Cœur de Cour: Ignota's Concert Premiere

• Alix Evans, alto & harp
• T.J. Callahan, bass-baritone
• Cam Falby, tenor
• Michael Manganiello, bartone
• Sarah Shodja, recorders
• Leah Wenger, soprano
• Asa Zimmerman, vielle

Join Ignota in our premier performance! In "Cœur de Cour," Ignota presents an evening of medieval song expressing the varied forms of courtly love—from friendship to passionate love, devotion to adultery, flirtation to grief. Our program includes choral and instrumental pieces composed by French and Occitan-speaking men and women of the 12th and 13th Centuries. This program will run approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

About Ignota

Ignota is a mixed vocal and instrumental ensemble that specializes in the performance of music from the middle ages. Medieval music expresses familiar and relatable emotions that are deeply resonant with audiences across time and geography. At the same time, these emotions are expressed through sounds and techniques that are less familiar to modern concert-goers. By catching us slightly off guard, this captivating music sweeps listeners off their feet.

About Alix Evans, alto & harp

Whether singing the soaring chants of Hildegard of Bingen or crafting arrangements of ancient music for historical harps, Alix Evans is dedicated to breathing life back into ancient music. Early in her artistic career, she was warned away from the music of the middle ages by people who assumed that it would sound too alien to appeal to modern audiences. Taking that as a challenge, she began to research and recreate the sounds of Medieval lays, epics, and polyphonic works. The experience was a revelation—Medieval music proved to be not just aesthetically beautiful, but positively gripping, at once both familiar and captivatingly different. Alix's passion is inspiring people through performance of this riveting repertoire, and drawing them into the world of early music through teaching and performance opportunities.

Alix has performed with choirs and ensembles specializing in Early Music across North America. With the vocal quintet Metal on Pavement, she has performed music from Salomone Rossi to works by living local composers. As alto section leader in Peabody's NEXT Ensemble (dir. Beth Willer), and as a vocal and harp soloist with the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble (dir. Mark Cudek), she has performed music from the 14th through the 21st Centuries. With the early music ensemble at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she explored approaches to harp accompaniment of troubadour song. She has performed with choirs specializing in music of the Renaissance in Ottawa, ON and with Illuminare and Brigid's Circle in Washington DC.

She has produced arrangements for small harp of a number of John Dowland's lute songs, which were included in the collection "Harpers of the Known World." She frequently teaches at events dedicated to life in the middle ages and renaissance on topics such as vocal and harp technique, historical temperaments, and specific artistic cultures, such as troubadours.

During the pandemic, Alix founded Falsa Musica, a venue through which avocational singers could gather online while choirs were dark to sing Medieval monophonic music—one of the few repertoires that lends itself to group singing over Zoom. Falsa Music continues to bring singers together across time zones and continents. Recent recordings include Gregorian chants from the Song of Songs, Viderunt Omnes, and the ancient Hebrew piyyut Ein k'Eloheinu. Falsa Musica performs its Gregorian repertoire live over Zoom, and will soon release a recording of Oswald von Wokenstein's canon Nu rue mit sorgen.

Alix has studied at workshops and in private lessons with some of the leading names in Medieval music, including Benjamin Bagby, Shira Kammen, Pamela Dellal, and Mauricio Molina. She holds an MM in historical performance from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins. She has also studied at Wellesley College and the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

About T.J. Callahan, bass-baritone

Bass-baritone T.J. Callahan (he/him/his) is inspired by the collaborative power of the voice and specializes in creating compelling performances of ensemble music from all eras. Currently based in Baltimore, Maryland, he has recently been active both in England and the United States. He made his operatic debut in 2023, performing as Adonis in John Blow's Venus and Adonis with Peabody Opera Theatre. While in England he was actively engaged as an ensemble singer, appearing with Contact Polyphony, as a soloist in The 24, and with the Lacock Scholars in the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. An early music specialist, he sang with the Rameau Project in the UK premiere of the original 1737 version of Castor et Pollux at both the Sheldonian Theatre and as a solo chorister at Stour Music.

Equally comfortable in liturgical and concert settings, T.J. currently sings with the fully professional choir of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Baltimore. Previously, he served as a Deputy Vicar Choral in the York Minster Choir and for five years he was a soloist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Seattle. He has performed with members of the Tallis Scholars and appeared in Seattle and Portland with the Byrd Ensemble and Sound City Singers, performing repertoire ranging from Renaissance masses to commissioned arrangements of popular music. In 2019, he helped found Radiance, a professional ensemble specializing in early and contemporary American repertoire, alongside Artistic Director Markdavin Obenza. He sang alongside Radiance on the Library of Congress's Homegrown Concert Series performing Shaker music in 2020.

T.J. is lucky to enjoy frequent engagements as a studio artist with vocal ensembles. He can be heard on the world premiere recording of Nico Muhly's Small Raine with the Tudor Choir, and has done studio work for Vox16, the Byrd Ensemble, and electronic music duo ODESZA.

