To kick off this year’s concert series, the vocal group Vox Lucens is scheduled to take the stage at the Park Avenue Congregational Church, 50 Paul Revere Road, on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 3 p.m.
The group of more than a dozen singers plans to perform repertoire from the English Renaissance. Sunday’s performance is titled “If Music Be the Food of Love: A Concert of English Madrigals.”
The concert series is intended to explore nuances of love expressed in music, according a press release from the church.
An artists’ reception in the parish hall is planned following the performance.
Those interested in attending can reserve lower-cost tickets in advance by emailing the numbers/types of tickets desired to this email address: concertseriestix@pacc-ucc.
Tickets purchased in advance cost $18 for adults and $12 for seniors and students. Tickets bought at the door are $23 and $15 respectively.
Spokeswoman Kathleen Fink wrote of the vocalists in the press release, “They will once again grace our resonant sanctuary with their lovely pure voices, this time with a concert of love songs, some joyful and some sad.”
Two more shows are scheduled in the concert series:
- Sunday, Dec. 3, at 3 p.m.: “Love Came Down,” an online Christmas concert offered via Zoom featuring Jeffrey Brody and young singers under the direction of Andrea Hart.
- Sunday, May 5, 2024, time to be announced closer to the date: “Wagner’s Women, Archetypes and Inspirations,” featuring performers from the Berlin Wagner Group. “With three renowned women opera singers, this special concert explores how Wagner’s relationships with important women in his life influenced the complex roles he created for them in his operas,” Fink said.
Background about madrigals
Supported by the evolution of popular poetry, English madrigals flourished during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Composers added English words to music originating in Italy and then went on to create their own versions of this popular form into the 18th century. Madrigals were performed for the pure enjoyment of the singers themselves and were also used to entertain audiences.
“The love songs selected for this concert, some of which may be familiar to you, are all gems of the madrigal tradition. They present a most diverse and colorful commentary on the longings and satisfactions of romantic love and perhaps remind us of what it was like when we were young and deeply in love for the first time,” Fink wrote. “With their flowing melodies and harmonies, both words and music express the doubts, the strains, the holding back and the giving in – all the hopes, joys and disappointments whether our choice of a person to love (or is it a choice?) was wise or foolish.”
History of Vox Lucens and its director
PACC’s resident artists,Vox Lucens, came together in 1998 to explore the Renaissance sacred and secular a cappella repertoire. Under the direction of Holly Druckman, they continue to develop programs that combine popular favorites with lesser-known works, often in their own editions. They approach the repertoire and rehearsals with a sense of fun and an intent to bring out the dramatic aspects of the music.
The group’s name, Vox Lucens (Latin for “a shining voice”) echoes not only the ensemble’s sound, but also the singers’ hope to shed light on the wide variety of styles and textures of the Renaissance repertoire. For more, please visit: www.voxlucens.net.
Druckman is also founder and artistic director of Carduus (formerly the Carr Consort), a chamber choir dedicated to exploring often-overlooked repertoire from the Renaissance and modern periods. Previous choral engagements include conducting posts with the Commonwealth Chorale, Cappella Clausura, Amor Artis and the Columbia Josquin Singers, as well as guest appearances with the choir at Saint Stephen’ Church in Providence, R.I., and apprenticeships with the New England Conservatory Concert Choir and Chamber Singers.
For more information, go to www.pacc-ucc.org/concertseries.
Oct. 13, 2019: Mezzosoprano, guests at Park Ave. church
This news announcement was published Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, based on information from Park Avenue Congregational Church.
