Medieval Music Resounds in Brooklyn
…
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
7:30 – 9:30 pm
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
856 Pacific Street
Brooklyn, New York
All are welcome, as are donations
On May 22nd, at one of Brooklyn’s most beautiful churches, come hear the passion and desire—both sacred and profane—of medieval Iberian song as it was meant to be heard.
Killing the Buddha presents Resonanda, Brown University’s medieval music ensemble, in its premiere Brooklyn performance. Under the towering ceilings and exquisite stained-glass windows of the recently-renovated St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, they will present heartsick lamentations for absent lovers, passionate anthems to the Virgin Mary, erotic verses in Hebrew and Arabic, and a few scandalous escapades by men and women of the cloth. Works by Martim Codax, Alfonso X, Shmuel Ha-Nagid, Afons’Eanes do Coton, Juan Ruiz, Ibn Sahl, Ibn Khatima, and Ibn Zuhr.
Resonanda was founded in December, 2004, by Stephen Higa, a graduate student in medieval history. Since its inception, Resonanda’s members have taken an experimental approach to the performance of medieval song. In order to resurrect this antique repertoire, they work closely with medieval treatises and the nuanced period notation, relying heavily on improvisation, oral learning, and a wide variety of reconstructed vocal techniques. Resonanda fully believes in the deliciousness of medieval music; it savors lilting melodies, startling harmonies, and striking voices blending with fervent clarity and naked devotion.
