Over the holidays, I moved my spinet harpsichord to the guest room so that I could set up my Christmas tree in the music room. But since Ian Capps asked me to host one of the visiting artists for the upcoming Early Music Hawaii concert, I told him that he and Jeannette would have to help me move the harpsichord back (because of my broken wrist!) so that I could turn the room back into a guest room. They did indeed move the harpsichord back to the music room but also made up the guest bed. Thanks, guys!
I’ll be hosting Tina Chancey, the leader of Ensemble Hesperus, which will perform on the Big Island — a program of medieval music from France to accompany the 1923 movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Lon Chaney. The group comes to Oahu to perform English music from the time of Henry VIII to accompany the 1922 production of Robin Hood with Douglas Fairbanks. There will be a GIANT movie screen set up in the nave of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu!
Here’s the description of the group from the Hesperus website:
Innovative, historically informed and multi-cultural, HESPERUS brings history alive with silent movie scores, cultural fusions and single-genre early music programs from the Middle Ages through the American Revolution. Whatever the genre, HESPERUS performs with creative energy, technical assurance and a sense of fun.
Founded in 1979 by the late Scott Reiss and his wife Tina Chancey, HESPERUS has appeared throughout the US, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe, most recently at Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Lincoln Center, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Cloisters, as well as at festivals in Italy, Germany, Indonesia and Bolivia. The ensemble can be heard in three recent Hallmark Channel specials (including the Emmy-nominated Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland), the film Sleepy Hollow, and on seventeen recordings on the Koch International, Dorian, Golden Apple and Maggie’s Music labels.
HESPERUS has appeared throughout the US, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe, most recently at Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Lincoln Center, and Carmel Bach Festival and The Cloisters, as well as at festivals in Italy, Germany, Indonesia and Bolivia. Awards include the Logan Prize for Excellence in Educational Programming, the Music and Humanity Award from Music at Gretna, the Baltimore Chamber Music Award, and for Director Tina Chancey, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Early Music America.
I found Tina and Hesperus have TONS of videos on YouTube, and just picked this one at random for you to view:
Here’s an intriguing entry for Tina Chancey on Wikipedia: “Chancey has been a member of the Renaissance-Rock group Blackmore’s Night (featuring Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow with his partner, Candice Night). Her stage name with them is Tudor Rose.” A Renaissance rock group? This ought to be interesting!
On her own website, you can read that she “is a performer, arranger, teacher, recording producer and writer. For 40 years she has played: Viola da gamba, Pardessus de viole, Medieval fiddles: vielle, rebec & kamenj, Renaissance violin, Folk fiddle on roots music from Medieval, Renaissance & Baroque to Sephardic, Appalachian, British & Spanish Colonial, Irish and Balkan.
In case you want to see the printed program, click here. The Lutheran Church of Honolulu program (“Robin Hood”) is this Saturday, January 16 at 7:00 pm; the Big Island program (“Hunchback of Notre Dame”) is Thursday, January 21 at 7:00 pm at the Queen Emma Community Center, Kealakekua. Tickets may be purchased from the Early Music Hawaii website.
Hope to see you there!