We will kick off our season with a lighthearted program about the ways in which people spent
their leisure time in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and how they sometimes
got into trouble in the process!
Saturday October 4, 4:30 p.m., St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Santa Fe
Sunday, October 5, 4:30 p.m., St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, Albuquerque
Our Christmas concerts will feature both medieval and Renaissance works, with selections from various countries. To add to the musical renditions, narrator Kathy Wimmer will be reading selections from period literature. The title of the concert comes from an early 15th-century English carol, known in its older spelling as “Wolcum, Yole.” The text appears without music in early sources, but modern audiences may be familiar with its setting by Benjamin Britten in A Ceremony of Carols.
Sunday, December 13, 4:30 p.m., St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, Albuquerque
Saturday, December 19, 4:30 p.m., St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Santa Fe
Sunday, December 20, 4:30 p.m., St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, Albuquerque
Important events in history have often been heralded with music. From simple fanfares to elaborate motets, medieval and Renaissance music served to accompany special events such as coronations, royal births, weddings, dedications of cathedrals, military victories and more, and composers were frequently called upon to write appropriate music for these occasions.
Saturday, March 6, 4:30 p.m., Santa Fe
Sunday, March 7, 4:30 p.m., Albuquerque
In much of the secular music of the medieval and Renaissance periods, we encounter the belief that there is something ennobling about nature, the forest, and the rustic simplicity of the people living there. In poems of medieval troubadours and trouvères, a popular genre was the pastourelle, with its acdtion set in the forest among the rustic shepherd folk. Later in the 15th century, the poet Jacopo Sannazaro’s Arcadia established the idea of an idyllic land of innocence and contentment, where shepherds and shepherdesses enjoyed an untroubled life, inspiring many Renaissance madrigalists.
Saturday, May 15, 4:30 p.m., Santa Fe
Sunday, May 16, 4:30 p.m., Albuquerque
NOTE: Online ticket orders must be purchased no later than 24 hours prior to the performance. After the 24-hour deadline, you will still be able to purchase tickets at the door if they are available. You may also request that tickets be held for you for pickup at the door—please contact us via email or phone.
