As the last days of summer lead to the equinox and the start of the new season, we share with you a Renaissance litany of saints by the great Heinrich Isaac (c.1450-1517), hoping that good spiritual energy will follow in the weeks and months to come. This track is excerpted from our recent CD Treasures of Devotion (available for purchase HERE). The soloists are tenors Michael Barrett and Dan Hershey.
A Plea for Peace from the Renaissance
Like you, we have had Afghanistan much in our thoughts recently. Please listen with us to this heartfelt imploration from the pen of the great Heinrich Isaac (c. 1450-1517).
We hope for better days for the men, women, and children of that land and all lands where human rights are trampled.
Camerata Musicians Say: “We’ll Be There!”
Summer is a time to relax and enjoy life, agreed. But for a company like ours, it’s also a season of intense work, preparing for the musical events to come, beginning in the fall.
Our roster of superb artists for Camerata’s 2021-22 season is now virtually complete, and we want to share their portraits with you. Individually and together, they will be there, singing and playing repertoire ranging from the European Middle Ages to the historic American spiritual tradition, providing us all with beautiful music and vital life energy during these challenging times. Please come see and hear these exceptional people! We would love to hear from you.
Top row: Anne Azéma, Luke Scott, Camila Parias, Ian Saunders, Allison Monroe
Middle row: Jordan Weatherston Pitts, Craig Juricka, Milton Wright, Mildred Walker, Christa Patton
Bottom row: Dan Hershey, Michael Barrett, Shira Kammen, Deborah Rentz Moore, Joel Cohen
And, as a later-summer gift, here’s a lovely American spiritual, “Something New,” to announce our season full of new things, and to celebrate the renewal of life that comes with programming and casting for the coming months.
Ticketing NOW OPEN for Camerata’s 2021-22 Season
Hodie Christus Natus Est: Coming Soon from Harmonia Mundi!
Here are some candids of our wonderful crew – Camila Parias, Deborah Rentz Moore, Anne Azéma, Christa Patton, and Shira Kammen – from this week’s recording sessions for our upcoming Harmonia Mundi CD Hodie Christus Natus Est, which will be released in October. And as part of our 2021-22 Boston series, you can hear this program live in December and all these wonderful musicians in Douce Dame Jolie in March – tickets will go on sale soon!
An American Christmas
Full of joy and delightful discovery, this holiday program is one of Camerata’s most popular. It features a generous selection of carols, New England anthems, Southern folk hymns and religious ballads for the season from the early years of the American republic, and from a wide range of early tune books and manuscripts.
Cast: 6 musicians, with Anne Azéma; fuller version, with brass: 10 musicians and Anne Azéma
Contact:
Camila Parias, tour@bostoncamerata.org
Victoria Bocchicchio, admin@bostoncamerata.org
Les Miracles de Notre Dame
A commission of the French Consulate in Boston and premiered a few months after the 2019 fire which destroyed in part the Notre Dame cathedral, this program was again performed in 2022 to public and critical acclaim, toured domestically in April 2024, and is available for touring.
Medieval Paris was not only a center of learning, debate, art, and architecture: it was also a capital of musical creation and innovation, the most important in Europe. You will hear the magnificent vocal music sung within the walls of the great cathedral, as well as miracle tales, student songs, and minstrel turns performed in Notre Dame’s shadow, on either bank of the steadily flowing Seine. A feast!
Cast: 4 men, 3 women, and one instrumentalist (vielle and harp)
This program welcomes the participation of an adjunct choir.
A video of the full concert is available on demand.
Contact:
Anne Azéma, Artistic Director, director@bostoncamerata.org
Victoria Bocchicchio, Administrator, admin@bostoncamerata.org
Ingeborg von Huene
With deep sorrow we share the news: Ingeborg von Huene, a fine musician, deeply compassionate human being, and last surviving member of the original Camerata of the Museum of Fine Arts, has died at the age of 93.
