City of Fools explores age-old themes of justice and corruption as told through ancient minstrel songs. Satirical works from medieval France, Provence, and Germany provide a sharply-etched and astonishingly contemporary perspective on our own nation’s current travails.
Be prepared for a surprise or two along the way!
shares Camerata Artistic Director Anne Azéma. The concert will include songs of the great Provençal troubadour and satirist Peire Cardenal, as well as pungent excerpts from
Carmina Burana and the
Roman de Fauvel.
Want to get a sense for the music? Listen to “Rex beatus” on
Spotify.
Program & Notes
Shortly before an important American election, this new program of songs and poems from the Middle Ages evokes the age-old themes of justice and corruption in the public sphere. Minstrel songs from medieval France, Provençe, and Germany, amazingly contemporary in their language, provide an amusing and sharply-etched perspective on our current travails. Includes pungent selections from the Play of Daniel, Carmina Burana, and Roman de Fauvel; works by gifted musican-poets Philippe le Chancelier, Bertran de Born, and Thibault de Champagne; and a very American ending.
Anne Azéma, director, voice, hurdy-gurdy; Jordan Weatherston Pitts voice; Christa Patton, winds, harp; Shira Kammen, vielle, harp; Joel Cohen, narrator, lauta; with young professionals from the Longy School of Music of Bard College.
