Jane Bryden

The Boston Camerata was one of the first jobs I had as a young singer. Most of us in the group were just beginning our careers, and Joel invited us into his world of Renaissance music. It was a heady world of wonderful programs that we performed mostly in Harvard’s Sanders Theater. What I most remember is that Joel created really imaginative programs like “The Travels of Albrecht Dürer” which were full of unknown but wonderful music. There were many others too, but their names have evaporated, alas. I believe the singers in those days were Frank Hoffmeister, tenor, Kathy Edmunds, mezzo, Mark Baker, baritone, and myself, soprano. Instrumentalists included Friedrich von Huene, recorders, Adrienne Hartzell and Gian Lyman, gambas, (?) Cook, cornetto, and of course Joel on Lute. 

After a few years, a smaller group was formed, The Cambridge Consort (Joel, Friedrich, Gian, Frank, and me). We toured a lot, and won the Naumburg competition sometime in the ’70s. As a result of winning that competition we commissioned John Harbison to write a piece for us. He did, but unfortunately we never performed it because Gian died–a big loss for all of us. 

Joel was ahead of his time in the early music world, and for many people it was the first time they had heard Renaissance music. The Camerata was a high energy group that differed from other, earlier groups like the New York Pro Musica. 

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Kathy Edmunds

I remember French, Italian, and German programs that we did. One thing that has stayed with me over the years is how integral the sound of a language was to the sound of the music. Joel’s programming was always adventurous. With him at the helm of the Camerata, we were central to the burgeoning Early Music scene in Boston and beyond.

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Bruce Fithian

The Boston Camerata held an important role in my lifelong love of early music. My association began in 1975, when the Camerata was one of the few ensembles in Boston that featured this repertoire. What a thrill to sing motets from the French Renaissance while on tour in the enchanting Sainte-Chapelle! The sheer joy of ensemble singing was imprinted upon me and has continued till this day. When I formed the Saint Mary Schola, a professional early music ensemble based in Maine, the lessons from Joel’s directorship were always in my mind — especially the importance of creating engaging music programs and the desire to carefully listen to each other while making music. In a world filled with great sorrows and tragedies, in our little corners of the musical planet, it is moving and hopeful that somehow, mysteriously, the joys of gathering together to sing the same notes from hundreds of years ago have been handed down to us through a master-apprentice ether, and we can take comfort in the fact that organizations like the Boston Camerata will keep this link intact.

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Frank Hoffmeister

When my wife (Anne) and I moved to Boston in 1972, Anne’s first cousin, Jane Bryden, was singing in both The Boston Camerata and the Emanuel (Episcopal) Church choir and she urged me to audition for them. I did and was invited to join both. In those days Camerata, founded and directed by Joel Cohen, was primarily a choral group, with only incidental solos, but it evolved that more solo singing was included in our programs, and I became the tenor soloist. We performed at Sanders Theater at Harvard and made recordings at the Museum of Fine Art. The latter were released as LPs on the Nonesuch label. In a Christmas concert, I was assigned Rachel’s Lament as an unaccompanied solo, but when the record was released, it disappointingly omitted my solo. Joel explained that Tracy Stern, the executive director at Nonesuch, found it an unwelcome “downer” on the holiday disc.

The Camerata’s programs were very attractively varied—sacred and secular, solo and ensemble singing, instrumentally accompanied or voices alone—and the audiences at Sanders Theater were noisily appreciative. A guest director for one concert chose to program exclusively long sacred motets by a single 16th-century composer. It was an intellectually appealing conception, and we performed the music perfectly. But there were empty seats for the second half.

Before long, Joel conceived the idea of a summer European tour. I think some donors with deep pockets helped to make this a reality, plus the generosity of the venues themselves, which provided lodging, meals, and a concert fee. These tours were great fun. Joel was our helpful tour guide, pointing to medieval or renaissance buildings from the bus and commenting, “Very old!” We sang at a medieval festival in Cordes, a small hilltop town in central France. We sang in, or at least visited, a chateau on the Loire River, and toured the medieval walled city of Carcassonne, Toulouse, and the Papal palace in Avignon.

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Frank Hoffmeister

Much of the repertoire that we did was very challenging, really hard for us (for example, Gesualdo). Many of the programs were of French music. It was a good way for young singers just starting out to get their feet wet! We had a really good time together, with lots of laughter and joking. I’m pretty sure that we sang at the Cloisters in New York one time. Many of the rehearsals were in Joel’s apartment on Beacon Street. 

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