Andrea Wirth leads Yankee Doodle Dandy during Liberty Tree, October 2017. Photo by Dan Busler.
We mourn the death of Andrea Wirth (1970-2022), a superb musician and wonderful colleague. Her always-musical, spot-on percussion playing enriched so many of our Americana concerts, tours and recordings, most recently Camerata’s Free America! CD for Harmonia Mundi. Her sunny, life-embracing personality enriched us beyond measure, and as she endured her final illness with a profound philosophy of life, she became our teacher. How we shall miss her, but how we do treasure the enduring memories: those musical experiences, and those moments of fellowship!
Judy Davidoff was one of Camerata’s founding members. By the time I joined, she had already moved on to performing with the New York Pro Musica, whose Sanders Theater concerts I regularly attended. What an apparition in that red concert dress! I admired her as a model of grace, elegance, and musicality. To me and to so many others, she was a role model, teaching us precious things about music and life by her example. Judy’s was an extraordinary existence, and her memory is indeed a blessing.
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.
Our times are troubled, but we persevere. Camerata offers, during this week of repentance and renewal in the Jewish community, “Adon Olam — Lord of the World,” a beautiful medieval hymn text sometimes sung on the mornings of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The awesome musical setting, in Venetian double-choir style, is by Salamone Rossi Ebreo of Mantua (1570-1630). May the sun soon rise on a world at peace!
This continues to be a busy summer for the Camerata staff! We’ve been hard at work on the upcoming season and CD release, yes, but there are many tasks even further behind the scenes that have been simmering this summer as well.
Yesterday we moved our office from our longtime location in Boston’s Chinatown to Tremont Street, just across from the Boston Common. (Our mailing address and phone number are staying the same, if you were worried.) We share some scenes from the day, with Peter and Caitlin at their desks in the new office!
Meanwhile, here is an update from our Artistic Director Anne Azéma, who is also hard at work on the other side of the world, along with vielle player Shira Kammen. You will hear them both during our March 2022 offering, Douce Dame Jolie. We wish them good luck for their upcoming performances in the Netherlands this week-end.
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.
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
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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.
We are not quite there, as intense post-production work for Camerata’s next CD release continues. You will be able to hear all of the glorious results in only a few weeks, but until then, here is a glimpse of our project:
Meanwhile, stay tuned and watch this space for the opening of Camerata’s 2021-2022 box office. On that note, here again is the titular earworm of the coming season, We’ll Be There!
