“Early music on period instruments expresses this music in a unique way,” says Julie Erhardt, an expert on the viola da gamba, the ancestor of the modern cello. “The warm tones of gut strings, lutes and keyboards, and wooden wind instruments such as recorders and baroque oboes envelop the listener in warm, earthy tones.”
Erhard said he is especially looking forward to the concert for five viols at the St. Paul’s College Club, while lutenist Thomas Walker Jr. is looking forward to the reunion of Ensemble Sprezzatura, led by Livingston. He said he is doing so.
“Instrumental performances of 16th-century polyphony are still quite rare in the ‘Land of 10,000 Choirs,'” Walker said. “So it’s really fun to realize[composer]Josquin des Pres on lute, viol, vielle and harp.”
“One of the most important aspects of the Twin Cities Early Music Festival is the spirit of community that Donald Livingston had in mind,” said recorder virtuoso Claire Galano. “His idea was to unite the Twin Cities’ early musicians and groups. Since then, the festival has created an opportunity for musicians to be inspired.”
and to encourage the audience to enter into the mindset of the middle of the last millennium.
Who and when: Cellist Charles Ash and harpsichordist Asako Hirabayashi, Sunday 7:30 p.m. Ensemble Sprezzatura, Monday 7:30 p.m. Lutetist Philip Rukavina, Tuesday 7:30 p.m. “Susanna Unbound”: Music for Five Viols, Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m., University Club of St. Paul, 420 Summit Av., St. Paul. “2×2”: Duo for two lutes and two harpsichords, Oct. 17, 2 p.m. L’Arte di Suonare, Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m. Soprano Sarah Jackson and lutenist Thomas J. Walker Jr., Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m. Lyra Baroque 40th Birthday Party, Oct. 19, 7 p.m. Gregorian Singers, Oct. 20, 4 p.m.
