Early Music Festival, Week Two

Week Two of the Cincinnati Early Music Festival will be full of surprises. This week is full of new stuff.

Sunday Feb 8 brings us to Terrace Park for our friends at the Bach Vespers.  The Cincinnati Camerata will be joining the Cincinnati Bach Ensemble to perform Bach’s Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV 3. Oh God, how much heartache, is an Epiphany cantata.  http://catacoustic.com/event/bach-vespers-2/?instance_id=300

Then that same night at 8pm we’ll move things over to the Northside Tavern for the annual Classical Revolution Early Music Edition. You never know what you’ll get, but groups have been lining up for the chance to play in the back room.  http://catacoustic.com/event/classical-revolution/?instance_id=289

Ludwig Senfl

Tuesday Feb 10 we’ll be back at Christ Church Cathedral downtown for another tasty Live at Lunch around noontime.  This week we’ll hear from Consort in the Egg, a group that focuses on recorders and other winds, but embraces all music from the mid-Renaissance.  This performance will feature music of Ludwig Senfl and some of his contemporaries.  http://catacoustic.com/event/consort-in-the-egg/?instance_id=287

Cristobal de Morales

Wednesday Feb 11 offers a perfect remedy for your hump day. Get yourself over to Old St. Mary’s in Over-the-Rhine and enjoy a unique performance of the Missa Ave Maria by Cristóbal de Morales.  Perhaps the greatest Spanish composer of his time, c1500-1553, Morales composed only sacred music and was honored by the Vatican as the greatest church composer between Josquin and Palestrina. The entire Mass will be sung as written, a rarity in performance, by the Vicars Choral, an ensemble of eight men's voices. There will also be motets by Victoria and some Gregorian chant. If a cappella Renaissance polyphony sung in Cincinnati’s oldest church doesn’t get you through the week, you need to examine your lifestyle choices.  http://catacoustic.com/event/sacred-music-of-renaissance-spain/?instance_id=307

Saturday Feb 14 is Valentine’s Day, and we’ve got two ways to celebrate. First, at 2:00 in the afternoon, the Cincinnati Harper’s Robin will treat us to unexpected music on unfamiliar instruments.  An ensemble of lever harps makes for a sound evocative of the harp-loving days of the 13^th century.  Look for music from across northern Europe from the earliest times.  http://catacoustic.com/event/harpers-robin/?instance_id=309

 

And that evening we welcome the return of Cantantes Camarae.  The title of this concert is my personal favorite from this year’s Festival:  Sundrie Songs of a Lovely Nature.  Something we could all use more of, in my opinion.  The focus this year is on Love, a favorite topic for Renaissance tunesmiths. http://catacoustic.com/event/sundrie-songs-of-a-lovely-nature/?instance_id=310