PERFORMANCE HISTORY
2004
October - Office of the Dead Concert – Tomàs Luis de Victoria/Requiem
2005 Season
The Polyphony Project – The Spanish & Portugese School
March – Tenebrae: Tomàs Luis de Victoria/Tenebrae Responsories (San Francisco)
August – Feast for the Assumption of the Virgin: Francisco Guerrero/Missa sancta et immaculata (San Francisco)
Second Annual Office of the Dead Concert with guest artist Florante Aguilar, classical guitar – Cristobal de Morales & Frei Manuel Cardoso/Requiem (San Francisco)
2006 Season
The Polyphony Project – The Burgundian & Early Franco-Flemish School
February – Candlemas with guest artist Luba Kravchenko, organ: Heinrich Issac/Missa Virgo prudentissima (San Francisco)
July – The Feast of St. Jacobus with guest artists Scott Shubeck, lute, Nicholas Rastegar & Jeff Hansen, bassoons: Guillaume Dufay/Missa L’homme armé & Clement Janequin/La Guerre (San Francisco & Alameda, CA)
Third Annual Office of the Dead Concert – Johannes Ockeghem & Pierre de la Rue/Requiem (San Francisco & Tiburon, CA)
2007 Season
The Polyphony Project – The English School
Special performance: February – Music for Lunar New Year with guest artists The San Francisco Joyful Chinese Instrumental Ensemble, Nicholas Rastegar, oboe, Grace Renaud, organ & Jonathan Jiang & Gary Tang, lion dancers: Charles d’Ambleville/Messe des Jesuites a Pekin (San Francisco & Berkeley, CA)
May – Trinity with guest artist Sarah Jane Matthews, organ: Thomas Tallis & Orlando Gibbons/The Short Service & Robert Parsons/The First Excellent Service (San Francisco & Palo Alto, CA)
July – The Regina Monologues with guest artists Dianne Nicolini of KDFC fm radio, spoken word & Scott Shubeck, lute: Music for lute, readings from Shakespeare & Elizabethan folksongs & madrigals (San Francisco & Alameda, CA)
September & October – Opera Early & Ancient with guest artists Susan Gundunas, soprano as She & Corey Head, tenor as He with period chamber orchestra: William Boyce/Solomon (two San Francisco, CA performances)
Fourth Annual Office of the Dead Concert with guest artists Harp Trio Trillium – Thomas Morley/Funeral Service, Thomas Weelkes/Sixth Evening Service, William Boyce/Burial Service in E minor, Henry Purcell/Funeral Music for Queen Mary (San Francisco & Palo Alto, CA)
2008 Season
The Polyphony Project – The Late Franco-Flemish School
February – The Feast for St. Valentine with guest artists Gabrielle Montarjemi, actress & Sean Smith, lute: Orlando di Lasso(?)/Johannes Eccard(?)/Missa super Mon couer se recommande with secular love motets by Passereau, Josquin, Boesset, Goudimel, Crequillon & others (two San Francisco performances & Ross, CA)
March – Song of Peace Project – choirs around the world sang Dona nobis pacem in a call for peace; we participated with several Dona nobis pacem by various Renaissance composers (San Francisco, CA).
