Curtain Call

This morning we didn't have any scheduled events so we spent some time with Arvin's daughter Helena instead. Then we headed back into the musical fray. By the time we headed to the New England Conservatory of Music where the evening's concerts would take place it was solidly raining and it never stopped.

We caught a bus to our destination. First we stopped for a mid afternoon dinner at UNO Pizza restaurant. We each had half of a small pizza and saved the rest for later. By then it was time to go to the first concert of the day.

Called Rosa Das Rosas it featured the Newberry Consort whose artistic directors included soprano Ellen Hargis, a favorite of ours, and vielle and rebec player David Douglas. There were other instrumentalists playing harp, lute, citole, flute, recorder, bagpipe, hammered dulcimer and percussion. The group was joined by Exultemus, a group of six singers. They sang the choruses and some solos but Ellen sang most of the seventeenth century Cantigas, or songs. Though they were from Spain the language was Galacian-Portuguese. Lucky for us there were subtitles. Not only that, but there was a series of illustrations from the book where the songs came from. It was a magical concert and the audience loved it including us.

The concert ended around 6:30 and we had an hour and a half before the next concert, so we went out for a bit of coffee and desert.

The next concert featured the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the same group that plays for the opera. Based on this concert the opera is going to be amazing. The concert was about the birth of the orchestra in the late 17th century. At the end of the first half they were joined by the BEMF Dance Ensemble dancing to music by Lully. I took this photo after the first half ended and the dancers and orchestra were taking their bows. The audience was again clapping very loudly and yelling. Early music fanciers are not shy about demonstrating their delight in the music they hear.

Now we are home and it is late. We've just finished off the last of the pizza... hungry again. And soon we'll be off to bed. I may not get much commenting in tonight.

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