Early Music Now presents the Orlando Consort, one of Britain’s most revered vocal ensembles, in a performance of Guillaume de Machaut’s Le Voir Dit and 15th- and 16th-century masterworks by Dufay, Josquin and Ockeghem as the ensemble graces Milwaukee on its five-city U.S. tour. The New York Times calls the quartet of men’s voices “masterly,” and The Gramophone remarks “…always dead in tune, always beautifully balanced.”
Valentine’s Day weekend might be the perfect time to enjoy music and lyric poetry from Le Voir Dit , a 14th-century work considered to be Machaut’s masterpiece. The poem is romantic in the narrator’s sadness at his separation from the lady he loves, yet satirical. Le Voir Dit mocks the conventions of courtly romance literature through its admission that the narrator is elderly and impotent and his lover is a much younger woman who fell in love with him because of his reputation as a poet.
Although Le Voir Dit means “a true story,” Machaut’s numerous inconsistencies force the reader to wonder at its veracity. The Orlando Consort has recently recorded Le Voir Dit on the Hyperion label.
The Orlando Consort will perform at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 914 E. Knapp St. For tickets visit earlymusicnow.org or call 414-225-3113 or 877-546-8742.
CLASSICAL HAPPENINGS
Ensemble Musical Offering’s Purcell Pastiche
Ensemble Musical Offering presents Henry Purcell’s incidental music for The Olde Bachelour, a parody of unrequited love composed for the play by William Congreve at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15 (pre-concert talk, 7 p.m.), at Cathedral Church of All Saints, 818 E. Juneau Ave. For tickets, call 414-258-6133 or visit ensemblemusicaloffering.org.
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The Ahn Trio
Seen on TED and in People Magazine ’s 50 Most Beautiful People—more than just pretty faces, the Ahn Trio performs with artistry, imagination and vitality at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 16, at Schauer Arts & Activities Center, 147 N. Rural Street, Hartford. For tickets call 262-670-0560, ext. 3 or visit schauercenter.org.
