In June, the ensemble gave a concert of
unaccompanied early sacred music at three San Francisco Bay Area venues. The program included
both familiar and rarely performed pieces from the Renaissance and Middle Ages including:Mostly Motets performed a concert to benefit Catherine's Center on Sunday, January 31, 2010 starting at 6:30 p.m.. Catherine's Center is a San Mateo transitional home for women newly released from jail or prison and is sponsored by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County and the Sisters of Mercy. The event took place at the historic Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, California. Approximately 250 people attended.
The musical program consisted mainly of a cappella sacred music from the Renaissance and Middle Ages including:
Michelle Levy (vielle and violin), Evangeline Wolfe (recorder) and Thomas Ayres (recorder) played instrumental interludes.
Mostly Motets sang at University Lutheran Chapel in Berkeley during the 11:00 a.m. worship service on Sunday, April 10th. While it was a religious service and not a concert, all were welcome to attend.
In June, the ensemble gave a concert of
unaccompanied early sacred music at three San Francisco Bay Area venues. The program included
both familiar and rarely performed pieces from the Renaissance and Middle Ages including:
Anonymous: Mariam Matrem Virginem
Anonymous: Ther Is No Rose of Swych Virtu
William Byrd: Emendemus In Melius
Josquin Desprez: Ave Maria...Virgo Serena
Josquin Desprez: Inviolata, Integra et Casta
Chant and Guillaume Dufay: Ave Maris Stella
Chant and Maurice Durufle: Ubi Caritas
Hildegard von Bingen: O Virtus Sapientiae
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Alma Redemptoris Mater
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Sicut Cervus
Thomas Tallis: O Nata Lux
Thomas Tallis: Te Lucis Ante Terminum I
Tomas Luis de Victoria: Ave Maria for Double Choir
Instrumental interludes were provided by Daniel Winheld playing the archlute.
7:00 p.m. Saturday June 5th • St. Mark's Lutheran Church • San Francisco
The first performance was in the beautiful sanctuary of Saint Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, at the corner of O'Farrell and Franklin Streets.
The second performance was in the Mercy Motherhouse Chapel on the Burlingame campus of the Sisters of Mercy at 2300 Adeline Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010. More information about the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame is available at their web site www.mercyburl.org.
The third performance was in the sanctuary of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.
This event was a unique combination of two learn-and-sing workshops that had proven to be very successful. The first are the Chant Camps offered around the nation by Susan Hellauer and Marsha Genensky of the renowned early music ensemble Anonymous 4. The second are the Early Sacred Music Sing-Along events offered by Mostly Motets, such as at the 2008 Berkeley festival.
This event combined and extended those workshops to demonstrate relationships between Medieval and Renaissance polyphony and the earlier chant upon which it was based. While some history and theory was provided, the event was very much a participatory one. The "audience" heard and learned a chant, sang that chant, heard and learned a related piece of polyphony, then sang it, and we cycled through several pieces in that fashion. Susan and Marsha lead and demonstrated the chant portions of the workshop. Mostly Motets, directed by Steve Moore, demonstrated the polyphony and then sang it with the audience.
Sheet music was provided. While reading music was necessary to sing the more complex polyphony, both experienced and inexperienced singers were welcomed to attend. Those who could not read music or didn't wish to sing were also welcomed to attend and listen.
The workshop took place in two separate sessions on the same day, June 13th, both in Berkeley, during the Berkeley Early Music Festival. Audience members were welcome to attend either one or both sessions, since the content was different in the two sessions.
The program of polyphonic pieces sung in the morning session, together with their mostly medieval chant precursors, included:
Josquin Desprez: Ave Maria...Virgo Serena
Josquin Desprez: Inviolata, Integra et Casta
Guillaume Dufay: Alma Redemptoris Mater II
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Alma Redemptoris Mater
Thomas Tallis: Te Lucis Ante Terminum I
Tomas Luis de Victoria: Ave Maria for Double Choir
The program of polyphonic pieces sung in the afternoon session, together with their mostly medieval chant precursors, included:
Josquin Desprez: Ave Maria...Benedicta Tu
Josquin Desprez: In Principio Erat Verbum
Guillaume Dufay: Ave Maris Stella
Maurice Durufle: Ubi Caritas
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Sicut Cervus
Thomas Tallis: O Nata Lux