2018-2019 Season
The Calgary Renaissance Singers & Players’ 2018-2019 season – our forty-ninth – has now come to a close.
This season, we were proud to launch a new tradition of annual “CRSP Presents” performances, in which we invite other early-music soloists and ensembles to present concerts as a part of our season.
PAST CONCERTS
CRSP Presents • A Christmas Pilgrimage
Sunday, December 2nd, 2018
St. Stephen’s Anglican Church – 1121 14 Avenue SW, Calgary
CRSP took the audience on a colourful and merry Renaissance pilgrimage featuring sacred and secular music from England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Central Europe. The piece that was the backbone of the programme was Palestrina’s magnificent Missa De Beata Marie Virgine II, whose polyphony filled the splendid sanctuary acoustic at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church. We were delighted to also have long-time CRSP collaborators John van Leeuwen (recorder) and Joan Kent (viola da gamba) who serenaded us with their skillful and beautiful instrumental pieces.
CRSP Presents • Terpsichore!
Featuring String Theory Music Collective
Sunday, February 24th, 2019
St. Stephen’s Anglican Church (1121 – 14th Avenue SW, Calgary)
CRSP presented a concert featuring Calgary’s new early music ensemble – String Theory Music Collective. The Greek muse, Terpsichore, patron of lyric poetry and dance, inspired this grand spectacle.
We explored the origins of ballet in the Royal Courts of France with an extravagant assembly of musicians and dancers from the Alberta Ballet Post-Graduate Program. The dance portion was choreographed by historical dance specialist Aram Manukyan.
String Theory Music Collective was founded in 2017 by violinists Andrea Neumann and Louise Stuppard with cellist/gamba player Joan Kent. The ensemble is dedicated to the professional performance of early music.
Mirthe & Meriment
Sunday, April 28th, 2019
St. Stephen’s Anglican Church (1121 – 14 Avenue SW, Calgary)
At this concert, we enjoyed sharing the lighter side of the Renaissance. Joining the choristers was recorder player John van Leeuwen and Baroque cellist Joan Kent.
We presented 16th-century madrigals about pigs, PDQ Bach’s modern madrigals such as “The Queen to Me a Royal Pain Doth Give”, and a mash-up of the old and the new when Thomas Tallis’ Third Mode Melody meets Janis Joplin’s “Oh Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes-Benz?”
We also added to the fun with Renaissance infomercials “Elizabethan Insults and How To Use Them in Everyday Life” because you never know when this comes in handy! All in all, this concert totally lived up to the title with much mirthe & meriment.