Here we go - the 42 days of Christmas! Wait - is that right?

There are only 12 days leading up to the first TEMP Christmas concert, and we at TEMP would like to give you our version of the 12 Days of Christmas! Each day, we will present you with an interesting fact, tidbit, or fun story about Early Music. Here we go! 
On the First Day of Early Christmas...

Today's treat, for the 1st Day of Christmas!

Today is Stephanie Prewitt’s birthday! Remember how many times you’ve heard her sing over the last 3.5 decades (and you always want to hear more!) with Texas Early Music Project, La Follia Austin Baroque, New Texas Music Works (later known as Conspirare), the St. Mary Cathedral Schola Cantorum, and many, many other local groups. And then there’s the festivals and ensembles around the globe that have profited from Stephanie’s talents! We are so lucky to have her with us! Maybe a wee blessing for every time she’s brought a little tear to your eye or a rush of thanks to your heart … I know what color she likes, so ask me! For this year’s Christmas concert, her solos include our revival of the Scottish lullaby Balooloo, my lammie and a trio with Meredith & Brett in the Buxtehude section of the In dulci jubilo suite. Here's an excerpt of Stephanie singing Balooloo, my lammie from our CD Stella Splendens: An Early Music Christmas.

Join us for An Early Christmas In 11 days!

More tomorrow!
-Danny

Click to buy tickets for our Christmas concerts on Dec. 11, 12, and 13!

Saint Nick & the Reindeer Games

A shout out to shoeboxblog.com for the reindeer humor!

I am actually happy Meredith didn't ask me what my favorite reindeer games were. (See Meredith's TEMP Holiday Interview!) I've kept it a secret all my life. But since you're wondering now, I'll tell ya: Cupid & Casper skydiving from Santa's sled at 35,000 feet and playing havoc with Norad / UFO watchers all over the world! Donner, Dancer, and Sneezy playing sky frisbee with errant toy drones and making goofy faces at the cameras all the while! Rudolph and Snoopy sneaking into the movies on Christmas Day for a much deserved day off. 

Ok, that's all I got. Now everyone knows. But seriously, check out Meredith's interviews with Scott, Therese, and Jenny and check out the concert listing below! We hope to see you there!

-Danny

An Early Christmas

8pm, Friday, December 11, 2015
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Ave., Austin, TX

 8pm, Saturday, December 12, 2015
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Ave., Austin, TX 

3pm, Sunday, December 13, 2015
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message, or email info@early-music.org.

It’s time for another Early Christmas! The TEMP Eurotour continues as we explore music and the intangible essence of Christmas from the cultural capitals of Europe from the 13th through 18th centuries. TEMP puts its unique stamp on joyful chants, carols, lullabies, motets, and ballads from Western Europe and the British Isles, where many of the musical traditions we hold dear at Christmastime originated, with innovative arrangements for solo voices, small chorus, harp, violin, flute, mandolin, viols, and lute.

The familiar theme of the Nativity from the shepherds’ perspective, including their wondrous and terrifying experience with the angelic host and their subsequent gathering around the manger to adore the Christ-Child, figures prominently in most early music Christmas repertoire. We will present several works with this focus, including our original arrangement combining elements of two Nativity pastorals from 1684 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier with soloists (Jenifer Thyssen & Meredith Ruduski) and choir with orchestra. Charpentier had a particular ease and love of this repertoire and the results are ravishingly beautiful. 

The theme of the Mother and Child is especially poignant, of course; among the Medieval pieces on the concert, one popular gem is Lullay, lullay: Als I lay on Yoolis night. Its transparent texture and gentle pacing makes the conversation between Mother Mary and the Christ-Child extremely touching, heightened by the polyphony of the choir of angels witnessing the event. Listen to this excerpt from the CD Noël: An Early Christmas:

The popular tune In dulci jubilo, which has origins in the 14th century, went through many variations and revisions in the next 300 years before it became the modern carol Good Christian men, rejoice. We will present a seamless suite with settings by the German composers Michael Praetorius, Hieronymous Praetorius, and Dieterich Buxtehude for 2, 3, 4, & 8 parts. Listen to this excerpt from the CD Swete was the Songe: An Early Music Christmas in Northern Europe & the British Isles:

Motets by Sweelinck and Victoria, and lively works from Spain and France round out our Eurotour before we turn our sights to the west: Our Christmas concerts are never complete without a little taste of Celtic and English influences! Our popular versions of the Christ-Child Lullaby (with its Scots Gaelic solo by Jenifer Thyssen and audience participation) and The Wexford Carol (Cayla Cardiff, soloist) and more are in the program this year, as well as other favorites from the Celtic traditions, including a few sung by the popular Irish Gaelic singer Abby Green. We are again proud to feature nationally acclaimed historical harpist Therese Honey along with featured soloists Jenifer Thyssen, Stephanie Prewitt, Meredith Ruduski, Jenny Houghton, Cayla Cardiff, David Lopez, Brett Barnes, and Daniel Johnson. Our instrumental soloists include Bruce Colson (violin), John Walters and Jane Leggiero (viols), Marcus McGuff (flute), Susan Richter (recorders), and Scott Horton (lutes). 

