Madison Early Music Festival Concert Series
July 11-18, 2009

Join us as MEMF celebrates its 10th anniversary and the International Year of Astronomy, a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture.  Telescopic Vistas: MEMF X and Music of the Spheres will explore the works of music and the arts that were inspired by scientific discovery and its tremendous impact on culture and civilization.

The Festival Concert Series consists of seven concerts and features MEMF guest artists-in-residence The Newberry Consort, Quicksilver, Marion Verbruggen, Piffaro: The Renaissance Band, and The Venere Lute Quartet. A free MEMF Participant Concert showcases participant consorts that have been coached throughout the week by MEMF faculty. The week culminates in an All-Festival Concert of choral and instrumental music as participants, faculty, and guest artists perform large scale works together.

All concerts begin at 7:30 pm (unless otherwise noted) in Mills Concert Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, 455 N. Park St. All evening concerts include pre-concert lectures beginning at 6:30 pm (location TBA).  For information regarding the Madison Early Music Festival concert series, please call 608-263-6670 or e-mail music@dcs.wisc.edu.

Each evening concert will be preceded by a lecture starting at 6:30 pm in the Humanities complex (location TBA). Two special lectures are offered at 11:00 am on Monday (7/13) and Wednesday (7/15) - all are free and open to the public.

Saturday, July 11, 2009
Piffaro, The Renaissance Band
Presented in partnership with Early Music Now

6:30 pm Pre-concert lecture: “Below the Stars: Galileo’s World” John W. Barker, Professor Emeritus of History, UW–Madison
Room 2650, Mosse Humanities Building

7:30 pm Performance: Harmony of the Spheres: A Celebration of Celestial Inspiration
From the days of Pythagoras, the 6th century BCE Greek philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from Croton in southern Italy, through the Renaissance, music was allied with numbers as a guide to interpret the visible world and the larger cosmos. Terrestrial music, musica humana, was simply a reflection of the harmony that ordered the celestial realm, musica mundana or the harmony of the spheres. Italian composers, theorists and practitioners all paid homage to this worldview.

Our concert continues this homage in music, art and illustrations, as we explore one of history’s most profound and enduring musical notions that inspired great composers and great compositions. Learn more.

Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Newberry Consort
Presented in partnership with WORT FM

6:30 pm Pre-concert lecture: "The Galilei, Father and Son" Michael Shank, Professor of History of Science, UW–Madison
Room 2650, Mosse Humanities Building

7:30 pm Performance: Ecco la Primavera: The Music of Francesco Landini
Francesco Landini, the blind Florentine composer, poet, organist, singer and instrument maker, was one of the musical giants of fourteenth century. His innovative work brought us a giant step toward the music of the Renaissance, but it also painted a picture of the Italian society of his day. His song Ecco la Primavera celebrates the arrival of Spring, and on the first weekend of Spring we travel back to Landini's Florence with songs and dances of love and lust. This concert features Ellen Hargis, soprano, Judith Malefronte, mezzo-soprano, and Aaron Sheehan, tenor, with instrumentalists David Douglass, Tom Zajac, and violin virtuosa Rachel Barton Pine making her Chicago debut on two of the violin's quirky ancestors: vielle and rebec.   Learn more. 

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Quicksilver with Marion Verbruggen
Presented in partnership with The Wisconsin Union Theater

6:30 pm Pre-concert lecture: "The Purgatory of Books: The Index Librorum Prohibitorum and Galileo's Times" Stefania Buccini, Professor of Italian, UW–Madison
Morphy Recital Hall, Mosse Humanities Building

7:30 pm Performance: Stile Moderno: The New Science of Music from the Seventeenth Century
Quicksilver presents a stimulating mix of performers with solos, duos, trios, and full ensemble pieces from the 17th Century with compositions by Castello, Cima, Buonamente, Merula, and Uccellini. Quicksilver is an exciting new ensemble of some of the finest historically-informed performers in America today. Led by Robert Mealy and Julie Andrijeski, two of todays' leading baroque violinists, this ensemble explores the rich chamber music repertoire of the early modern period, from the strange and extravagant trio sonatas of the Italian and German seventeenth century to the spectacular chamber music of the High Baroque. The performers of Quicksilver are all longstanding members of some of America's most distinguished early music ensembles, and between them have appeared on well over one hundred early music recordings. Joining Quicksilver on this program is recorder virtuoso Marion Verbruggen, a member of the Royal Conservatory faculty and international performance artist. Learn more about Marion Verbruggen: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Verbruggen-Marion.htm

Thursday, July 16, 2009
MEMF Faculty Concert
Presented in partnership with Friends of the Madison Early Music Festival

6:30 pm Pre-concert lecture: “How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and why you should care)” Ross Duffin, Fynette H. Kulas Professor of Music, Case Western Reserve University
Morphy Recital Hall, Mosse Humanities Building

7:30 pm Performance: Celestial Seasonings
The ensemble artists will mix it up in rare musical collaborations to explore music with scientific connections from various European countries.

Friday, July 17, 2009
1:00 pm: MEMF Participant Concert
Festival workshop participants perform in ensembles that have been coached by faculty and guest artists throughout the week. There is no pre-concert lecture and no admission fee for the MEMF Participant Concert, which will take place in Mills Hall.

Venere Lute Quartet
Presented in partnership with Broadjam

6:30 pm Pre-concert lecture: “Apollo's Lyre: The Lute in Renaissance Life and Thought” Grant Herreid, Mannes College of Music and lutenist with Piffaro, Ex Umbris, and ARTEK
Morphy Recital Hall, Mosse Humanities Building

7:30 pm Performance: The Galilei Project: The Lute Music of Vincenzo Galilei
The Venere Lute Quartet, will bring the music of Vincenzo Galilei alive in a special performance designed especially for MEMF!  Vincenzo Galilei, the father of scientist Galileo Galilei, made his living as a lutenist, composer, theorist, singer, and teacher, and published a number of books of musical scores for the lute.  A member of the Florentine Camerata, his work combining the practice and theory of music with the mathematical discussion of harmony, influenced Galileo’s scientific experiments. 

Saturday, July 18, 2009
All-Festival Concert
Presented in partnership with The Wisconsin Union Theater

6:30 pm Pre-concert lecture: "Ceremonial Music from the Italian Renaissance Court" J. Michael Allsen, Professor of Musicology, UW–Whitewater
Room 2650, Mosse Humanities Building

7:30 pm Performance: “La Pellegrina”: Intermedii & Concerti by Antonio Archilei, Cristofano Malvezzi, and Luca Marenzio
Resident artists and faculty join workshop participants in a magnificent presentation of the Italian Renaissance ceremonial music (Florence, 1589) for the wedding celebration of Ferdinando de'Medici and Christine de Lorraine, Princess of France. Conducted by Paul Flight. Learn more about Paul Flight: http:www.sacramentobaroque.org/paulflight.htm