Wednesday, May 23
Early Music Open Mic Night
Join us for Early Music Open Mic Night in the East Bay, 4th Wednesday of the month from September through May. This is your opportunity to perform early music in a friendly cabaret style setting. Instrumentalists, singers, soloists, groups, students, youngsters, professionals — all are welcome! Please email [email protected] with the date you’d like to perform. Time slots will be up to 15 minutes, and there will be six time slots on each night. A Roland state of the art harpsichord/organ will be available on site as well as a regular piano. Food and drinks will be provided.
7–9:30 PM
Hillside Community Church,
1422 Navellier Street, El Cerrito
Donations gratefully accepted
[email protected]
Friday, May 25
Barefoot Chamber Concerts
“The Dark is My Delight: Elizabethan and Jacobean Consort Songs and Dances” Barefoot’s last concert of the regular season (there is more Barefoot in June, at the Berkeley Festival Fringe!) features music from the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts and theatres. Last season’s collaboration between Hallifax & Jeffrey and Shira Kammen was so well received that a sequel was inevitable, and this time, the impeccable voice of local (and international) star Rita Lilly is added to the mix for an unforgettable program. There will be Dowland, there will be bird songs, there will be songs about the misery of love, and about wreathing arms, there will be dances of all kinds (especially pavans), and all in the fabulous wooden acoustic of St. Mark’s Parish Hall. There will, of course, also be snax.
6 PM
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Tickets online $15
510-220-1195 [email protected]
Saturday, May 26
San Francisco Renaissance Voices, Katherine McKee, Music Director
“To Henry from Florence with Love: Renaissance Madrigals and Motets” The King has moved his court to Hunsdon for fear of catching the “sweating sickness” and only a few servants and members of the household remain behind. Two young Wards stumble upon a mysterious basket that holds music books that in all likelihood were a gift to Henry from the republic of Florence by ambassador Francesco Portinari as they play in the library. They summon the Keeper of the King’s Library who knows exactly what to do – gather the household and sing from them! San Francisco Renaissance Voices (Katherine McKee, Music Director) is delighted to present a rare performance of madrigals from this collection of Italian masterpieces, sent as a gift to Henry VIII from Florence, Italy, a five-volume set of madrigal and motet partbooks that were assembled in Florence and sent as a gift or “musical embassy”to the English court in the late 1520’s. Our singers for this production are Daniel Harper as The Chief Baker, Katherine McKee as Keeper of the King’s Library, Naomi Braun as The Nurse, Colby Roberts as Friar Dionysius Memmo, Dan Stanley as The Steward of the Silver and Venetian Glass, and Nick Volkert as The Master of the Horse. They will be joined by actors Twila Ehmcke, Allison Newman, and Ryan Newman, dancer Irenie Melin-Gompper, and Matthew Xie, plucked instruments, for this very special costumed production, which will also include English and Spanish pieces from the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The performance of these rarely heard works of the pieces from the Florentine part books is made possible through the kind permission of The University of Chicago Press.
7:30 PM
Episcopal Church of the Incarnation
1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco
$30 general $25 student/senior, $20 12 or younger
Tickets online, at www.SFRVoices.org, or at the door 1/2 hour before concert.
Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .
