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Iberica Resplendens Music from the Great Cathedral Collections of Spain & Portugal Tickets: $25 Preferred, $20 General, $15 Students/Seniors Friday, September 29, 2006, 8:00 p.m. Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia Saturday, September 30, 2006, 8:00 p.m. St. Mark’s Church 1625 Locust Street, Philadelphia Sunday, October 1, 2006, 4:00 p.m. Sts. Andrew and Matthew Church 8th & Shipley Street, Wilmington, DE Instrumental music abounded in the towns and cathedrals of 16th and early 17th century Spain and Portugal. Much of the music is preserved in cathedral libraries, such as those in Lerma, Seville, Toledo, Madrid and Lisbon. Iberian composers, skilled in the international language of music, nevertheless put their distinctive stamp on the received tongue and made it their own. Motets, mass movements, dances, villancicos and more make up this look at a repertoire that can’t fail to inspire, delight and entertain with its characteristic rhythmic drive and idiosyncratic forms.
Cantores Minores Piffaro invites renowned boys choir from Helsinki Tickets: $25 Preferred, $20 General, $15 Students/Seniors Special Program--ONE NIGHT ONLY! Wednesday, October 18, 2006, 7:30 p.m. St. Patrick’s Church 242 South 20th Street, Philadelphiaa The highly acclaimed, award-winning choir of boys and young men from Helsinki, Finland, the Cantores Minores, will be touring the Eastern United States in October of 2006 and have asked Piffaro to appear with them. They will be in Philadelphia for only one night and we are delighted to be able to present them. Modeled after the great cathedral capellae of northern Europe in the 16th through 18th centuries, this Finnish ensemble represents the very best of a long choral tradition stretching back well into the medieval period. You won’t want to miss this performance!
A Mexican Christmas Piffaro & the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia Tickets: $30 Preferred, $25 General, $8 Students Seniors receive a $3 discount on this program only. Friday, December 15, 2006, 8:00 p.m. St. Patrick’s Church 242 South 20th Street, Philadelphia Saturday, December 16, 2006, 8:00 p.m. Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia A Mexican Christmas Chamber Concert The Wilmington program will include a chamber ensemble from the Choral Arts Society. Sunday, December 17, 2006, 4:00 p.m. Sts. Andrew and Matthew Church 8th & Shipley Street, Wilmington, DE Two of Philadelphia’s premier musical ensembles collaborate to create a holiday program neither could do alone. We head south of the border, down Mexico way with music for the Christmas season from the pens of composers whose works are currently housed in the libraries of the fabled cathedrals of Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca, the modern repositories of much great music heard during the 16th and 17th centuries throughout Central America. The program will include works for massed voices and instruments by Diego and Juan Casseda, father and son respectively, Gabriel Besson and Escudero Peralta, among others, performed as they once were when they enthralled and delighted both the newly converted native Indian audiences and the transplanted Europeans as well. Guest instrumentalists will include Kris Ingles and Chris Cockren, trumpets and cornetti, and Mack Ramsey and Erik Schmalz, sackbuts.
Sweet Pipes The Art of the Recorder Tickets: $25 Preferred, $20 General, $15 Students/Seniors Friday, February 23, 2007, 8:00 p.m. St. Mark’s Church 1625 Locust Street, Philadelphia Saturday, February 24, 2007, 8:00 p.m. Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia Sunday, February 25, 2007, 4:00 p.m. Sts. Andrew and Matthew Church 8th & Shipley Street, Wilmington, DE The dulcet sounds of the recorder in its myriad forms and sizes will predominate in this program of music from the late medieval through the early Baroque periods, with Piffaro’s plucked strings, double reeds and brass as supporting characters. From the soft solo piping of a medieval recorder in early 15th century repertoire, to the glorious organ-like sounds of the full consort from contra-bass (not one, but two!) to soprano in music of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, this program will illustrate the recorder’s richness and versatility. With guest artists Daphna Mor, Priscilla Smith and Doug Milliken. Also making a special appearance will be the winner of a recorder competition for middle and high school students sponsored by Piffaro.
The Habsburg Hofkapelle of Munich and the Music of Orlande de Lassus The Event: The Wedding Festivities of Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine Tickets: $30 Preferred, $25 General, $15 Students/Seniors Saturday, March 24, 2007, 8:00 p.m. Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia Sunday, March 25, 2007, 4:00 p.m. Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion 2110 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia The Bavarian Hofkapelle under the direction of the justly renowned composer Orlande de Lassus during the latter part of the 16th century was renowned for the quality and expansiveness of its music making. When Wilhelm V, son of Albrecht V, duke of Bavaria at the time, married Renata of Lorraine in 1568, the occasion was set for this musical establishment to shine in all its accustomed splendor. Piffaro will be joined by the viol consort, Parthenia, a vocal group including Laura Heimes, Philip Anderson, Tony Boutte and Sumner Thompson, the renowned French cornettist William Dongois, and frequent sackbutenists Erik Schmalz and Mark Ramsey. Together, this large ensemble will seek to recreate some of the splendor of those wedding festivities of 1568, performing the works of Lassus both sacred and secular, some of which were written specifically for the occasion.