work has been the production of THE NIGHT’S TALE: A TOURNAMENT OF LOVE, the result of a residency at the Arsenal of Metz during the 2005-2007 seasons. This innovative program, conceived and directed by Ms. Azéma, is based on Le Tournoi (Tournament) de Chauvency written circa 1310  by the French poet Jacques Bretel, a musical narration of a courtly celebration in the Lorraine region of France. The CD was issued late in 2007 in France, to critical acclaim.

Anne Azéma has co-directed programs for the Boston Camerata and has been a soloist with numerous ensembles, large and small, early and contemporary.  Her recent festival invitations as a soloist, recitalist  or director include Amsterdam, Graz, Dresden, Leipzig, Spoleto, Seville, Versailles, Jerusalem, Berlin, Boston, Bergen, Ambronay, Utrecht, Casablanca, Kyoto, Tanglewood and Tokyo. Among her teaching activities are master classes, seminars and residencies at conservatories and universities in France, Holland, Mexico and the U.S. She has contributed articles to scholarly and general audience publications. Ms Azéma's current discography numbers about thirty recordings on the Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, Nonesuch, Bridge, Calliope, Atma,  K 617  and Warner labels.

PRESS

 “Anne Azéma understands perfectly how to bring her audience under the spell of Medieval love poetry.”   --Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

 “The singer Anne Azéma is the right person to clarify and actualize the hazy contours of the music of the Middle Ages, by the penetrating way in which she manages to link word and music.”    --De Volkskrant, Amsterdam

 "An extremely well conceived program. With the marvelous colors of her
voice, Azéma is our guide: imagination, fervor, suavity and rigor are the
essential virtues of her interpretation"       --The Montpellier (France) Gazette

“Very few early musicians can play as palatably and still remain true to
their traditional method of performance. Ms Azéma is the cream of the crop.”     --The New York Sun

"Beautiful and generous, with just the right touch of sensuality and
warmth that has for too long been absent in this kind of singing; the
instrumentation is ingenious."    --Télérama, Paris

"Azéma is, in her genre, as great as Callas or Fischer Dieskau."     --De Volkskrant (Amsterdam)

 “The splendidly pure voice. . . floats out as if descending directly from Heaven.  You could weep at the beauty of it. . .”     --The Village Voice

“Anne Azéma is an early music soprano who can move from angelic purity to down and dirty.”     --The Boston Globe

DISCOGRAPHY

Le Tournoi de Chauvency –  Une joute d’Amour en Lorraine, K617- 2007

Etoile du nord, Gauthier de Coincy, Calliope - 2003 (CD of the Year, Toronto, 10 de Répetoire)

Die Stadt der Narren, Medieval Political Songs, WDR - 2001

El Maestro,  Spanish Love Songs, WDR - 2000

Provence mystique, Erato  - 1998  (10 de Répertoire, **** Le  Monde de la Musique, YYYYY Diapason, Grand Prix des Discophiles, nominated, ffff Télérama, 5 Classica)

Le Jeu d’amour, Erato - 1996 (10 de Répertoire, **** Le Monde de la Musique)

The Unicorn, Erato   - 1994 (10 de Répertoire, Choc du Monde de la Musique, 'Critics Choice'Gramophone, YYYYY Diapason)

*************

 

 

Absent from the catalog for several seasons,  Tristan & Iseult,  one of Camerata's most famous and honored recordings,  is now once again available on Warner Classics,  and we are delighted.  On its initial release,  this recording won the Grand Prix du Disque,  as well as dozens of enthusiastic reviews around the globe,  and was a bestseller of the Erato Disques catalog.

 

Camerata's current live production of Tristan,  including several members of the original cast (Anne Azéma was and is an unforgettable Iseult)  played to a sold-out hall in Paris in January, 2008,  and is a prominent part of our 2007-2008 in-town season as well.  Further plans are underway for touring in 2009 -- stay tuned for more news!

January 2008

It was a snowy, blowy December in the American Northeast, and the bad weather even managed to blow away two of Camerata's scheduled Christmas concerts, an unwelcome first in our long history of holiday performances. But the shows that did take place, under Anne Azéma's direction, were a joy.

Winter in Europe on the days following was milder.....but we still needed coats to pose for the accompanying photo, taken outside Paris' Theatre de la Ville, where Joel and the Camerata, along with our friends from the Sharq Ensemble, performed Mediterranean Christmas for a large and vocally enthusiastic crowd. The audience in Metz the next day was equally warm and welcoming.

Camerata's winter mini-season in France continues in January with a nationally broadcast radio appearance and two performances of Tristan and Iseult; the Paris show sold out months ahead.... Oddly enough, though Tristan has toured widely in North America, Europe, and Asia, this will be the Paris première! We'll be back in Boston in February to share the magnificent Tristan legend, for the first time in many seasons, with our home audience. Meanwhile, best New Year's greetings from the other side of the puddle :-).