The Ides of April.

Is that a thing, or not? Discuss.

Hmmm April 15. Seems like I’m supposed to be doing something important today. I mean, I do recall that on March 15, I made sure to avoid going to the Roman Senate, but I have this stabbing feeling that I’m missing something about today. So I made a little list of possibilities.

I do recall that I wanted to let you all know that you should check out TEMP’s Musical Taco that is coming out tomorrow, April 16. It’s monumental: Our 100th Taco! We started making them during the COVID 19 lockdown so we could provide a little solace, humor, news, and music for you while we were working remotely. (The idea was Mary Ashton’s, I’m pretty sure!) We made them weekly for several months and then moved to every two weeks, and now we mostly get them to you every two weeks. ’Ish. Sometimes.

So then, in an effort to avoid thinking about what I was supposed to do on April 15, I got curious and counted the number of blogs we’ve released since we started doing these. To my astonishment, I discovered that this might be the 114th blog. Yes, I lost count.

And so then, forgetting that April 15 was something I was even supposed to be concerned about, I decided to count the number of concerts that TEMP has given. The answer: Not enough. To that end, I’m glad to announce TEMP’s next concert, the final one for the 2023-2024 Season. It’s Italian all the way, with lots of ‘firsts’ involved. See details below!

And, as we said way back in 2014 before a similarly-themed concert:

Preservare il passato. Arricchire il presente. Coinvolgere il futuro.
Si tratta di musica antica in una luce completamente nuova. Unisciti a noi.

Meanwhile, I guess I’ll find out on April 16 what it was that I forgot to do on April 15.

Saluti!
–Danny

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Italia mia:
Diverse Voices of the Late Renaissance

Saturday, May 11, 2024 at  7:30 pm
&
Sunday, May 12, 2024, 3:00 pm
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2111 Alexander Avenue

Hosted by Arts on Alexander on the campus of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 
2111 Alexander Ave, Austin, TX 78722.
Visit the Arts on Alexander 2023-2024 events on the AoA website.

Admission $35 general; $30 seniors (60+); $5 students with ID
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.

Through the happy union of musicology and live performance, we can now present music to you that was not available or even known just a few short years ago. Due to recent research, we are able to present madrigals by Maddalena Casulana, the first woman composer to have an entire book of her music published. Some of her music wasn’t discovered until quite recently, so we are fortunate to have this timely opportunity. Likewise, music by the first published Black composer, Vicente Lusitano, hasn’t been available to us until the last few of years. His mastery of Renaissance polyphony and inventiveness create a wonderfully rich and beautiful architecture of sound. Although he has been in our sights for quite some time, this is the first program in which we can really explore music by Salomone Rossi, Italian Jewish violinist and composer who, like Monteverdi, was a transitional figure between the late Italian Renaissance period and early Baroque. This should give just an idea of some of the incredible musical diversity available in Italy, the heart of the Renaissance, from about 1538 until about 1638, when tastes and styles transitioned from the Renaissance aesthetic to the beginnings of the Baroque.

In addition to these brilliant but relatively unknown composers, we will feature both chamber and large-scale choral works by Monteverdi, excerpts from La Pellegrina, (the 1589 extravaganza created for an important Medici wedding), and intimate or casual pieces that are suitable for the end of our 2023-2024 Street Songs season. And we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sing the stirring title piece, Italia Mia, by Philippe Verdelot.

Our 20-voice choir will also provide the vocal soloists for the concert, and will include Jenifer Thyssen, Jenny Houghton, Shari Alise Wilson, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Page Stephens, Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon, Ryland Angel, and others. TEMP’s small orchestra of viols, violin, and plucked strings will feature Mary Springfels, Therese Honey, and theorbist Héctor Torres.

Join us as we explore 100 years of a variety of the delicious tastes of Italy
(not including some of those favored by Lucrezia Borgia…)

Click on the image above to  buy tickets now!

Earworms, Mysteries, and Memories

I sort of thought that the earworms from La Pellegrina would go away while I was deep into research for the Madrigal Mystery Tour concert. I was sort of wrong. Jenifer Thyssen’s opening aria still resonates in my head; Ryland Angel’s “Arion” aria still catches me off-guard; the final half of Meredith Ruduski’s aria from the 5th intermedio just will not take an exit bow!! Not to mention many magical moments from the choral and/or instrumental parts and the finale, especially, that still enter my consciousness … and you know what, they can all stay for as long as they’d like! It was such a thing!

La Pellegrina photographs by Cecily Johnson

But, onward! Such is the joy of my job that I’m surrounded by a whole passel of Italian madrigals for the 2nd of our Italia Mia: That’s Amore! concert season. (And, in our never-ending effort to make things more confusing, half the title of the upcoming concert is Italia Mia — tricky, eh? But you’ll know why at the concert, if you don’t already…) I’m listening, reading, deciding on parameters, choosing, scoring, formatting Italian madrigals 45/8. Or something like that. More on the concert soon; In the meantime, I'm not giving away any info on which madrigals we're doing, so it will have to remain a mystery! Get it? Madrigal Mystery Tour?

There is sad news to impart: the early music world has lost two extraordinary teachers and performers: keyboard artist and orchestra director Christopher Hogwood passed away this week in Cambridge. Earlier this summer, American lutenist and master pedagogue Patrick O’Brien passed away as well. Both of them touched countless lives through teaching, recording, and concerts.

Christopher Hogwood (1941-2014)

Patrick O'Brien (1947-2014)

RIP.

Danny

Once again — From the top!

