Early music concerts planned

The Madison Early Music Festival adopts a French accent for its third season, devoting a significant portion of its offerings to Medieval and Renaissance France.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison festival combines a week-long workshop with six public concerts July 13-20 sponsored by the School of Music and Division of Continuing Studies.

The festival hosts four ensembles in residence who share teaching, coaching, and performing responsibilities with School of Music faculty and other guest artists. The concert series features each guest ensemble in an evening program, plus an all-festival concert and a free public participant concert on the concluding weekend. All events are in the Mosse Humanities Building, 455 N. Park St.

With the exception of the participant concert, all concerts begin at 7:30 p.m., Mills Hall, and include pre-concert lectures by festival faculty, 6:30 p.m., Morphy Recital Hall. The participant concert is scheduled at 4 p.m., Mills Hall, with no pre-concert lecture.

Tickets: $9 public, $7 students and seniors, available at the door. A festival concert pass good for all events ($35 public, $25 students and seniors) may be purchased in advance.

Workshop classes are open to early music enthusiasts of all levels of experience, from novice to professional. A per-class option is available to Madison residents.

The Madison Early Music Festival concert schedule is as follows:

Saturday, July 13, 7:30 p.m. The six male vocalists of The Concord Ensemble will perform an a cappella program of sacred and secular music by Pierre Regnault, Cipriano da Rore, Josquin des Prez, Clemens non Papa, and other Renaissance composers.

Sunday, July 14, 7:30 p.m. The Newberry Consort, ensemble-in-residence at the Newberry Library and at Northwestern University’s School of Music, will perform its annual concert in Madison. Core members Mary Springfels (viola da gamba and vielle) and David Douglass (violin and vielle) will be joined by contralto Karen Clark and medieval lutenist Mark Rimple to perform a program of medieval music.

Tuesday, July 16, 7:30 p.m. Piffaro, a Renaissance band modeled after official civic, chapel and court wind bands (ca. 1300-1600), will bring to Madison their usual array of historic wind instruments as well as lutes, harps, guitars, and percussion. Under the direction of Joan Kimball and Robert Wiemken, Piffaro’s performance will consist of French and Flemish Renaissance music.

Thursday, July 18, 7:30 p.m. Robert Eisenstein, artistic director of the Folger Consort, will join MEMF faculty members David Douglass (vielle and violin), Grant Herreid (guitar and lute), Cheryl Bensman Rowe (soprano) and Paul Rowe (baritone) to perform Remede de Fortune by Guillaume de Machaut.

Friday, July 19, 7:30 p.m. The annual All-Festival Concert showcasing festival faculty, guest artists, and students in collaboration will include performances of the Mass of Tournai, Dufay’s motet Nuper Resarum Flores, 4-voice organum by Perotin, and selected works by Machaut. The performance will be conducted by Paul Flight of the Concord Ensemble.

Saturday, July 20, 4 p.m. The festival concludes with a program of music for vocal, instrumental, and mixed consorts drawn from workshop participants and coached by faculty.

For more information, contact Julia Chybowski, (608) 263-6670, jchybowski@dcs.wisc.edu.