Park Church presents 'Madrigalia'

Madrigalia, Rochester's chamber singers, presents 'Madrigalia Soup: Six Centuries of Choral Ingredients.'

This will be September 26, at 2 p.m. Park Presbyterian Church, 110 Maple Court., Newark. All tickets: $5. For tickets and information, call 331.2255 or e-mail

info@madrigalia.org

In its first performance in Wayne County, Madrigalia presents a fulfilling musical afternoon that follows the development of choral music from the Renaissance through the 21st century. Although the sound of choral music has changed since the Renaissance, certain aspects of music composition and structure have not.

Music Director Roger Wilhelm highlights the changes in choral composition over the centuries and showcases the diverse talents of the ensemble. Each composition chosen for the concert illustrates the distinct styles of several musical periods and how they influenced the next.

Madrigalia is pleased to feature the Wayne County premiere of 'I was Dreaming' by favorite Rochester composer Cary Ratcliff.

Pianist Kevin Nitsch joins the ensemble as accompanist for works by Handel, Brahms, and Gershwin.

Madrigalia is an 18-voice chamber ensemble founded in 1975. The repertoire includes a wide variety of traditional and contemporary styles exploring secular and sacred choral literature from earlier times through the 21st century.

'Madrigalia Soup' alludes to the mix of music from the 16th-century through the 21st and how the music of each subsequent century builds on and uses parts of the earlier century's compositions. Many musical 'ingredients' coming together for a delicious 'soup.'

There are works by Thomas Morley, Orlando Gibbons, Claudio Monteverdi, G.F. Handel, C.V. Stanford, Johannes Brahms, Stephen Foster, Samuel Barber, Ned Rorem, George Gershwin, and Rochester's own Cary Ratcliff.

Some of the other works rarely performed are the Brahms Zieguenerleider (Gypsy Songs) and the set of pieces From an Unknown Past from American composer Ned Rorem.

Founded in 1975, Madrigalia has built an extensive repertoire encompassing traditional and contemporary styles of secular and sacred choral literature from the Renaissance through the twenty-first century. The eighteen-member ensemble uses choral music as a powerful tool to communicate humor, sorrow, prayer, meditation, celebration and remembrance.

Under the direction of Roger Wilhelm, the ensemble has performed throughout western New York and has been featured in live and prerecorded broadcasts on Rochester's public radio station WXXI-FM. In February 2004, Madrigalia was one of a select number of ensembles chosen to perform at the Eastern Division Conference of the American Choral Director's Association held in Boston.

In December 2003, Madrigalia released its first 'live' recording entitled Madrigalia Live at Christmas. This recording joins three previous releases: Christmas With Harp & Voice (2001), With Heart and Voice -Christmas Across America (1996) and With Heart and Voice - Anthems Across America (1993).

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