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ModernMedieval Voices
Milwaukee’s Early Music Now (EMN) was founded in 1986 with the mission of creating “connections with the past through historically informed presentations of music composed before 1800.” They bring world renowned musicians to Milwaukee performing Medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque Music.
EMN next hosts ModernMedieval Voices under the direction of Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek from Princeton University. She is the director of the Early Music Princeton Singers as well as director and founder of ModernMedieval Voices.
Horner-Kwiatek will be joined by Chloe Holgate and Martha Cluver for a program of chants and polyphony by Hildegard of Bingen and others from the same period focusing on the cult of the Virgin Mary.
Hildegard of Bingen was a Benedictine abbess who lived from c. 1098 until 1179. She was a mystic and visionary and author on diverse subjects including botany, medicine and theology. An extensive collection of her work survives including musical compositions and a morality play. She is known as the Sibyl of the Rhine.
Hildegard’s ecstatic chants O Jerusalem and O Viridissima Virga are included on this program. Says Horner-Kwiatek, “Hildegard broke the rules when it came to chant composition, writing her own texts and setting hem to sweeping melodic figures that serve to highlight the ecstatic nature of her poetry.”
The sounds and tonalities from the past have the ability to reach deep into our musical roots, excite our souls and connect to the present. On the program are two new pieces composed by Caroline Shaw and Horner-Kwiatek inspired by Hildegard’s life and music.
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Horner-Kwiatek explains, “The two new pieces feature settings of texts written by Hildegard- her poem about Love (Caritas) and her vision of Wisdom (Sapientia). The pieces are written for three voices, not the unison voice of chant, and thereby expand and explore the vision and emotion of Hildegard’s writings and beliefs.”
Hopefully the two insights offered above will entice you to come to the preconcert lecture.
This will be a unique opportunity to hear exciting music not often found in Milwaukee. There will be a pre-concert lecture at 4 p.m. The approximate program length is 70 minutes with no intermission. ModernMedieval Voices will perform “The Living Word: Music of Hildegard” 5 p.m. February 8 at Calvary Presbyterian Church, 935 W. Wisconsin Ave.