Please consult our COVID-19 policies and resources for guidance on attending public performances.
LUDUS presents ModernMedieval Voices: Hildegard of Bingen, The Living Word
Latest News
Cultivating Aluminum Flowers: Inside Steven Mackey Latest Electric Guitar Concerto
date & time
Sat, Nov 5, 2022
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
ticketing
Free and unticketed
- This event has passed.
ModernMedieval Voices presents The Living Word, an a cappella program featuring some of Hildegard of Bingen’s most ecstatic chants, including O Jerusalem and O Viridissima Virga, reflecting her most important sources of inspiration: Mother Church, Saints, The Virgin Mary, and The Divine Feminine, as represented by Love and Wisdom. These chants are interwoven with new works by acclaimed composers Caroline Shaw, the youngest ever winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Caleb Burhans, “New York’s mohawked Mozart” (Time Out New York), Joel Phillip Friedman, Daniel Thomas Davis, and Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek. The new works are based on, or influenced by, Hildegard’s philosophic writings, her music, and her visions, and each composer presents their own unique and personal interpretation.
The public concert is preceded by an afternoon workshop with the vocalists (3:00 PM in Lee Rehearsal Room, LCA). Workshop participants will join the members of the graduate symposium, “The Implications of Time: Time and Temporalities in Medieval Artistic and Musical Culture,” which convenes students and faculty from the Sorbonne (Paris), Columbia University, and Princeton.
Please write to Professors Beatrice Kitzinger and Jamie Reuland with questions or to express interest in attending the workshop with ModernMedieval Voices; space is limited.
LUDUS is a Collaborative Humanities Project from the Humanities Council. The “Implications” Symposium is co-sponsored by the Departments of Art & Archaeology, Department of Music, and an Alliance Grant by Columbia University. Click here for more information.
Program
Program attached below
About ModernMedieval Voices
“They sang exquisitely together, their voices so tightly intertwined that they often sounded as one clear strand….an evening of gloriously clear voices singing exquisitely wrought music spanning centuries.” (Steven Pisano, Feast of Music)
ModernMedieval was created by Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, a member of the world-renowned vocal quartet Anonymous 4, to explore the worlds of early and new music through lectures, workshops, masterclasses and performances. ModernMedieval Voices is a project based all-female ensemble directed by Jacqueline. She is joined by early and new music specialists for concerts and special projects that combine medieval chant and polyphony with music from later eras and new commissions influenced by the poetry and sonorities of music from the Middle Ages.
ModernMedieval Voices takes the vocal techniques developed by Anonymous 4 for singing this repertoire and combines them with a fresh approach to programming that introduces this wonderful music to new audiences.
The ensemble gave a triumphant debut performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC performing the Hildegard chant O Jerusalem as part of the Al-Quds:Jerusalem concert with MetLive Arts, described by Heidi Waleson of The Wall Street Journal as “exquisitely sung.” MMV has given performances at The National Museum for Women in the Arts in D.C., The Virginia Arts Festival, VA and the Ecstatic Music Festival in NYC, which was broadcast live on WNYC NewSounds Live, hosted by John Schaefer. The ensemble has also given residencies and performances at Notre Dame University, East Carolina University NewMusic Initiative, University of Tampa, FL, Binghamton University, Pittsburgh Dance Project, Liquid Music in Saint Paul, MN, Princeton University Sound Kitchen, Electric Earth Concerts in NH, Dumbarton Oaks, and The Cloisters in NYC as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLiveArts series. They are also featured on the award-winning CD To Shiver the Sky with music by composer Christopher Tin, which received its world premiere performance on May 2022 in DC. Their recording of The Living Word will be available in fall 2022.
“Although more than eight centuries separate us from this music, ModernMedieval’s approach to Hildegard is above all natural, emphasizing her fluent expressivity in perfect medieval Latin. Hildegard is always a good listen, and juxtaposed with sympathetic contemporary works, her beauties were especially resplendent.” (Patrick Rucker, The Washington Post)
About ModernMedieval Voices
“They sang exquisitely together, their voices so tightly intertwined that they often sounded as one clear strand….an evening of gloriously clear voices singing exquisitely wrought music spanning centuries.” (Steven Pisano, Feast of Music)
ModernMedieval was created by Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, a member of the world-renowned vocal quartet Anonymous 4, to explore the worlds of early and new music through lectures, workshops, masterclasses and performances. ModernMedieval Voices is a project based all-female ensemble directed by Jacqueline. She is joined by early and new music specialists for concerts and special projects that combine medieval chant and polyphony with music from later eras and new commissions influenced by the poetry and sonorities of music from the Middle Ages.
ModernMedieval Voices takes the vocal techniques developed by Anonymous 4 for singing this repertoire and combines them with a fresh approach to programming that introduces this wonderful music to new audiences.
The ensemble gave a triumphant debut performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC performing the Hildegard chant O Jerusalem as part of the Al-Quds:Jerusalem concert with MetLive Arts, described by Heidi Waleson of The Wall Street Journal as “exquisitely sung.” MMV has given performances at The National Museum for Women in the Arts in D.C., The Virginia Arts Festival, VA and the Ecstatic Music Festival in NYC, which was broadcast live on WNYC NewSounds Live, hosted by John Schaefer. The ensemble has also given residencies and performances at Notre Dame University, East Carolina University NewMusic Initiative, University of Tampa, FL, Binghamton University, Pittsburgh Dance Project, Liquid Music in Saint Paul, MN, Princeton University Sound Kitchen, Electric Earth Concerts in NH, Dumbarton Oaks, and The Cloisters in NYC as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLiveArts series. They are also featured on the award-winning CD To Shiver the Sky with music by composer Christopher Tin, which received its world premiere performance on May 2022 in DC. Their recording of The Living Word will be available in fall 2022.
“Although more than eight centuries separate us from this music, ModernMedieval’s approach to Hildegard is above all natural, emphasizing her fluent expressivity in perfect medieval Latin. Hildegard is always a good listen, and juxtaposed with sympathetic contemporary works, her beauties were especially resplendent.” (Patrick Rucker, The Washington Post)