As the days lengthen, and hope augments, we are pleased to offer a mini-series of online programs, with good talk and wonderful music, to help get us across this next stretch. Please join our community!
“My mistress embodies all virtues:” so goes the text of one of the 15th centuries’ most beloved melodies, De tous bien plaine. We propose a little bouquet, including three variant settings of this tune, by an all-star lineup of Franco-Flemish masters: Alexander Agricola (1446-1506), followed by Josquin Desprez (ca.1450-1521), and a return to Alexander Agricola.
The vocal soloist is Michael Barrett, and all of the music from this live performance can also be heard on Camerata’s recent, excellent CD Treasures of Devotion. Please enjoy!
Music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) – Libretto by Nahum Tate (1652-1715)
This new production of Purcell’s only true opera features performances by live and remote musicians and media elements conceived by Peter Torpey, all stitched together to be viewed from the safety and comfort of your home. Artistic Director Anne Azéma leads a stellar cast, with Tahanee Aluwihare as Dido, Luke Scott as Aeneas, Camila Parias as Dido’s sister Belinda, and Jordan Weatherston Pitts as the Sorcerer, assisted by students from Longy School of Music of Bard College.
Our musical offering to you this week is a beautiful instrumental piece by a gifted, Jewish contemporary of Claudio Monteverdi. It’s the Sonata in Dialogo by Salamone Rossi (1570-1630), and we’ve chosen it because it embodies friendly exchange and relationship — essentials we never want to lose sight of during a winter season of continued pandemic. Soloists are Bruce Dickey, cornetto, and Carol Lewis, treble viol, with Libor Dudas, organ, and Christa Patton, harp, from a December 2018 Boston Camerata concert. May our many conversations continue!
Tonight, January 28th, our own Anne Azéma will participate in a conversation with Marc-Olivier Bherer of Le Monde as part of the Institut Français’ global 24-hour livestream event #NightOfIdeas.
