This is going to be a busy, musical fall!

Anne Azéma and the Camerata begin the 2009 season with a series of medieval music presentations in France and in Germany.

Anne’s program around the life and thought of the German mystic Meister Eckhardt will be heard twice in France in October. “L’étincelle de l’âme”, with Camerata soloist Susanne Ansorg, will be performed in the bilingual border region of Alsace, where Eckhardt once lived, on October 3 (Rosheim, Festival Voix et Routes Romanes), and then October 7 in Paris (Musée National du Moyen Age, Thermes et Hotel de Cluny).

We are delighted to be present once again at the Cluny Museum, home of the famous Unicorn tapestries and the site of many warmly received Camerata performances in previous seasons. And thanks to our Strasbourg supporters (City of Strasbourg, Boston-Strasbourg Sister City committee) for their support.

Anne Azéma returns to Strasbourg in mid-October to teach medieval music to a young group of dedicated musicians – a commission from the Festival Voix et Routes Romanes.

Then, on November 13, Anne leads the Camerata to Germany for a festival performance of our “gold standard” medieval production “Tristan et Iseult” (Herne, West Deutsche Rundfunk Festival) still in demand after twenty-three years of touring in America, Europe, and Asia! Anne and flutist Jesse Lepkoff, who participated in the original 1987 Erato recording, as well as countertenor Michael Collver and harpist Catherine Anderson, who joined the production shortly after the première, will be performing in the company of baritone Aaron Engebreth, soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani, viellist Susanne Ansorg, and narrator Jean Lorrain. As always, Joel Cohen’s brilliant script and scorings will transmit this ageless tale to listeners of today.

Finally, Anne and Susanne team up again in late November, travelling to the Netherlands to present a short, intensive course on medieval German monody (Tilburg Conservatory, November 18-21).

Camerata’s subsequent tour in Europe will likely be happening in the spring. More on that one soon…