St. Paul’s Artist Series presents EYA: Natus ex Rex, A Medieval Candlelight Christmas, featuring music for women’s voices from the 11th through the 15th centuries.
The concert takes place on Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m., at St, Paul’s Episcopal Church, 305 W. 7th Street at Pine.
Tickets are $20; $15 for seniors; $10 for students. For more information go to the St. Paul’s website: stpaulschatt.org/concert-season.
Allison Mondel, EYA’s director, said, “Natus est rex! A King is born! This exclamation illustrates what exuberant joy the feast of the Nativity was to the medieval world. A vast array of monastic and secular communities throughout Europe, and well beyond, were anticipating and celebrating this time of year, just as we do now. This was a time of sacred rejoicing, bending hearts towards the virgin mother, her Son, and God the Father through exquisitely crafted music and poetry. EYA is pleased to channel this devotional feeling, as we settle into the quietude of deep winter and prepare ourselves for all that is to come.”
Review of EYA:
EYA (Crossley Hawn, soprano; Allison Mondel, soprano, director; Kristen Dubenion-Smith, mezzo-soprano) is an award-winning vocal ensemble based in Washington, DC., specializing in the interpretation of medieval music for women’s voices. Launched in 2010 and directed by Allison Mondel, EYA has established its place in the Washington, DC community as an early music ensemble of impeccable vocal quality and deep, creative spirit. EYA presents concert programs that interweave diverse repertories of the 12th through 15th centuries, from Hildegard von Bingen to Notre Dame to the flyleaves of early English manuscripts and beyond. Through this lens, these programs seek to tell a story that forges new points of connection between contemporary audiences and medieval repertoire, underlining our common humanity with these early poets and composers.
PROGRAM
Natus est rex
Virgo pudicitie
Ther is no rose
Salve virgo tonantis solium
Ave regina caelorum
Salve rosa venustatis
Stillat in stellam radium
O frondens virga
Flos regalis
Hodie Christus natus est
Salve mater misericordie
Crist and Sainte Marie
Caeli domina/Ave virgo virginum/ET SUPER
Quia ergo femina
Salve virgo virginum
Ave Maria
O viridissima virga
Nowel: Owt of your slepe aryse
Antiphon, St. Martial Repertory, 12th c.
Conductus, Worcester, 13th c.
Carol, English, 15th c.
Conductus, Worcester, 13th c.
Antiphon, plainchant
Conductus, Worcester, 13th c.
Conductus, Notre Dame School, 13th c.
Antiphon, Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
Rondellus, Worcester, 13th c.
Antiphon, plainchant
Rondellus, Worcester, 13th c.
Saint Godric of Finchale (1069-1170)
Motet, Las Huelgas Codex, 13th c.
Antiphon, Hildegard von Bingen
Conductus, Worcester, 13th c.
Jacob Arcadelt (Flemish, 1514-after 1557)
Hildegard von Bingen
Carol, English, 15th c.