Well, alrighty then. I, for one, would like to do our La Pellegrina concert about 10 more times in a few choice locations around the US—not to mention a few places elsewhere—but I think I would have to get some more sensible shoes if we did. Alas, I think we must be finished, because I don't see any rehearsals or concerts on my calendar. Drat. it was great fun, it was lots and lots and lots of work for the TEMP Board—good thing they're used to working hard to promote TEMP and work around problems that arise—and for Allison, Meredith, Jonathan, and Tiffany. Lots and lots of work. 

We might do this again. Who knows? But it can never again be the first time that it's been done in Austin, or in Texas, or in the U.S. [in at least 30 years and maybe longer]. That's a lot of 'first times' that the media missed, but, oh well. That's why we love Austin—there are always lots of artistic things going on. 

To all of the Board and staff and performers and supporters: A most solemn, sincere, and sacred Thank You! Grazie mille! We can all still continue to "Be a Medici - but Nicer" by supporting the arts and, of course, by not defenestrating people. 

And now on to the Madrigals. Eeeek. Only 6 weeks! 

Danny

P.S. You can pre-order the La Pellegrina CD here:
http://www.early-music.org/recordings/lapellegrina

P.P.S. Check out the Time Warner Cable News 8 Austin segment on La Pellegrina below! 

Ferdinando + Christine for 625 years!

Ok, we are now three weeks out from dress rehearsal for our first concert of the new season, Let’s see here, what needs to be done? Take a nap? Check. Have some coffee? Check. Maybe another nap? Nah, not really! We’re brimming with excitement (and also with activity: there is indeed so much to do!) about this Texas premiere, all the very cool friends who will be assembling here in a couple of weeks for this concert, and the fact that it’s presented by KMFA Classical 89.5! Our very own Medici patrons! And the fact that we got so much very generous support from so many folks from all over the nation (and the UK!) in our Indiegogo campaign. Thanks so much! This would not be happening without you. 

I’ll be back soon with an update or two or three. In the meantime, here’s a reminder about the concert and the details! Stay cool! Sorry, couldn’t help but have a little wishful thinking….

Danny

Our Opening Concert:

 La Pellegrina: Music for a Medici Wedding
presented by KMFA Classical 89.5

 Saturday, September 13, 2014 at 8PM
Sunday, September 14, 2014 at 3PM
St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, 606 W.15th, Austin 

Texas Early Music Project’s opening concert of the 2014-2015 season will be a unique and extraordinary event: the performance of La Pellegrina: Music for a Medici Wedding. Created by some of the greatest composers of the Italian Renaissance for the spectacular wedding celebration of Ferdinando de Medici to Christine de Lorraine in 1589 Florence, La Pellegrina consists of six musical intermedi or acts for vocal soloists, small ensembles, full chorus, and a full orchestra of Renaissance period instruments.

 Not only will this be the Texas premier of the entire work but our research shows that this will be the first U.S. performance of the complete work since at least the early 1980s, and our September performance will generate the first American CD recording of La Pellegrina. This will be a unique opportunity and experience not just for TEMP and all the artists involved, but also for classical music fans and history buffs both within and outside the Austin community. This will be of interest to students of all ages, from those in middle school and high school to those who are lifelong devotees of education, the fine arts, and cutting edge experiences.

 We have gathered a stellar ensemble of over fifty voices and early music instrumentalists from across the country and there will be a full orchestra of period instruments, including viols, cornetto, sackbuts, harps, and lutes, authentically recreating the sounds of the Italian Renaissance. We have commissioned a poetic narrative written and performed by Lawrence Rosenwald, Anne Pierce Rogers Professor of American Literature at Wellesley College, revealing the mythology behind the six stories. Sara Hessel Schneider, producer of KMFA’s Ancient Voices, will provide the pre-concert lecture for both performances.

 TEMP soloist Jenifer Thyssen (soprano) opens the concert with one of the most simultaneously haunting and acrobatic arias imaginable, and TEMP regular Meredith Ruduski (soprano) and guest soloist Ryland Angel (tenor, New York) both have show-stopping arias in the 5th intermedio. TEMP newcomer Ariadne Lih (soprano, Canada) joins Meredith Ruduski and mezzo-soprano Erin Calata (Seattle) as the Three Graces in the charming and invigorating finale. All the soloists are also among the 26 voices that comprise the ‘core’ chorus. The 21-piece, period-instrument orchestra includes special guests Stephen Escher (cornetto, California), Mary Springfels (viola da gamba, Santa Fe), Phillip Rukavina (lutes, Minnesota), Tom Zajac (recorder & percussion, Boston), and more. TEMP regulars in the orchestra include harpists Therese Honey (Houston) and Elaine Barber, organ/continuo master Keith Womer, lutenist Scott Horton, sackbut (Renaissance trombone) players Nathaniel Brickens, Blair Castle, and Steven Hendrickson, viol players Jane Leggiero, John Walters, and Stephanie Raby, violinist Bruce Colson, and more.

Experience the beauty, brilliance, innovation, and passion of some of the best composers from Italy in the late Renaissance joined with the expertise, talents, and joy of TEMP and its guests in this momentous and celebratory concert, presented by KMFA Classical 89.5.

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

TEMP's Red-Letter Day!

August 6, 2014 was a red-letter day for TEMP! We surpassed our goal of $15,890 in our Indiegogo campaign for September's season-opener,  La Pellegrina: Music for a Medici Wedding, and then we had a party at Fino's to celebrate Allison Welch and Jonathan Riemer, who got the new TEMP website operational AND beautiful --- in fact, this very website you're looking at right now!

More soon! Really!

Danny