 Join Texas Early Music Project for a splendid and enriching evening of music.
Encompassing six hundred years of festive creativity and beauty, this music is
sure to delight your ears and warm your heart.

On the road againnnn, from Compostela to College Stationnnnn

And I'm glad we aren't on the road *this* weekend! Really? The strongest storm in history in the Western Hemisphere? Yikes! I hope it doesn't live up to its description ... At any rate, even though we're still dealing with earworms from the Medieval Pilgrimage concert, we are preparing for our annual (since 2010) pilgrimage to St. Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station to present a shorter version of September's popular concert, Convivencia Re-Envisioned: The Three Worlds of Renaissance Spain. If you're in the vicinity and want to re-visit the concert or if you missed it the first time around, then check out the info below and come see us!  Or you could recommend it to your friends in College Station and environs.... News about the Christmas concert is coming up ... 

–Danny

Convivencia Re-Envisioned: The Three Worlds of Renaissance Spain

Sunday, November 8, 2015, 6:30 p.m.

St. Thomas Episcopal Church
906 George Bush Drive, College Station

Please join us for a concert that explores and celebrates the musical relationships among the three great cultures—Muslim, Jewish, and Christian—that co-existed peacefully on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Islamic Spain during these times was an extraordinarily tolerant culture in which learning was prized. In the library of the caliph of Cordoba were at least 40,000 books; most Western monasteries were fortunate to have 400, or even 40! Many works on mathematics, astronomy, physics, and medicine had been translated from Greek, Persian and Hindu sources into Arabic, and these books were, during this time, being translated from Arabic into Latin through the combined efforts of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars. Co-operation, Tolerance, Co-existence, Mutual Respect: These were the hallmarks of this extraordinary time. This year marks the fourteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States, and since that time we have experienced the brutality of the Islamic State, the horrors of the civil war in Syria, and, in our own country, Ferguson, Baltimore, Charleston, and more. The need for true Convivencia is greater than ever; these are qualities much needed in our own day.

This concert will feature Sephardic and Middle-Eastern songs and dances, along with 16th-century Spanish polyphony for voices and instruments, focusing on the intersecting issues of life among these three cultures: Love, dance, food and drink, dreams, secrets and prayers. Featured performers include santur and oud player Kamran Hooshmand (Iran), harpist Therese Honey (Houston), outstanding instrumentalists on psaltery, viols, Renaissance guitar, and other instruments of the period, and outstanding singers. The award-winning Texas Early Music Project is under the direction of Founder and Artistic Director Daniel Johnson. The concert will be followed by a Reception in the Parish Hall.

This concert is supported in part by generous grants from the Gilbert and Thyra Plass Arts Foundation and the Joe and Florence Ham Charitable Trust.

Tickets $10/$5 students, at the Door

For more information, please contact Bonnie Harris-Reynolds, Organist & Music Director, St. Thomas Episcopal Church

St. Thomas: music@stthomasbcs.org
Phone: (979) 696-1726 or (979) 696-0452

Earworm / ver de l'épi / Oorwurm / Ohrwurm

© Bob Eckstein, The New Yorker, 6/1/15

Still recovering from the exciting Medieval Pilgrimage concert (by which I mean finishing up my taxes, researching/working on music for the Christmas and Opera concerts and preparations for the upcoming Fall Texas Toot and the TEMP road trip to College Station on November 8 for a short version of September's Convivencia concert) and still having constant, but pleasant, earworms from last weekend's concert. Last night's earworm was the sinuous, interweaving melisma that Cayla and Erin sang at the end of each of the phrases of their duet. Today's is the refrain (again) from Los set goyts and the traded motifs from the duet that Nina and Jenny sang. I'm not complaining, mind you . . . I love it! I hope that you had similarly pleasing earworms!

