Alkemie: Sir Orfeo
$30-$50 ($15 student/artist/economic need)
- Tracy Cowart, voice, harps, & percussion
- Ben Matus, voice, recorders, medieval bagpipes, & percussion
- David R. McCormick, vielle
- Sian Ricketts, voice, recorders, & douçaines
- Niccolo Seligmann, vielles, psaltery, & percussion
- Elisa Sutherland, voice & lyre
Join us as we premiere our version of "Sir Orfeo," of an old tale perfect for a spring evening.
Almost seven hundred years ago, a London contemporary of the young Chaucer recorded the ancient Orpheus myth into the Auchinleck Manuscript. In this Celtic-inspired version of the tale, our hero visits the realm of the Fairies rather than the spirits of the underworld. Be transported by Ben Matus's arrangement of this Middle English legend, which reworks 14th-century English sources to set Middle English lai to music.
The myth, which continued in an unbroken tradition until at least the 19th Century in the Northern Islands (Shetland and Orkney Islands), touches on modern themes of "otherness" and reconciliation.
About Alkemie Medieval Music Ensemble
Alkemie exists to explore and share the life-affirming and alternative perspectives to be experienced in the sounds of centuries past. Comprised of singer-performers playing over a dozen instruments (including vielles, harps, psaltery, gittern, recorders, douçaines, and percussion), the ensemble has a particular interest in the porous boundaries between the court and folk music of the Medieval period.
http://www.alkemie.orgAbout Tracy Cowart, voice, harps, & percussion
About Ben Matus, voice, recorders, medieval bagpipes, & percussion
About David R. McCormick, vielle
Leading the charge for early music in the 21st Century, David McCormick is a multi-instrumentalist, scholar, and educator recognized for curating imaginative performances, creating educational opportunities for students of all ages, and guiding prominent arts organizations through the challenges of our time. He plays baroque violin and vielle in Alkemie Medieval Music Ensemble.
https://www.davidryanmccormick.com/