Joel Cohen, who first met Inge when, still a student, he joined Camerata in 1963, offers these thoughts:
“With Ingeborg von Huene’s passing, a beautiful chapter in the history of the early music revival comes to a close. Inge so loved and encouraged music in all its manifestations. She and her husband Friedrich were core members of the original Camerata, and I loved hearing them play their parts, he on all kind of winds, she on recorders and gambas, when the small, pioneering ensemble performed Renaissance music by Isaac, Senfl, Susato, and others. Their enthusiasm for such little-known but precious repertoires inspired me to pursue and persevere in the arena of pre-Baroque performance. She knew that someday many people would come to love early music, and she was absolutely right.
“Inge was also the essential co-head of the world-famous von Huene Workshop, directing business and sales, moving it forward into the international early-instruments market, as Friedrich and his staff turned out their world-class, impeccably crafted recorders and flutes.
“She was also a close observer of the early music movement and people who participated, and was, in my recollection, one of the most generous and encouraging souls in the entire field. She took great interest in the doings of her cohorts and colleagues, and was always ready with words of encouragement to aspiring young performers. She was like a benevolent gardener, helping the new shoots come out of the ground, into fruition.
“May it be remembered that she, along with Friedrich, founded the Boston Early Music Festival. I remember the joy in her voice as she first announced it to the Camerata board during a meeting.
“But most of all, beyond all her vital achievement in the music world, I remember her smile, recalling Ruben’s portrait of Isabella Brandt, her delightful accent, her warmth, her love of family-based singing and playing, her words and gestures of welcome and support. What a magnificent person she was, and how we shall miss her.”
We’ll Be There!: American Spirituals, Black and White, 1800-1900
“[This concert] was beautiful and vibrant … revealing … This is something one almost never hears examined in the context of classical music, and it was moving and exciting to witness it come alive.” – New York Classical Review, 2022
We’ll be There!: American Spirituals, Black and White, 1800-1900, the most recent in Boston Camerata’s long series of Early American musical productions, draws on early songbook sources, as well as oral traditions, to tell the story of American spiritual singing, North and South, black and white, during a crucial century of our country’s history. “The concert title evokes the struggles of the Civil War,” comments Artistic Director Anne Azéma, “but it also stands for the shared musical and spiritual experiences of America’s peoples. It also provides a unifying theme for Camerata’s ongoing work in these challenging modern times.” The program draws extensively on original, nineteenth century printed sources, as well as ongoing oral traditions, juxtaposing in many instances Black and White versions of songs found in both communities.
Our 2023-2024 cast: Anne Azéma, Camila Parias, Deborah Rentz-Moore, MaKayla McDonald, Jordan Weatherston Pitts, Corey Hart, Phillip Bullock, Luke Scott, and Milton Wright (vocalists); with Eric Martin (fiddle), Libor Dudas (keyboard), Joel Cohen (guitar) and Ian Saunders (contrabass).
Dates: please consult with us as soon as possible.
This program welcomes the participation of an adjunct choir.
View further information about this program.
Please address artistic questions to Anne Azéma, Artistic Director (director@bostoncamerata.org)
Please address all other questions to Victoria Bocchicchio, Administrator (admin@bostoncamerata.org)
A Medieval Christmas • Hodie Christus Natus Est
‘A power beyond words, elevating your heart with the music.’ – Milwaukee Mag
A glimpse of Christmas spirituality from Medieval France, Italy, England, Provence, including music of the church and songs of private devotion around the joyous theme of the Nativity. Included are songs to the Virgin Mary, processionals from Saint Martial of Limoges, hymns, lyrics, and miracle ballads, sung in Latin, Old French, Old Provençal, Saxon, interlaced with Medieval English texts of the Nativity.
Shira Kammen, vielle and harp (or Allison Monroe, vielle), and Christa Patton, harp and winds.
Photo by Dan Busler
“The [Camerata] ensemble takes you to a place of hope, redemption, and everlasting
peace…Simply beautiful, and not just for Christmas.” – Der Spiegel (Germany)
“The singing is crisp, pure, yet with plenty of emotional heft… The accompaniments – on medieval fiddle, harp, bells and ancient winds – are lively and evocative.”
– Limelight Magazine (Australia)
This program welcomes the participation of adjunct female or children ensembles.