April – Music of the Labyrinth with guest artists Alta Sonora Renaissance Wind Band & Dancerie Terpsichore Dance Troupe: Josquin de Prez(?)/Noel Bauldweyn(?)/Missa da pacem,
Jean Mouton/Missa Alleluia (San Francisco & Berkeley, CA)
July & August – Opera Early & Ancient with guest artists bansuri master Deepak Ram, Celtic harper Diana Rowan, actor Tim Mooney & choreographer Purnima Jha: Hildegard von Bingen/Ordo Virtutum (San Francisco, Palo Alto & Berkeley, CA)
October - Fifth Annual Office of the Dead Concert with guest artist Dominic Schaner, lute & mandora – Antoine Brumel/Requiem (San Francisco & Palo Alto, CA)
2009 Season
The Polyphony Project – The Italian School
February – Opera Early & Ancient with guest artists bansuri master Deepak Ram, Celtic harper Diana Rowan, actor Tim Mooney & choreographer Purnima Jha: Hildegard von Bingen/Ordo Virtutum (San Francisco, Davis & Berkeley, CA)
March & April – The All Allegri Concert: Gregorio Allegri/Missa che fa oggi il mio sole, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Miserere (San Francisco, Palo Alto & Berkeley, CA)
June – The Darkness & The Dawn with guest artists Steven Lehning, violone & Jonathan Rhodes Lee, harpsichord: Giovanni Matteo Asola/Requiem & Sister Chiara Margarita Cozzolani/Motets (San Francisco, Palo Alto & Berkeley, CA)
August – The Bawdy & The Chaste with guest artists Brocelïande & Rick Homan, actor: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina/Missa sicut lilium inter spinas & Adriano Banchieri/Festino nella sera del giovedì grasso, opus 18 (San Francisco & Alameda, CA)
2009-10 Season
Music in Time of War
Sixth Annual Office of the Dead Concert with guest artist baritone Jesse Blumberg and period chamber orchestra – Jean Gilles/Messe des morts (San Francisco & Palo Alto, CA)
March – Songs of War & Peace with guest artists Celtic harper Diana Rowan & Tom Chandler, oud:
Tomàs Luis de Victoria/Missa pro Victoria, Guillaume Dufay/Lamentio Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, Jacob Gallus/Les Heroes, Guillaume Costeley/La Prise de Calais, Clement Janequin/La guerre de Renty, Palestrina/Super flumina Babylonis, with other music from the Renaissance and early Baroque, troubador songs from the Crusades and music of the Ottoman Empire including Turkish vocal music (San Francisco, Palo Alto & Alameda, CA)
May & June – The Armed Man: Josquin des Prez/Missa L’homme armé sexti toni and Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales, (San Francisco, Palo Alto & Berkeley Festival & Exhibition of Early Music, CA)
July & August – The Armed Woman: with guest artists Daria D'Andrea & Maxine Nemerovski, violins, Shirley Edith Hunt, viola da gamba & Susan Harvey, harpsichord. The music of over a dozen early women composers: Isabella Leonarda/Magnificat, Opus 19 #10 and other music by Hildegard von Bingen, Maria Xaveria Peruchona, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Maddelena Casulana, Ann Boelyn, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Isabella Romola d'Medici, Barbara Strozzi and others (San Francisco, Palo Alto & Alameda, CA)
2010-11 Season
The Music of Peace, Joy and Love
The Music of Peace-Pax Aeternum - Seventh Annual Office of the Dead Concert featured the Requiem and In Paradisum of Juan de Esquivel Barahona (c1563-c1613) and other hauntingly beautiful music of sadness and sorrow from the Spanish and Portuguese Renaissance including works by Duarte Lobo (c1555-1617), Pedro de Escobar (c1465-1535) and Diego Ortiz (c1510-1570) among others.
Special Concert: January - The Boar's Head Festival: We ended the holiday season with a celebration of Twelfth Night - The Boar's Head - with the music of Medieval through contemporary England. After each concert our audiences enjoyed a feast featuring wassail, king's cake and roast pork and vegetable pies.
March - The Music of Joy: We joined with Early Music America, the national service organization for Early Music in North America, to celebrate their 25 years of service to the Early Music Community! This concert featured Tomas Luis de Victoria's (c1548-1611) joyful Missa Gaudeamus and other songs of joy from the Renaissance and Baroque including Orlando Gibbon's (1583-1625) Hosanna to the Son of David, Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634) and Josquin de Prez's (c1450-1521) Jubilate Deo, William Byrd's (c1540-1623) Mass for the Ascension and Purcell's (1659-1695) exuberant coronation anthem for James II, I Was Glad.
Special Concert: April - A Benefit for Japan: We joined together with some of our favorite
collaborators to present this benefit concert for the relief efforts to Japan including Broceliande Celtic Ensemble, Phantom of the Opera's soprano Susan Gundunas, and Celtic harper Diana Rowan.
