Just yesterday, my husband, Carl, told me to get the guest room ready for another houseguest. This time we will be hosting a member of El Mundo, an early music ensemble which will be giving a concert at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu on January 26th at 7:30 pm.

“The Kingdoms of Castile,” featuring Baroque gems from old and new Spain, is directed by Richard Savino. You may recall that Richard came to Hawaii two-and-a-half years ago when we did two historic performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. It was the bridge of Richard’s theorbo which broke off for the first performance due to the high humidity in St. Theresa’s! You can refresh your memory about this incident by reading my post called “Broken theorbo!” This time, Richard will be playing in the air-conditioning of LCH, though, so the likelihood of this happening again should be nil.

El Mundo includes Richard Savino, Jennifer Ellis-Kampani and Nell Snaidas, sopranos; Paul Shipper, Adam LaMotte, Lisa Grodin and John Lutterman, on strings, guitars and percussion. They will bring to Hawaii a spectactular program of Baroque Spanish, Italian and New World song and dance that has won critical acclaim from New York to California. Dueling sopranos will sing Tarara and the Xacarilla. The Ciacooona and Folia will thrill with rhythms of the baroque guitar. Other works will include compositions by Santiago de Marcia, Antonio de Salazar, Jose Marin, Juan Hidalgo, Domenico Mazzocchi and even Georg Frideric Handel’s only cantata in Spanish.

Here are some quotes about the group:

“El Mundo plays with a refreshing lack of rigidity and dogmatism”  The New York Times

“An enchanting encounter with vibrant, refined artists”
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Tickets may be purchased online by clicking here.

Enjoy a YouTube video of this group here:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQk-0DssqDQ?rel=0]