The Waimea Consort, a 12-singer a cappella vocal ensemble,
will be in concert on
April 24 at 7pm in the Davies Memorial Chapel at HPA (upper campus)
in Waimea.
For its 5th anniversary, the Consort will offer a special program
as an
expression of gratitude to the community, which followed the progresses
of the
group throughout the years with an unfailing support: One piece
has been taken
from the program of every concert given by the Consort, with two
very special
treats.
The performance will open with two composers whose harmonies still
sound strange
to today's ears: Adam de la Halle, the first to write polyphonic
secular
chansons in the Middle Age, and Guillaume Dufay, at the border
between the
Medieval and Renaissance periods. A sumptuous Ave maria by Mouton
will be
followed by a 15th Century exquisite five-voice polyphony, La déploration
de la
Mort de Johannes Ockeghem (Deploration on the death of Ockeghem),
written by
Josquin des Prez, one of Ockeghem's friends and fellow composers.
A light
French chanson by Janequin will bring the audience to the first
special treat of
the evening, the Lamento d'Arianna, a five-part madrigal written
by Monteverdi
using the themes from his now lost opera of the same name. This
lamento, one of
the most dramatic Italian madrigals ever composed, tells the despair
of Ariadne
left alone on the island of Naxos by Theseus on his way back from
Crete to
Athens.
J.S. Bach's 5-part a cappella motet Jesu, meine Freude, will bring
25 minutes of
striking intricacies and vocal diversity in a very complex piece:
symmetry and
logical construction play an important role in the composition
of the work based
on a simple choral actually not written by Bach himself, but borrowed
to Johann
Crüger. The Consort had performed only a small part of the
motet a few years ago
and this full rendition is the second special treat of the concert.
Two 8-part
sacred hymns by Mendelssohn and a chanson by Saint-Saëns will
bring the audience
to a more romantic mood. The concert will close with a rendition
of Tantum Ergo
composed by Vytautas Miskinis, a contemporary composer of sacred
choir music
born in Lithuania in 1954.
The concert is on Saturday April 24, at 7pm in the Davies Memorial
Chapel at HPA
(upper campus) in Waimea. The concert is, as usual, free. and worth
a trip
up-hill from either side of the Island. |