Thanks to our special guests, our core and quasi-newbie singers and the band—and also to the audience who came to our new venue at St John's Episcopal and the audience who came to one of our "homes" (I think that pretty much covers everyone, right?) and especially our CD winner, Michael Praetorius. He's looking pretty good at almost 400. (You had to be there...)

Thanks to Robert Faires for his kind words (see the hard-copy version of the Austin Chronicle from the ides of October) and special thanks to the next Ohrwurm, whatever it might be...
And thanks for the oncoming Fall, which means that pumpkin *everything* can't be far behind!

View fullsize

by Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle, 10/16/15

We hope to see you at An Early Christmas, Dec. 11, 12, or 13!  Click on the image below for tickets or visit our Single Tickets page. 

-Danny

Pardon me, boy, is this the Santiago de Compostela Station?

Santiago de Compostela Train Station; photo by David Esteban

Greetings, and many thanks to all who attended our emotion-filled season opener concert, Convivencia Re-Envisioned. The turn-out and the response were both very fulfilling and gratifying. And the response at our little mini-concert at UT was very positive, too; so, again, thanks to the departments who banded together in convivencia to present us.

And—already—we are putting the final touches on the next concert, Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia, which is just around the bend. As that of our Convivencia concert, the music is still Iberian, but in many different Medieval styles. We, ourselves, will be on a sort of pilgrimage as our Saturday night concert is at a venue that’s new to us! St. John's Episcopal Church is intimate and has lovely acoustics! We think you’ll like it! And then we’re “home” again for the Sunday concert, at First Presbyterian Church. Whether in the new surroundings or in one of our home venues, we think you’ll enjoy this part of our EuroTour!

Learn more about our program below and enjoy the audio teasers!

-Danny

Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia

 with special guests Mary Springfels (vielle) and Peter Maund (percussion)

8pm, Saturday, October 10, 2015
St. John's Episcopal Church, 11201 Parkfield Drive

3pm, Sunday, October 11, 2015
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available  in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

Take advantage of preferred seating
by purchasing Season Tickets through Oct. 11!

For more information, call (512) 377-6961.

A company of eleven female singers explores the music of pilgrimage in Medieval Spain. This music celebrates the richly transparent timbre of treble voices in unison or in polyphonic settings, making the most of sweet consonances and pungent dissonances. Special guests Mary Springfels (vielle) and Peter Maund (percussion) join the ensemble and the TEMP Medieval orchestra of vielles, harps, and gittern. Featured soloists include Jenifer Thyssen, Stephanie Prewitt, Cayla Cardiff, Nina Revering, Erin Calata, and more!

View fullsize

Map showing the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.

There was never a more popular time for religious pilgrimage than during the Middle Ages. In those times, people made long and dangerous trips, lasting months or years, in a search for spiritual meaning or fulfillment or as an act of penance. Several of the most important sites of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages were located in what is now northern Spain. 

View fullsize

Llibre Vermell: Stella splendens

The Llibre Vermell (it was discovered in a red binding, and therefore is called the Red Book) comes from the monastery at Montserrat in Catalonia. Some of the music is sophisticated, but some of it was intended to be sung by the pilgrims themselves and included chants, rounds, folk songs, circle dances, and polyphony. We will also perform music from the Cistercian convent in Burgos (Las Huelgas Codex), Las cantigas de Santa Maria from the royal court of Alfonso X, and selections from Codex Calixtinus, from the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

Enjoy these two Llibre Vermell audio teasers from our related CDs: Stella splendens and Sacred.

Whether you are focusing on the music with closed eyes or
silently clapping your hands and tapping your feet,
the long-lasting beauty of our Medieval Pilgrimage will delight you.

September Songs

It might be a long, long time from May to September, but it really whizzed by due to the Texas Toot and the Amherst Early Music Festival and preparations for ... everything! But here we are! The first concert of the season in a few days and it's a doozy, with 2 videos created Dr. Roger L. Martínez-Dávila and guest performers from the east coast and the west coast. And it's all about Coexistence. Convivencia. It's been one of the most popular of our concert themes, so every 5 years or so we re-visit old [musical] friends and add a few new.

Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, 8:00pm (with pre-concert lecture at 7:00pm)
St. Martin's Lutheran Church, 606 W. 15th Street

Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, 3:00pm (with pre-concert lecture at 2:00pm)
Temple Beth Shalom, 7300 Hart Lane

View fullsize

Photo by Cecily Johnson

As a little informative teaser for our Convivencia Re-Envisioned concert, our multi-talented artist and Operations Coordinator, Meredith Ruduski, has created an entertaining and educational video about two instruments that will be featured in our program: the santur and the oud. Enjoy the video below!

