It was just about three years ago, that the Lutheran Church of Honolulu launched its historic performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. You may remember how miraculous those performances were, in that the whole production, from conception to closing night, was a span of only five months. John Renke is St. Andrew’s Cathedral called Carl Crosier “The bravest man in Honolulu!” for spearheading the project.

Derek Chester, one of three tenors we imported from the mainland, just posted a YouTube performance he did with his alma mater, the University of North Texas, under the direction of our friend Richard Sparks. You may remember my post about this outstanding early music ensemble–and they are all college students! We have heard them twice at the Boston Early Music Festival, and have renewed our friendship with Dick and Kathryn Sparks each time.

Derek says that they were using a brand new edition published 2013 by Bärenreiter, compiled by Hendrik Schulze and UNT graduate students.

We all remember the struggle we had with the score we used in 2010! Derek says this vocal edition is very clear.

Here, for your enjoyment, is the video of the University of North Texas’ performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers. The performance is outstanding, as well as the cinematography (they used multiple cameras to show various angles of the group.)