August - The Music of Love: Our Opera Early & Ancient mini-series returned featuring Cupid & Death by Matthew Locke (c1621-1677) and Christopher Gibbons (1615-1676) and we were joined by period chamber orchestra. This rarely performed work received its first formal premiere on March 26, 1653 as an entertainment for the Portuguese ambassador to Great Britain.
2011-12 Season
Renaissance Myth & Legend
November - Office of the Dead for 3 Murdered Princesses: Our annual Office of the Dead Concert feature a composite requiem mass for the 3 Medici princesses modeled after the mass performed for Cosimo II de' Medici; various composers and featuring the Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's (1525-1594) Requiem; with guest artist Susan Harvey, harpsichord.
Special Concert: January - Second Annual Boar's Head Festival: We ended the holiday season with a celebration of Twelfth Night - The Boar's Head - with the music of Medieval through contemporary England. After each concert our audiences enjoyed a feast featuring wassail, king's cake and roast pork and vegetable pies.
March - The Legend of Hercules: A cappella concert featuring the music of Obrecht, Isaac, Josquin, Martini and others performed in the court of Ercole I de Este of Ferrariae.
June - Berkeley International Festival & Exhibition of Early Music - Concert from the Legendary Court of Kangxi: with guest artists The San Francisco Chinese Music Ensemble (Terry Luk, director), Adam Cockerham, theorbo and Esther Lam, harpsichord along with San Francisco Renaissance Dancers: Charles d’Ambleville/Messe des Jesuites a Pekin with additional music by Viadana, Victoria and others, and traditional Chinese music.
2012-13 Season
Remembrance, Madrigali & the Lion's Den
October - Feast for All Saints: Our Annual Office of the Dead Concert commemorated All Saints Day with a performance of Tomás Luis de Victoria’s (1548-1611) Missa O Quam Gloriosum (O How Glorious is the Kingdom Mass) with additional music by Byrd and others with guest conductor Don Scott Carpenter of American Bach Soloists.
December: A Festival of Lessons & Carols - This free family concert featured a recreation of the King's College Cambridge Service including audience carol singalong.
Special Concert: January - Third Annual Boar's Head Festival: We ended the holiday season with a celebration of Twelfth Night - The Boar's Head - with the music of Medieval through contemporary England. After each concert our audiences enjoyed a feast featuring wassail, king's cake and roast pork and vegetable pies.
February - Jarring Sounds: A Prelude to Valentine's Day - When our lutenist Adam Cockerham joins with mezzo soprano Danielle Reutter-Harrah they form the duo Jarring Sounds and presented this concert of music for voice and plucked instruments featuring music from Renaissance through contemporary composer.
February - Madrigali: The Music of Gesualdo & Monteverdi: The madrigals of Gesualdo and Monteverdi, featuring Monteverdi's balletto madrigal Tirsi e Clori from Book Seven (1616); with Adam Cockerham, theorbo and Phebe Craig, harpsichord.
June - Opera Early & Ancient: Ludus Danielis (The Play of Daniel): Our Opera Early & Ancient mini-series returned featuring this Medieval gem. Conducted by our Assistant Music Director Katherine McKee, we were joined by our San Francisco Renaissance Dancers and period instrumentalists including Daria D'Andrea, vielle, Margaret Davis, recorders and harp, Peggy Murray, shawm, doucaine, dulcians and recorders, Tom Chandler, oud, Adam Cockerham, theorbo and Todd Jolly, percussion with Shelley Lynn Johnson, narrator.
2013-14 Season
Kol Israel: The Influence of Judaism in Early Music
September/October - Music of the Final Judgment & Rejoicing in the Torah: Our Annual Office of the Dead Concert took a different turn this year and instead we explored the music of the Jewish festivals of Hoshana Rabbah and Simchat Torah featuring music by Italian Renaissance Masters, Salamone Rossi, Abraham Caceres and the Cantata ebraica of Carlo Grossi.
December: Second Annual Festival of Lessons & Carols - This free family concert featured a recreation of the King's College Cambridge Service including audience carol singalong.
Special Concert: January - Fourth Annual Boar's Head Festival: We ended the holiday season with a celebration of Twelfth Night - The Boar's Head - with the music of Medieval through contemporary England and featured magician Heather Rogers. After each concert our audiences enjoyed a feast featuring wassail, king's cake and roast pork and vegetable pies.