View fullsize

Photo by Cecily Johnson

And to take the edge off the end of August, we had a lovely fundraising party on August 30 at the Wally Workman Gallery on 6th, produced/directed/nurtured by Meredith Ruduski. It was wunderbarlichkeit, thanks to Mer, the Board, and the performers: Meredith, Jenifer, Cayla, Stephanie, Jenny, Jane, Scott, and Marshall! 

View fullsize

Photo by Cecily Johnson

Onward! Vigilance! Convivencia.
-Danny

---

Season Subscriptions and Single Tickets are on sale now!

Sumer is a-halfway done, so let's fiesta!

It's been the largest Amherst Early Music Festival ever, which means your faithful servant has been up to his neck in alligators. At least I was in cool CT instead of hot TX with the cobra. Many fantastico concerts and the opera, good lectures, good music for fun, and good friends. In other words, yo soy muy tired! Cayla Cardiff and her husband Steven Hendrickson have been here to share the fun, along with Austinites Frank Shirley and Lisa Solomon (who was a whiz in the special singing program!)

Back to Austin in a few days to finalize plans for the upcoming September concert and our season opener party, August 30. Venez, y'all!

Come and enjoy the art and ambiance of the intimate Wally Workman Art Gallery with tasty tapas from Whole Foods Market and Austin's legendary food trailer, Mmmpanadas, and wine provided by Total Wine & More while placing your bids on items in the silent auction. You'll also be serenaded by a small ensemble of TEMP's artists who will perform selections from the upcoming Postcards From The Past season! 

To purchase tickets, please visit our Fundraiser page.

And yes, I was supposed to write this little blog-ette a few weeks ago, when "Sumer Is Icumen In" would have been most opportune. Here's a link to this season-appropriate, 13th-century Middle English round. Enjoy your summer and I look forward to seeing many of you on August 30!

-Danny

Season Subscriptions and Single Tickets are on sale now!

When April Showers Come In May . . .

Keep 'em Coming!

Photo: Alastair Muir

Just a quick update from us at TEMP Central, now that it’s my least favorite time of the year: the end of the concert season. It was fun to stay in Italy for the whole season—thanks for joining us—but the delights of France, England, Spain, and the Lowlands are begging for our attention next season.

We couldn’t have managed, of course, without our donors. You contributed to the La Pellegrina Indiegogo campaign, our general operating needs, Amplify Austin, and we simply couldn’t exist without you! Thanks so much! Donations are gratefully accepted on our website or by mail at:

Texas Early Music Project
2005 San Gabriel, Suite 204
Austin, TX 78705

We’re already making repertoire and artistic plans for next season’s Postcards from the Past: A TEMP Eurotour. You can see our itinerary on our 2015-2016 Season page. Season subscriptions AND single tickets are on sale now. Season subscriptions represent a 10% savings off regular prices and subscribers get to sit in the preferred seating areas. And new this year: Donors who contribute $500 or more will be able to join the season subscribers in the preferred seating area. We listened!

In the meantime, since I have no laurels upon which to rest, the Summer Toot workshop is coming right up, at breakneck speed, June 7-13, and then it will be time for the Amherst Early Music Festival.

Don’t’ forget about us in the meantime! We’ll see you in September for our multimedia season opener, Convivencia Re-Envisioned: The Three Worlds of Renaissance Spain. Below are some audio teasers of what you can expect to hear. These pieces and more are on our Convivencia CD.

That about does it!

Thanks again! Happy travels, few travails.
-Danny

April seems shorter than usual…

Good thing taxes aren’t due until the 20th!

Thanks to all those who were able to attend Sunday’s benefit concert for Tom Zajac! If you missed the concert, but still want to make a donation, please email artistic_director@early-music.org for info! And special thanks to all those who were able to participate. It was heartwarming and magical in many ways! I know Tom & Lilli will be most appreciative!

Onward to Monteverdi and his compagni! Wear your ciaccona shoes!
–Danny

The Full Monteverdi, Part 2

Saturday, May 2, 2015, 8:00 pm
University Presbyterian Church, 2203 San Antonio Street

Sunday, May 3, 2015, 3:00 pm
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive

We end our love song to Italy with music by Monteverdi and by composers who were influenced by him and some who might even have influenced the master a bit! The early to mid-17th century in Italy was an exciting time, musically, as the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque was at full speed and composers were experimenting with harmony, rhythms, new modes of expressiveness, and virtuosity.