Please address artistic questions to Anne Azéma, Artistic Director (director@bostoncamerata.org)
Please address all other questions to Victoria Bocchicchio, Administrator (admin@bostoncamerata.org)
Dido & Aeneas: A Baroque Masterpiece Revisited
“Effortlessly, at every step, the Torpey-Azéma mise en scène teased out the timeless from the historic, the general from the personal, the allegorical from the concrete. The Boston Camerata infused Henry Purcell’s most beloved masterpiece with new life, immediacy, and meaning. “ Boston Musical Intelligencer, 2023
“A feast for the ears…Live-wire verve…early music with a performative flair.” – ArtsFuse, 2023
Camerata’s production of Purcell’s only true opera, born as a made-for-streaming video in late 2020, has now returned live and staged in 2023! Then as now, our Dido features live performance enhanced by lighting and media elements conceived by Peter Torpey. Artistic Director Anne Azéma leads our stellar cast, assisted by students or a local choir from your community.
The production, as currently envisioned, includes four principal singers: Dido, Aeneas, the Sorcerer, Belinda, and Mercury, plus a five-piece Baroque band, all supported by Peter Torpey’s deeply evocative lighting and projections. The other characters in the story (Second Woman, Sailor, chorus of Courtiers, Witches, Sailors) can be recruited among local students or choirs. This project could be the perfect residency project for your community, school, university, or choir.
Venue: to be determined; preferably rigged for stage lighting
Budgets: please be in touch with us. All logistical questions will be discussed and resolved according to your wishes and possibilities.
Contact:
Anne Azéma, Artistic Director, director@bostoncamerata.org
Victoria Bocchicchio, Administrator, admin@bostoncamerata.org
New Patron Subscriptions
2023-2024 Season Subscription
Secure your seats for all four of this season’s programs!
You will be prompted to choose which performance of A Medieval Christmas: Hodie Christus Natus Est you wish to attend from the following:
December 7, Lexington, MA
December 9, Newbury, MA
December 10, Boston, MA
2023-2024 3-Concert Subscription
This subscription option gives you flexibility to choose the three Camerata performances you want to see and hear this season!
Daniel: A Medieval Masterpiece Revisited
The magnificent musical play of Daniel, composed eight centuries ago in Beauvais, France, is the subject of a recent, acclaimed production by The Boston Camerata. Freshly transcribed from the original manuscript source, and powerfully staged for modern audiences by Anne Azéma, the new Daniel is available for touring during the Camerata’s 70th Anniversary season 2024-2025.
“A pure delight…Top 10”
— Boston Classical Review
“Timeless spiritual message [conveyed] more convincingly than any Hollywood epic.”
— The Boston Globe
“Unexpected energy and immediacy….immersive and subtle staging…hugely successful”
— The Boston Musical Intelligencer
“Powerful…Impressive”
— Chicago Classical Review
“Anne Azéma… one of the most intelligent, creative, and talented performers and
directors not just of early music, but of any repertoire.”
— Fanfare Magazine
This ambitious production combines old and new, bringing together music and movement, theater and liturgy, light and shadow, to retell the biblical story of the young prophet-in-exile. The underlying, still-contemporary themes of tyranny punished, and of redemption from bondage, are brilliantly served by Anne Azéma’s staging and by an extraordinary singing and playing cast.
The first part of the performance introduces the public to the liturgical world of Beauvais Cathedral circa 1200, with chants and songs of the New Year’s season, excerpted from the same manuscript that gives us the Daniel play.
The sacred chants segue into the Daniel play, as the liturgists become singing actors, employing simple costuming, movement and gesture in the service of the miracle tale.
The production, as currently envisioned, is made of: seven principal singers: Daniel, Belshazzar, Darius, two Envious Men, the Queen/Angel; one Courtier and the Narrator; two instrumentalists (performing on vielle, harp, and percussion); a dancer; all supported by Peter Torpey’s deeply evocative lighting and special effects.
Pedagogical Opportunities: Daniel was conceived in the Middle Ages as a student play, of and by young people; Camerata’s production incorporates and develops this basic idea. And so the other participants in the liturgy and the play (satraps, soldiers, queen and queen’s court/angels) can also be recruited among local students, choristers, children’s choir, and other musical participants in your community.