February - Jarring Sounds: A Prelude to Valentine's Day - When our lutenist Adam Cockerham joins with mezzo soprano Danielle Reutter-Harrah they form the duo Jarring Sounds and presented this concert of music for voice and plucked instruments featuring music from Renaissance through contemporary composers.
February - Klezmer Baroque: Our resident dance troupe, San Francisco Renaissance Dancers presented their first full-length concert featuring period dance as well as traditional Jewish dances with student dancers from the Tikvah School of Dance. Accompaniment was provided by the Sunset Baroque Ensemble and Veretski Pass Klezmer ensemble.
March - Opera Early & Ancient: Esther (T'shuat Yisrael al y'dei Ester): Our Opera Early & Ancient Series returned with this exciting US premiere of the story of Queen Esther and her rescue of the Jewish people from the murderous designs of the wicked Haman. Composed by Cristiano Guiseppe Lidarti (1730-c1793), an Austrian composer, born in Vienna of Italian descent, on the Hebrew libretto by Rabbi Jacob Saraval, written for the Jewish community in Amsterdam. Presented in semi-staged form with period chamber orchestra and was sung in the original Hebrew in which it was composed.
May - Dedication of the Synagogue & Other Jewish Celebrations: This celebratory finale concert featured the extensive musical ceremony composed by Volunio Gallichi and Francesco Drei for the 1786 dedication of the new synagogue in Siena, Italy, as well as music for weddings, Shabbat and other celebrations.
2014-15 Season
10th Anniversary Season Celebration: Radiant, Ravishing, Renaissance!
October/November - In Memoriam: The Best of the Dead - We began our 10th Anniversary Season by performing the music of our very first concert, the Officium defunctorum of Tomàs Luis de Victoria with additional compositions by Byrd, Ockeghem, Palestrina, Josquin and others.
December: Third Annual Festival of Lessons & Carols - This free family concert featured a recreation of the King's College Cambridge Service including audience carol singalong.
Special Concert: January - Fifth Annual Boar's Head Festival: We ended the holiday season with a celebration of Twelfth Night - The Boar's Head - with the music of Medieval through contemporary England, with the music and dance of Ancient China, and featured internationally-renowned countertenor Brian Asawa.
February - Jarring Sounds: A Prelude to Valentine's Day - When our lutenist Adam Cockerham joins with mezzo soprano Danielle Reutter-Harrah they form the duo Jarring Sounds and presented this concert of music for voice and plucked instruments featuring music from Renaissance through contemporary composers.
March - Merrie Olde England: English Country Dances & Madrigals - Our dance troupe San Francisco Renaissance Dancers performed English country dances and a quintet of our singers performed English madrigals including selections from our 2007 performance "The Regina Monologues," accompanied by guest artists Patrice Haan, Celtic harp, Amy Haltom, violin and Geneva Harrison, percussion.
May/June - Our Favorite Things - A 10 year retrospect of the concerts we have performed featuring favorite compositions of our audiences, as well as ourselves, including Allegri's Miserere, Palestrina's Super flumina Babylonis, Bachieri's Madrigale Beastiale, Janequin's La Guerre, and others for a grand finale to our anniversary celebration - a veritable Renaissancepalooza!
2015-16 SEASON
The Grand Tour
October - Viva Italia! - Our Grand Tour began with the music of Italy, birthplace of the Renaissance & featured Missa Nasce la gioia mia for six voices by Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina based on the madrigal by Giovan Leonardo Primavera of the same name, performed by a sextet of our singers as well as rarely-performed madrigals by Asola, Vecchi, Casulana, Aleotti, Croce, Striggio & Marenzio for three, four, five & six voices.
November - An Evening of EMAgic - One of our favorite collaborators, Broceliande, joined us for an informal evening of "Music of the Harvest" as a benefit for Early Music America.
December: Christmas in Cambridge - Fourth Annual Festival of Lessons & Carols - This free family concert featured a recreation of the King's College Cambridge Service including audience carol singalong.