There are very few composers whose careers have spanned two musical eras and even fewer who have excelled majestically in both eras. More than 50 years separated Claudio Monteverdi's first book of madrigals (1587) from his final large sacred and secular works in 1642. Those 50 years witnessed the end of the musical Renaissance and the experimentations and changes that led to the Baroque, and Monteverdi was among the leaders of the transition. We take a cue from "The Full Monty," the delightful movie from 1997, and “expose” Monteverdi's artistic brilliance in his second career, that of the Baroque composer.

From his first opera (Orfeo, 1607) to his last one (L'incoronazione di Poppea, 1642), he consistently sought to improve the human aspects of musical drama, whether dealing with small-scale chamber operas or relatively large productions for the opera houses of Venice. Monteverdi incorporated this sense of drama into non-theatrical works as well, and TEMP will perform some of these most dramatic yet dissimilar works, from the pastoral and exhilarating Tirsi e Clori to the elegantly tragic Lamento della Ninfa. Zesty rhythms abound in the form of the ciaccona, and works by Monteverdi (Zefiro torna) and Giovanni Felice Sances (Cantata à voce sola sopra la Ciaccona) will keep your toes tapping—silently, please! Both fiery passion and rhythmic excitement are abundant in Barbara Strozzi’s Lagrime mie, for solo soprano. There will also be a bit of traditional 17th-century music from Italy with the traditional Ligurian tune La bella noeva and examples of the dance-like canzonetta in the form of a street song and also as refined by Monteverdi’s Chiome d’oro. Francesco Turini’s work Il corisino for two violins and cello has an imminently hummable melody, yet it is one of the most intricately virtuosic chamber works from the 17th century.

Some of Austin’s favorite vocal soloists are featured among the fourteen singers, including Jenifer Thyssen, Gitanjali Mathur, Meredith Ruduski, Cayla Cardiff, Jenny Houghton, Stephanie Prewitt, Jeffrey Jones Ragona, David Lopez, Paul D’Arcy, Brett Barnes, Steve Olivares, Thann Scoggin, and guest mezzo-soprano Erin Calata, from Seattle.

Frequent guest violinists Anna Griffis (Boston) and Boel Gidholm (Rochester) will lead our small chamber orchestra of cellos (Jane Leggiero & John Walters), theorbo & Baroque guitar (Scott Horton), triple harp (Elaine Barber), and harpsichord (Billy Traylor), and will provide accompaniment as well as instrumental variations.

TEMP’s final concert of the season will exhibit the beauty, passion, comedy, innovation, invention, and serenity of one of the most exciting periods in western musical history.

The fullness of Monteverdi and his milieu await.

Early Music Pop-Up for a Cause, April 12!

Benefit Concert in Support of Tom Zajac

(Frequent Guest Artist with Texas Early Music Project and the Texas Toot)

When: Sunday, April 12 at 3:30pm
Where: First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX
Tickets will be available at the door only: Suggested donation of $20, payable with cash or check (made out to Tom Zajac); we cannot accept credit cards for this concert.

Many of you know Tom Zajac (recorder, percussion, bagpipe, sackbut) from his frequent performances with Texas Early Music Project and from his teaching and performing at the Texas Toot. Help us help someone who has long been a friend of Early Music in Texas while he recovers from medical procedures: He is making good progress, but we can help the process go much more speedily and maybe even more enjoyably! 

Members of La Follia Austin Baroque, the Saint Cecilia Music Series of First Presbyterian Church, the Texas Toot, and Texas Early Music Project team up to present an invigorating concert of music for a Spring afternoon to benefit Tom. The sooner he is well, the sooner he'll be back on the concert stage in Austin. 

There will be no pop-up food trailers, but we'll be dishin' out scrumptious tunes to sate your early music appetite!

See www.early-music.org or call (512) 377-6961 for more info. 
(If you would like to donate but can't attend the concert, please write me at
artistic_director@early-music.org for mailing directions!)

-Danny

Y'all Come!

I See Green People!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Check out the pretty unusual Irish selections on our Celtic Trinity and Celtic Knot CDs! And of course, after St Patrick's Day, you can listen to the Scottish and Breton music as well, completely guiltlessly!

All TEMP CDs are $20 USD and include free shipping within the U.S. Shipping charges will apply to international orders.

Have a wee listen to a couple of audio samples below. Click on the  CD images to hear more and to purchase CDs!

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.
May good luck pursue you each morning and night!
Danny

And Now for Something Completely Different!