Preparing and performing The Play of Daniel touches on and involves a whole series of disciplines: musicology (history of music, paleography, musical notation, techniques of transcription); performance practice (vocal technique, different contemporary approaches to medieval music, questions of accompaniment); theology and liturgy (the relation of the play to the liturgical calendar; the place Daniel in the manuscript BL Egerton 2615); the history of theater (medieval plays and their place in ecclesiastical life; surviving documentation concerning staging and performance), the place of rejected and marginalized people. This project could be the perfect residency project for your community, school, university, church, choir.
Anne Azéma will guide the preparation of this project with local musicians and their directors in your community. Final rehearsal periods will be conducted later, with the Camerata musicians and crew, and on location.
Dates: Early 2025
Venue: to be determined; a liturgical space, welcomed.
Budgets: please be in touch with us. All logistical questions will be discussed and resolved according to your wishes and possibilities.
Contact:
Anne Azéma, Artistic Director, director@bostoncamerata.org
Victoria Bocchicchio, Administrator, admin@bostoncamerata.org
Music in the Tempest: Playing Purcell Despite Winter Adversity
An Excerpt from the Liner Notes of the Archival Rerelease
of Camerata’s Dido & Aeneas
As the Music Director Emeritus begins writing this brief afterword, Boston and New England are currently (February 2015) nearly buried under seven feet of snow, accumulated over four storms, with yet more snow forecast in the coming days. And, O yes! it is bitterly cold.
What does the winter of 2015 have to do with a production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas? The link with catastrophic weather has to do with the conditions under which this interpretation of Purcell’s masterpiece, was rehearsed and initially performed, during and just after the Great Storm of 1978.
Amazingly, given the terrible weather and the multi-day, near-shutdown of public services in the Boston area, the Boston Camerata’s pioneering project, the first known performances of this major work on early instruments, went onstage, in concert version, as scheduled, despite a shortened rehearsal period. How the première managed to come about, with snow everywhere, no public transportation, and even a ban on private automobiles in the Boston area, is quite a story.
Because the concert was held at Harvard’s Sanders Theater, near Harvard Square, many potential audience members were within walking distance of the event. And a surprising number of Camerata “regulars” in fact turned out. The Harvard administration, concerned about cabin fever among its young, encouraged students to attend (this was at a time in American history when many of student age appreciated and supported classical music in general, and early music in particular). Harvard then scheduled a post-Dido dance the following evening. For the concert, the harpsichord, whose case looked something like a coffin, was transported to Sanders in a station wagon by a retired Episcopal priest, the late Roger Geffen. He had resumed his ecclesiastical look and white collar for the occasion (“Go on right through, father,” said the compassionate Irish cop, having stopped the wagon and its “corpse” at the checkpoint). The hardy Aeneas, baritone Mark Baker, actually walked from Marblehead, and delivered his part undaunted, or perhaps primed, by his extensive workout.
It was hard to do, but it was exhilarating beyond words.
This recording, made post-storm at Boston’s Emmanuel Church, with David Griesinger as engineer, is a memento of that effort. Most of us were young and green, and on this old tape our inexperience shows in places. But a great deal of energy and goodwill went into that pioneering product. Originally scheduled as a release on Nonesuch, but withdrawn from that label after the late Tracey Sterne’s abrupt departure, it was released about two years later, to much acclaim, by the French Harmonia Mundi label, just before Camerata sold out five shows of Dido at the Théatre de la Ville in Paris. That Paris week, too (with current Artistic Director Anne Azéma singing in the chorus), was an exhilarating highlight of Camerata’s long and ongoing love affair with French audiences. …
Thirty-six-odd winters have passed, some mild, and some turbulent, since this recording was made. And so we also wish to remember, with respect and enduring affection, the musicians heard here who, having braved the storms of life, are now at rest: Fred Goldstein, Nancy Joyce, Ken Fitch, Alison Fowle (a founding member of the original Camerata of the Museum of Fine Arts), Tom Coleman. The force and bounty of their work continues.
Joel Cohen
Amesbury and Paris
February, 2015
