“This is an unusual foray for us,” noted Chanticleer General Director Christine Bullin. “Not only will 12 men perform a work about a strong and mysterious 12th century woman, but our 12 singers will act and speak texts in a departure from our usual concert style. It promises to be a challenge for them and for our audiences, and we know that Francesca Zambello will stage a gripping and beautiful work.”
Hildegard: A Measure of Joy goes a step further than Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations and Praises, which Chanticleer commissioned a few seasons ago. That work, which was recorded and received tremendous critical acclaim (including two GRAMMY Awards), was presented theatrically – with costumes and simple staging, but Chanticleer sang the entire work. The new Hildegard piece features spoken parts as well as music by multiple composers, who lived quite literally on both sides of the millennium.
The plot of the new work centers on twelve Cardinals who meet in Rome to decide whether Hildegard of Bingen should be canonized. Moving from skeptics to believers, they take us through her life, her miracles, and finally, her defiance of Rome. The story is theirs: it is a journey of how they come to define and discover what is holy. The structure allows for a variety of music, sometimes medieval, sometimes contemporary. As Hildegard's sanctity is questioned in arenas both sacred and practical so, too, the music reflects worlds of exalted spirituality and profound simplicity.
Hildegard of Bingen is an extraordinary figure in the history of Western music. An abbess who entered religious life at the age of 15 and founded a monastery on the Rupertsberg, near Bingen in the Rhine Valley, Hildegard was a mystic who wrote richly evocative lyrical poetry that she often set to her own original music. Her Ordo Virtutum, a morality play exploring the never-ending testing of human virtue, presaged opera with its dramatic and narrative components as well as its complexity. Hildegard’s visions, adept church politics, musical composition and wide-ranging writing fascinate to the present day.
The premiere will be underwritten by the proceeds from a Gala Dinner and Concert on May 20, 2005 at the John Pence Gallery in San Francisco, and is supported by grants from The Carol F. Buck Foundation; The Carlyle Fund, Susan & Dennis Carlyle, co-founders; The Florence B. Gould Foundation; The James Irvine Foundation; The L.J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. For further information on the Gala, contact Chanticleer at 415-252-8589.
For tickets to Hildegard: A Measure of Joy, call City Box Office at 415-392-4400 or 800-407-1400 or go online to www.chanticleer.org. Single ticket prices are $42 and $37 for reserved sections and $25 for General Admission seating. For group sales of ten or more, contact Linda Graham at 415-346-7805.
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(calendar listing follows)
CONTACT: Nancy Roberts, Director of Marketing & PR, 415-252-8589 ext. 306
EDITORS: Black/white and color digital group images available now; production shots available after June 2.
Chanticleer performs this World Premiere Music Theater piece on the life of 12th century abbess and composer, Hildegard von Bingen. Directed by Francesca Zambello, book by Donna DiNovelli, costumes designed by Anita Yavich.
Calvary Presbyterian Church
2515 Fillmore St.
Friday, June 3, 2005 • 8pm
Saturday, June 11, 2005 • 8pm
St. Joseph’s Cathedral Basilica
80 South Market Street
Saturday, June 4, 2005 • 8pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
2300 Bancroft Way
Sunday, June 5, 2005 • 4pm (note time)
Friday, June 10, 2005 • 8pm
St. Francis Church
1112 26th Street
Sunday, June 12, 2005 • 4pm (note time)
For tickets call City Box Office at 415-392-4400 or 800-407-1400 or online at www.chanticleer.org.
Single ticket prices are $42 and $37 for reserved sections and $25 for General Admission seating.
For group sales of ten or more, contact Linda Graham at 415-346-7805.
EDITORS: Black/white and color digital group images available now; production shots available after June 2.
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