HEY! February is a short month, so let's do a Baroque concert and then in 3 weeks give a Medieval / Renaissance concert! "C'mon," they said; "it'll be fun," they said.

Darned if they weren't right. I love this stuff! You're going to, too!

More soon!
Danny

The Flowering of the Renaissance:
From Italian Chant to Ciconia

Saturday, February 28, 2015 at 8PM
St. Mary Cathedral, 203 East 10th St., Austin, TX
(Free parking is available in the Capitol Towers Parking Garage located off San Jacinto Blvd.,
immediately behind St. Mary Cathedral. The gates will be lifted after the concert
so one can depart without paying between 9:45-10:15)
& 
Sunday, March 1, 2015 at 3PM
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX

Single tickets can be purchased by clicking on the button below
and are also available at the door, payable with cash, check, or credit card:
$30 general, $25 senior (age 60+).

Discount prices for students with student ID are available
for purchase at the concert door for $5. 

One of the most magical and transformative periods in all of Western music history emerged in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, full of stylistic and theoretical developments that led to the golden period we call the Renaissance. Music from the ars nova period (the 14th century, called the trecento) displayed variety and expressiveness in ways not previously possible. Florentine composers such as Lorenzo da Firenze, Gherardello da Firenze, and Francesco Landini created music that was wildly exciting with incredible rhythmic variation and chromaticism and yet there was much that was incredibly delicate and tuneful. Some of the pieces that will be performed by these three composers include Lorenzo’s “Io son un pellegrin,” Gherardello’s exuberant canon for two tenors, “Tosto che l’alba,” and Landini’s “Abbonda di virtù.”

The Flemish composer Johannes Ciconia, whose professional career as a composer and theoretician was spent almost entirely in the papal chapels and in Padua, represents the next generation of composers in our program. His music is a blend of French and Italian techniques and the result is a style that is uniquely his. The aural effects created by Ciconia’s style of imitation are vibrant and absolutely refreshing! His works “Venecie, mundi splendor,” “Ut te per omnes celitus,” and others will display his jaw-dropping creativity and inventiveness.

Ciconia’s work in Italy in the early part of the 15th century paved the way for other Lowlands composers such as Heinrich Isaac and Josquin des Prez, both of whom spent major portions of their careers in Italy and helped make Italy the flower of the Renaissance. Isaac’s long-term working relationship with Lorenzo de' Medici established him as the preeminent Florentine composer at the end of the 15th century; his motet “Quis dabit capiti meo aquam,” written to commemorate Lorenzo’s death in 1492, is a truly touching testimonial to his patron. Isaac’s motet from the Song of Songs, “Tota pulchra es,” is among the most beautiful and spellbinding works from the Renaissance.

Peter Maund, Bay-area specialist in early percussion, returns for the concert, as will Mary Springfels, renowned virtuoso on Medieval fiddle and viola da gamba. Erin Calata, mezzo-soprano from Seattle, will be the featured soloist in Isaac’s ode to Lorenzo de’ Medici, and will be will be joining TEMP soloists Cayla Cardiff, Jenifer Thyssen, Stephanie Prewitt, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Paul D’Arcy, and Daniel Johnson.  The complete complement of performers includes sixteen singers and seven instrumentalists (vielles, violas da gamba, recorder, harp, and percussion) for a concert that will be in turns sweetly meditative and rousingly lively, both in the visually and acoustically magnificent space of St. Mary Cathedral and in the much more intimate (and acoustically renovated) First Presbyterian Church.

Join us for wild and saucy dances fit for Boccaccio's Decameron, shimmering and bold works by Ciconia, and progressive and iconic motets by Isaac. Experience the expressive beauty of the Renaissance blooming across Italy.

Wheeeeen the moon hits your eye like a big zucca pie…

That’s Amore!

Yes, it’s come to that. Imagine, if you will, four up-and-coming opera singers backstage, in their dressing room at a Venetian opera house. What shadowy twists and turns of fate await them before they leave this small stage and exit to the [unseen] large stage for their big chance at stardom. What secrets of passion and trickery simmer just beneath the surface of their professional relationships? After all, divas and divos will be…well, divas and divos!

Join them, for this is the place where reality and the beauty of 100 years of Italian opera meet La Zona Crepuscolo!

More soon!
Danny

That’s Amore: An Early Valentine

Saturday, February 7, 2015 at 8PM
&
Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 3PM
Both performances are at First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX

Single tickets can be purchased by clicking on the button below
and are also available at the door, payable with cash, check, or credit card:
$30 general, $25 senior (age 60+).
Discount prices for students with student ID are available
for purchase at the concert door for $5. 