January - New Year in London - Sixth Annual Boar's Head Festival: We ended the holiday season with a celebration of Twelfth Night - The Boar's Head - with the music of Medieval through contemporary England, with a visit to the court by Master Shakespeare and master juggler Douglas McNeeley.
February - Promenade Across the Continent - Music for Multiple Choirs - A musical sampler from across Europe including Scotland, Italy, Germany, Spain & the Lowlands. Our Grand Promenade around Europe included a northerly jaunt into Scotland, with excerpts from Robert Carver's Missa dum Sacrum Mysterium. On the Continent toured Germany & Austria for works by Handl, Hassler, & Praetorius. The southern leg of our journey included the brilliance of Spanish composers Victoria, Raval, & Guerrero, as well as favorites by that quintessential international genius Orlando di Lasso, including O la, o che bon eccho for which we were joined by SFRV: The Next Generation, our newly formed young performers choir of students 12-17 years of age making their debut under our Director of Educational Programs, Derek Tam.
April - Workshop Month - Featured workshops on baroque dance, a history of renaissance music, glees & catches, a "Conquering Performance Anxiety" with Dr. Diana Rowan.
2016-17 SEASON
September - Devoted Daughters and Weird Sisters: Giacomo Carissimi's baroque oratorio, Jephte; the second half of the program features music inspired by heroines from Shakespeare’s plays, including solo and one-on-a-part ensemble pieces from Hamlet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, & The Tempest, as well as Richard Leveridge’s rarely performed music for Macbeth.
December - Fifth Annual Festival of Lessons & Carols - featured a specially commissioned work, Slumber Song by Bay Area composer Angela Kraft Cross.
January - Seventh Annual Boar's Head Festival
February - Lady, My Lady: Music and Poetry of the Renaissance featuring Ockeghem's Missa Ma Maitresse
May - Wonder Women: Music by women composers from the Medieval through Baroque periods with guest artists Gretchen Claasen, cello and Katherine Heater, harpsichord.
August & September - Opera Early & Ancient with guest artists bansuri master Deepak Ram, Celtic harper Diana Rowan, percussionist Todd Jolly, and Joseph Schmidt as The Devil in Hildegard's Ordo Virtutum.
2017-18 SEASON
October - Gala Fundraising Hallo'Evening - The evening started with a short concert featuring your favorite spooky organ pieces including J. S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in dminor performed by guest organist Rani Fisher interspersed with a cappella part songs and ballads of death by a quartet of our stellar singers.
December - Sixth Annual Festival of Lessons & Carols
March - A Lady: Ave Virgo - Music for the Feasts of our Lady: This exquisite concert of rarely performed music will featured Heinrich Isaac's (c1450-1517) monumental 6-part, rarely performed masterpiece, Missa Virgo Prudentissima. Woven between the movements of the mass will be 4, 5, 6, and 8-part motets (many of them from the Medici Codex of 1518) written by Josquin, Obrecht, Mouton, Willaert, Jacquet de Mantua, and the mysterious Jean Le Santier for the feast days of the Virgin Mary. One performance was featured as part of the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival.
May - A King: To Henry to Florence, with Love - a rare performance of madrigals from a collection of Italian masterpieces, sent as a gift to Henry VIII from Florence, Italy, a five-volume set of madrigal and motet partbooks that were assembled in Florence and sent as a gift—or "musical embassy"—to the English court in the late 1520's.
2018-19 SEASON
December - La Pastorela (The Shepherd's Tale) - Our singers performed Cristóbal de Morales' (c1500-1533) heavenly Missa Queramus cum pastoribus (Mass of the Quaking Shepherds) and other music in the context of a Mexican pastorela.
December - Seventh Annual Festival of Lessons & Carols featured a specially commissioned work, Ring Out Wild Bells! by San Francisco composer Kyle Hovatter.
February - A Prelude to Valentine's Day featured mezzo-soprano Leandra Ramm in a program of music from the Baroque to Broadway.
August - The Music of Renaissance Portugal and the New World - Featured the Portuguese composer Fr. Manuel Cardoso’s (1566-1650) paean to King Philip IV, Missa Philippina along with music by various Baroque and Renaissance composers of the new world.