— Early Music Concert Series —
English renaissance madrigals and the inspiration of earlier musical forms in the œuvre of Bohuslav Martinů and Jan Novák.
Thursday 18 November 2018 19:30
—
Museum of Applied Arts (Hallway), Husova 14,
602 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
Organized by OctOpus Vocalis in collaboration with Hudební lahůdky assoc.
Bohuslav Martinů (1890 – 1959) | Five Czech Madrigals (H 321)
|
Jan Novák (1921 – 1984) Text: Vítězslav Nezval (1900 – 1958) | Tři kanzonety pro tři ženské hlasy
|
John Dowland (1563 – 1626) | Mr. John Langton’s Pavan |
John Dowland (1563 – 1626) | Flow My Tears |
John Dowland (1563 – 1626) | The King of Denmark’s Galiard |
John Dowland (1563 – 1626) | Now, O Now |
Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) | Pastime with Good Company |
Orlando Gibbons (1583 – 1625) | The Silver Swan |
Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) | Helas Madame |
Thomas Morley (ca. 1558 – 1602) | I Love Alas, I Love Thee |
John Dowland (1563 – 1626) | Mistresse Nichols’ Almand |
John Dowland (1563 – 1626) | M. George Whitehead His Almand |
William Byrd (ca. 1540 – 1623) | Though Amaryllis Dance in Green |
Bohuslav Martinů (1890 – 1959) | Czech Madrigals (excerpt) (H 278)
|
Jan Novák (1921 – 1984) | Exercitia Mythologica (excerpt)
|
The programme will be accompanied by poetry by František Hrubín, Oldřich Mikulášek and Jan Skácel.
This concert is dedicated to the anniversaries of the founding of Czechoslovakia and of the August 1968 events.
The vocal ensemble OctOpus Vocalis was created in 2013 in Brno. Most of its members met for the first time in the Kantiléna children’s choir led by Ivan Sedláček. Since then, they have collaborated on many projects, be it in larger musical ensembles, chamber ensembles or as soloists. The idea to establish a chamber choir arose primarily from the desire to interpret interesting compositions from the national and international repertoire, together with the wish to experiment with compositions that were originally larger cast, yet in solo performances acquire some new dimensions and contexts.
OctOpus Vocalis performs regularly in their own concerts as well as in music festivals and is invited to cooperate with other musical ensembles (Ensemble Versus, Brno Contemporary Orchestra, SYxtet, Plaisirs de Musique, etc.). The ensemble also wants to continue bringing audiences to premieres in a similarly stimulating way as at the Brno Easter Festival of Spiritual Music in 2014 (Czech premiere of the Responsoria Tenebrae by the Polish composer Paweł Łukaszewski) or in the BCO – Brno Contemporary Orchestra 2016 subscription cycle (Mario Buzzi: Missa Brunensis). However, the ensemble deals traditionally with the music of the 20th century (currently the madrigals of Bohuslav Martinů and works by Jan Novák) and with Renaissance and Baroque music (in cooperation with ensemble Plaisirs de Musique).
The concert enjoys the auspices of the Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic, PhDr. Ilja Šmíd and the Governor of the South Moravian Region JUDr. Bohumil Šimek.
It takes place with financial support from the Statutory City of Brno.