The best opera tells a story that is, if not totally—or even the slightest bit—believable, at least one that we can connect with, either through the characters or the music. We continue our celebration of Italian music with a newly formed opera pastiche using music from the early Baroque (Cavalli & Cesti) and late Baroque (Handel & Vivaldi) in Italy.

Weaving a plot around music from about 100 years of beautiful operas, we seek to entertain and delight you with arias (and only a very few recitatives) from the early Baroque with selections from Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto and Antonio Cesti’s L’Orontea and L’Argia. We have incorporated music of the late Baroque from George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo, Tolomeo, and Giulio Cesare and Antonio Vivaldi’s Il Giustino, La Fida Ninfa, and Orlando Furioso.

The selections from Cavalli and Cesti are typical of the early Italian Baroque: tuneful, direct, full of harmonic surprises and unmatched beauty. By the mid-18th century, opera was a glamorous and sophisticated activity for the cultured and not quite cultured. Both Handel and Vivaldi are well known, of course, though the casual listener might be surprised at the power and beauty of Vivaldi’s vocal works (he did write more than The Seasons, it turns out…) and the wide range of emotions he creates.

Our lively, witty, and loving pastiche of beautiful music from these four masters contains some of the most popular and should-be-popular works from the world of Baroque opera. Some of the leading lights of early music, rising stars from New York Peter Walker (baritone) and renowned countertenor Ryland Angel, join TEMP core-members Jenifer Thyssen & Meredith Ruduski (sopranos) for this unique production. The accompanying period-instrument ensemble includes German violinist Veronika Vassileva with violinist Bruce Colson (Austin), violist Andrew Justice (Denton), and TEMP regulars Jane Leggiero (cello), Scott Horton (theorbo), and Austin Baroque Orchestra director Billy Traylor on harpsichord.

As an early Valentine present, treat yourself and your sweetie(s) to the beauty, brilliance, and passion from four of the best composers in Italian opera in an intimate setting. We’ll tell a story that will warm your heart, make you laugh, and put your toes to tapping. The passion! The jealousy! The love!
Will there be a happy ending? We aren’t sure, but there will be a minimal amount of recitative, and there will be super-titles!

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message, or email info@early-music.org.

12 Days of TEMP Christmas: Day 12

DAY 12 TREAT (DEC. 12, 2014):

And here we are: It’s the 12th day. It’s time to talk about the Lady Greensleeves, who was 49th cousin to the beloved Mr. Green Jeans from “Captain Kangaroo.” Raise your hands if you remember Captain Kangaroo.

The earliest source of the song was a broadside ballad by Richard Jones in 1580; several more versions appeared shortly, with variants of title and text. There are references to the song in Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and by the end of the 17th century, the song had developed many variants in melody, harmony, and meter in versions by William Cobbold and John Playford. Of course, the more popular version for Christmas is “What Child is This” with lyrics by William Dix written around 1865. The version we use is The old yeare now away is fled from the mid-17th century.

There are modern versions/variations by performers as varied as Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen, Elvis Presley, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and…well, lots more.

And it’s concert time. In a few hours. Today.
An Early Christmas in Europe.

This 12 Days of Christmas factoid-per-day thing has been fun. Please join us for our next installments: the 44 Days of Super Bowl, the 185 Days of SXSW, and the 21 Days of Halloween.

12 Days of TEMP Christmas: Day 11

DAY 11 TREAT (DEC. 11, 2014):

All hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the year…

Loreena McKennitt sings it; and it’s on virtually every Anglophile Christmas or Solstice or Winter-related recording. I know of no reason we shouldn’t do it also! This traditional tune, first known as “When Phoebus did rest,” was set and arranged by John Playford for his country dance primer, The English Dancing Master, in 1651. Related versions of it are also found in the Samuel Pepys’s collection of broadsides under the title “A pleasant Countrey new ditty: Merrily shewing how To drive the cold winter away” and a version is also found in Thomas d'Urfey’s “Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy.” It remains one of the more popular English ballads in its several incarnations.

Considering where we live, I for one am not so eager to drive the cold winter away, though I don’t have to deal with 6-foot snow-storms, either. At any rate, it’s a great song, David Lopez sounds wonderful in his solo verse, and evocative visions of hot chocolate and hot cider and maybe a hot toddy or two prevail!

Drive the Cold Winter Away, just not too quickly, ok?
An Early Christmas in Europe. In 2 Days. In Austin. It’s 63°F.

