Baroque France • Sept. 14, 2024
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The great turmoil of the French Wars of Religion in the 16th and 17th centuries inspired some of the finest music in all of Western Europe. We present both the sacred and secular from early Huguenot (Protestant) psalms in French to the grand Latin motets of DuMont and Charpentier as the Sun King and Lully command the magnificent musical resources of 17th century Catholic France. The passion of the French for dance and stage is displayed in the extravagant Prologue to Lully’s finest opera-ballet “Armide” and in the captivating art songs of Boesset and Lambert. The Early Music Hawaii Ensemble, Scott Fikse, director.
Gut, Wind and Wire • January 24, 26, 2025
This instrumental trio formed by founding members of the Baltimore Consort, features Ronn McFarlane on lute (Gut), Mindy Rosenfeld on wooden flutes, fife and pipes (Wind), and Mark Cudek on cittern (Wire), bass viol and percussion. They perform the lively music of the Renaissance from the British Isles and the Continent, plus early and traditional Celtic music. Focusing on the popular music of those times and places, they illustrate the roots of traditional folk music. Also included in their repertoire is original music by Ronn McFarlane, for which he was Grammy-nominated.
An American Journey • March 29, 2025
The Early Music Hawaii Chamber singers star in an exciting new venture. They rejoice in the works of the popular Singing Schools of mid-18th century America which spread the music of the The New-England Psalm Singer by Boston tanner William Billings and other Singing Masters, across the States “singing and making melody” and “teaching and admonishing.” And they revive that special harmonizing as it was introduced by the missionaries to Hawai‘i in the 1830s, reinvented in the Hawaiian language and rhythms. The Early Music Hawaii Chamber Singers, Scott Fikse, director.
The Celestial Woman • May 9, 11, 2025
A professional women’s ensemble, Lumina has reinvented for EMH their celebration of
music by, for and in-praise-of women to reach back into the earliest centuries. It features
works by the 9th-century Byzantine Abbess Kassia, 11th-century Abbess Hildegard von
Bingen and Notre Dame Master Perotin. The title quotes the epic poem by the 14th-
century minnesinger Heinrich von Meissen “Frauenlob, in Praise of Woman,” both
sacred and secular. The program reaches into the early Renaissance with episodes in
the life and inspiration of the Virgin Mary, “The Queen of Heaven.” Two of the four
singers also play the Gothic harp, a favorite instrument of these early composers.