In addition to his performing career, T.J. is passionate about arts access and worked for Seattle Opera for four years, supporting community engagement projects including school touring operas, youth programs, and collaborative partnerships. He also wrote and edited enrichment content for mainstage performances including Charlie Parker's Yardbird. He holds a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and completed his Master's in Solo Voice Ensemble singing with distinction in 2022, studying under Robert Hollingworth at the University of York. In 2024, he earned his Master's in Historical Performance Voice at Peabody Conservatory, where he featured regularly as a soloist and chamber vocal performer in NEXT Ensemble and the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble.

About Cam Falby, tenor

Cameron Falby (tenor) is an artist and vocalist based in Baltimore. Raised by two choir directors in central Maryland, they went on to study voice at Manhattan School of Music and then the Peabody Conservatory, where they received a BM in Music Composition.

Cameron works as a freelance choral singer and soloist in the Baltimore-DC area, performing everything from early music to new music to folk and indie. They regularly appear with local ensembles including the Choir of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Mind on Fire, Chantry, Ensemble Ignota, the National Cathedral Choir, and as a Vocal Fellow with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. Former teachers include Maitland Peters, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Michael Hersch, and Felipe Lara.

About Michael Manganiello, bartone

https://www.mangojello.com/

About Leah Wenger, soprano

Leah Wenger is a musicologist, performer, and poet based in Baltimore, Maryland, where she completed graduate studies at the Peabody Institute. She is a versatile solo and ensemble performer with a vocal repertoire that spans from the Medieval era to the 21st Century, and she takes inspiration from many musical traditions. Recent work includes performing Betty Olivero's chamber work En la Mar Hai una Torre under the direction of Dr. Beth Willer (2023), the role of Gloria in Handel's O Come chiare e belle with the Virginia Baroque Academy (2023), chorus roles in Blow's Venus and Adonis with Peabody's Opera department (2023), and as a soloist in David Lang's Love Fail with Peabody Camerata (2022). Internationally, she has participated in SoundSCAPE Composition and Performance Exchange in Switzerland (2024) the MWC International Choir as one of two representing North America (2022), Opera Programs Berlin Historical Performance Institute (2020), and a Karnatic Vocal Music Institute in Southern India (2018).

Professionally, Leah has appeared as a choral musician with Bach in Baltimore, and the church choirs of Grace & St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Saint Alphonsus National Shrine and Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, and the Washington National Cathedral in DC. She is a founding core member of two early music groups in the DC/Baltimore area - Ignota, focusing on music for the middle ages, and Basso Celestia, focusing on music of the baroque era.

Leah's research interests lie in the intersections of music, religion, history and psychology. Her current research focuses on the creative responses to disaster in seventeenth-century England, which she will present at the North American British Music Association in July, 2024. She also has presented research on the connection between creativity and mental illness at the Global Arts and Psychology Seminar hosted virtually in 2023. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted experimental research on musically-evoked autobiographical memories, which she presented in a poster session during Eastern Mennonite University's Academic and Creative Excellence Festival. In the same festival, Leah was chosen as one of two music students to give a lecture recital, where she presented research on the connection between mental illness and artistic genius as exhibited in the life of Robert Schumann. Additionally, Leah was the only student invited to talk during the EMU music department's annual colloquium series, presenting a lecture recital on the music of Charles Ives.

Outside of her artistic endeavors, Leah pursues a career of human services in mental health, student life and psychology. During her time at Peabody, Leah worked as a Graduate Hall Director for the Department of Housing and Reslife, offering supervision and leadership development to student leaders on campus, and serving in a primary on-call role for responding to campus emergencies. Previously, Leah worked in adult mental health care as an advisor for a residential unit, assisting adults in building skills necessary for independent living. She cares deeply about understanding and supporting the people around her.

Leah is inspired by the uniqueness of each individual with whom she comes into contact, and she works to create spaces where, artistically and otherwise, each person can bring their whole, authentic selves. Her poetry reflects this deep desire to mold the spaces that we exist in, offering commentary on the often-overlooked parts of life. Leah's poetry has been used for worship in Mennonite, United Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches, and has been published in Eastern Mennonite University's The Weathervane, and The Phoenix, a newspaper and arts journal, respectively. In 2024, her poetry will appear in new publications of Glacial Hills Review through Choeofpleirn Press, and an independent anthology titled Tales of Migration.

Leah Wenger received masters degrees in Historical Performance Voice and Musicology at Peabody Institute in May of 2024 with academic honors. She received her B.S. in Psychology and Vocal Performance at Eastern Mennonite University, where she was also the President of the Student Government and goalkeeper for the women's soccer team. Leah demonstrates a rare combination of investigative curiosity, diverse academic interests, and an appetite for meticulous research alongside her performance pursuits.

About Asa Zimmerman, vielle

Asa Zimmerman is a baroque violinist and violist based in Baltimore, Maryland. In this capacity, they perform with a number of ensembles, including the Washington Bach Consort, The Smithsonian Chamber Players, Tempesta di Mare, the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Modern Musick, Handel Choir of Baltimore, Baltimore Choral Arts, Novella Antiqua, BaRock Band, Tazzina Drammatica, the Baltimore Baroque Band, and Charm City Baroque.

Asa holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma from Peabody Conservatory.