12 Days of TEMP Christmas: Day 10

DAY 10 TREAT (DEC. 10, 2014):

It’s the Christmas season, and yet I’m a mean, mean man. Or at least a mean, mean maestro.

I’m making the singers perform in all these languages for the Christmas concert: Medieval French Latin, pre-vowel shift 14th-century English, Renaissance Spanish, 17th-century German Latin, 17th-century French, 17th-century Dutch & Flemish, Italian Latin, Gaelic, and even some English.

I'm getting coal from Santa, I just know it.
An Early Christmas in Yurp in 3 Days.

12 Days of TEMP Christmas: Day 9

DAY 9 TREAT (DEC. 9, 2014):

During our Christmas concert, you might find yourself thinking, “Oh, that’s ‘He shall feed His flock’ from Messiah,” and you would be sorta right. Quando nascete ninno is one of the many songs that peasant bagpipers from the mountains played in the streets of Naples and other cities during the days before Christmas; it is thought that the young George Frideric Handel heard this during his time in Italy in 1707–1709. But don’t worry, it won't be leading into a full‑blown Messiah concert for Baroque flute and bray harp, though that would be interesting...

 An Early Christmas in Europe in 4 Days • BYO Bagpipe.

12 Days of TEMP Christmas: Days 7 & 8

DAY 7 TREAT (DEC. 7, 2014):

Christmas in Killarney

This year we'll have Dennis Day and the Jack Benny Orchestra joining us for ... wait, what's that? 

Oh, sorry, the TEMP Board tells me it’s not to be. Instead, just one of the pieces we have representing Ireland is Ye sons of men, which has become one of the mainstays of the TEMP Christmas concerts. Like most of the traditional pieces, its origins are murky. 

The poem comes from Father William Devereux’s collection of texts from 1728; the tune is probably traditional; at any rate, it was usually sung during the main mass on Christmas Day. The tradition was passed down through the Devereux family, and was transcribed from a 1980 recording sung  by Jack Devereux, who was then 80 years old. 

It’s an amazing tradition and an amazing piece.

6 more days. Be there or be on the next boat to Killarney.

DAY 8 TREAT (DEC. 8, 2014):

For this year’s Christmas concert, we’re performing an a cappella choral work for 8 parts by a composer who is new to us. Giovanni Bassano (c. 1558-1617) was the nephew of the famous Bassano family who moved from Venice to London to be musicians in the court of Henry VIII. I had been aware of him as one of the most famous cornettists in Italy and through his books detailing ornamentation and theory—references I've used in teaching Italian performance practice.

It turns out that he was also a fine composer, and we’re performing his double choir motet Angelus ad pastores in just a few days!

But: the real reason I’m telling you this is because our September performance of La Pellegrina brought a lot of new patrons to us. One of those new patrons is a member of the Bassano family, and still has ties to Italy.

It's a small world!

An Early Christmas in Europe. In 5 Days.
Be there or be on a gondola to Killarney since you missed the last trains to Venice and Clarksville. 

12 Days of TEMP Christmas: Day 6

DAY 6 TREAT (DEC. 6, 2014):

It's the 6th Day. Must be time for French music. Let’s consult The New Oxford Book of Carols, shall we?

Words and languages change. In the late Middle Ages, nouvel an indicated the New Year, the time when carols were most usually sung. That phrase became corrupted to nouel and by the 16th century to noël, and the current use of a noël as a Christmas song was established. Nouvelet can mean both ‘news’ and ‘newness.’

Noël nouvelet, meaning a newly made song for both the New Year and the newly born infant-King, will be performed in 7 days.

That’s all the nouvelet for now. Good night and good luck.
TEMP: An Early Christmas in Europe

12 Days of TEMP Christmas: Day 5

DAY 5 TREAT (DEC. 5, 2014):

It’s the 5th Day so this must be about rings. Let’s see: Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, seven for the Dwarf-lords…oh wait, that’s a completely different carol.

On the second day [Dec 2] we talked about Falalalanlera and today we’ll return to the concert’s Spanish repertoire. Riu, riu, chiu is based on the traditional call of Spanish shepherds and, like Falalalanlera, has a secular version as well. I recall working on this when I was in the 7th grade at Goliad Jr. High in Big Spring. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who learned it at a young age. Remember The Monkees? Yes, it’s true! Just watch YouTube below. The harmonies are a little different, but it’s really sweet!

See ya. Eight days to go. Eight rings to … oh, no, wrong carol again.
TEMP: An Early Christmas in Europe • Be there or be on the last train to Clarksville