French Renaissance chansons meet songs by Leonard Cohen

Legendary are the songs of Leonard Cohen like Suzanne, So Long, Marianne or Bird on the Wire, but that they can be combined so perfectly with French chansons of the Renaissance is simply fascinating. Joel Frederiksen's arrangements are more than a tribute to the great troubadour; they show how seemingly effortlessly these different styles can be brought together and combined. Renowned viola da gambists Hille Perl and Domen Marinčič, French singer and lutenist Emma-Lisa Roux, and Echo Prize winner Joel Frederiksen celebrate Cohen's music.

Cohen, a self-described chansonnier, grew up in French-speaking Montreal, Canada. He is appreciated both as a poet and for his sensitivity in combining words with music. This project brings Cohen together musically and poetically with previous generations of songwriters. Orlando di Lasso's famous 16th century chanson Susanne un jour meets Cohen's Suzanne. Josquin des Prez's Adieu mes amours or dances by Pierre Attaingnant (Paris, 1529) combine with Cohen's songs and the eras converge. With knowledge of Renaissance music practices, new diminutions on Cohen's music emerge, including new chordal and ornamental accompaniments for viola da gamba or lute based on late 16th and 17th century models.

Musicians:
Emma-Lisa Roux — soprano, lute | Giovanna Baviera — viola da gamba | Domen Marinčič — viola da gamba | Joel Frederiksen — bass, lute, direction

Selected CD Reviews:

... a triumph in creative play and thoughtful synthesis ... an extremely rich listening experience. That Frederiksen sings while playing the lute – a confident nod to the troubadour tradition – is at the heart of why many of the performances sound so organic. I desperately wish Cohen could have heard just how beguilingly fabulous his songs sound with two violas da gamba and the gentle plucking of a lute.

Mark Seow, Gramophone, 10 March 2023

It’s intellectual catnip, but it’s also a simple pleasure to hear these arrangements performed.

Olivia Giovetti, Van Magazine, 2 February 2023

CD available on SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

L’Achéron | Vox Luminis

Lionel Meunier, artistic director

The interpretation of the Passion story from the Gospel of St Matthew by the German composer Johann Sebastiani (1622-1683) is a third of the length of Bach’s masterpiece and precedes it by roughly half a century. In the 17th century, settings of the Passion story had become the speciality of the Lutheran church. Sebastiani would be the first to incorporate these Lutheran chorales into the score, giving the solo voices an accompaniment of strings and basso continuo. His score alternates recitatives for the Evangelist and the words of Christ with hymns and chorales performed by the other singers. The work alternates subtly between the different parts with a carefully chosen instrumentation – just two violins accompany the words of Christ, whereas the chorales for the solo soprano are only accompanied by the four viols. Agostino Steffani’s moving Stabat Mater from 1728 completes this superb Passion concert.

Program

J. Sebastiani: Das Leyden und Sterben unsers Herrn und Heylandes Jesu Christi nach dem heiligen Matthaeo | A. Steffani: Stabat Mater

L’Achéron | Vox Luminis

Lionel Meunier, artistic director

The interpretation of the Passion story from the Gospel of St Matthew by the German composer Johann Sebastiani (1622-1683) is a third of the length of Bach’s masterpiece and precedes it by roughly half a century. In the 17th century, settings of the Passion story had become the speciality of the Lutheran church. Sebastiani would be the first to incorporate these Lutheran chorales into the score, giving the solo voices an accompaniment of strings and basso continuo. His score alternates recitatives for the Evangelist and the words of Christ with hymns and chorales performed by the other singers. The work alternates subtly between the different parts with a carefully chosen instrumentation – just two violins accompany the words of Christ, whereas the chorales for the solo soprano are only accompanied by the four viols. Agostino Steffani’s moving Stabat Mater from 1728 completes this superb Passion concert.

Program

J. Sebastiani: Das Leyden und Sterben unsers Herrn und Heylandes Jesu Christi nach dem heiligen Matthaeo | A. Steffani: Stabat Mater

L’Achéron | Vox Luminis

Lionel Meunier, artistic director

The interpretation of the Passion story from the Gospel of St Matthew by the German composer Johann Sebastiani (1622-1683) is a third of the length of Bach’s masterpiece and precedes it by roughly half a century. In the 17th century, settings of the Passion story had become the speciality of the Lutheran church. Sebastiani would be the first to incorporate these Lutheran chorales into the score, giving the solo voices an accompaniment of strings and basso continuo. His score alternates recitatives for the Evangelist and the words of Christ with hymns and chorales performed by the other singers. The work alternates subtly between the different parts with a carefully chosen instrumentation – just two violins accompany the words of Christ, whereas the chorales for the solo soprano are only accompanied by the four viols. Agostino Steffani’s moving Stabat Mater from 1728 completes this superb Passion concert.

Program

J. Sebastiani: Das Leyden und Sterben unsers Herrn und Heylandes Jesu Christi nach dem heiligen Matthaeo | A. Steffani: Stabat Mater

L’Achéron | Vox Luminis

Lionel Meunier, artistic director

The interpretation of the Passion story from the Gospel of St Matthew by the German composer Johann Sebastiani (1622-1683) is a third of the length of Bach’s masterpiece and precedes it by roughly half a century. In the 17th century, settings of the Passion story had become the speciality of the Lutheran church. Sebastiani would be the first to incorporate these Lutheran chorales into the score, giving the solo voices an accompaniment of strings and basso continuo. His score alternates recitatives for the Evangelist and the words of Christ with hymns and chorales performed by the other singers. The work alternates subtly between the different parts with a carefully chosen instrumentation – just two violins accompany the words of Christ, whereas the chorales for the solo soprano are only accompanied by the four viols. Agostino Steffani’s moving Stabat Mater from 1728 completes this superb Passion concert.

Program

J. Sebastiani: Das Leyden und Sterben unsers Herrn und Heylandes Jesu Christi nach dem heiligen Matthaeo | A. Steffani: Stabat Mater

Ensemble Vox Luminis & L’Achéron

Lionel Meunier, Artistic Director

Matthäus Passion– Johann Sebastiani
Requiem – Johann Caspar Kerll

Another version of the Passion story

He almost shared his name with Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Sebastiani. Half a century before Bach’s iconic St Matthew Passion, this German composed his own version of the Passion. In his compact St Matthew Passion, Sebastiani set an important trend with the addition of Lutheran chorales. The evangelist as tenor and Christ as bass will also sound familiar to anyone who knows Bach’s passions.

Sebastiani’s contemporary Johann Kaspar Kerll wrote a requiem mass ‘for the peace of my soul’. It was written for an ensemble of five voices, supported by a gamba quartet. This intimate requiem full of emotions perfectly completes this Baroque diptych.

Ensemble Vox Luminis & L’Achéron

Lionel Meunier, Artistic Director

Matthäus Passion– Johann Sebastiani
Requiem – Johann Caspar Kerll

Another version of the Passion story

He almost shared his name with Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Sebastiani. Half a century before Bach’s iconic St Matthew Passion, this German composed his own version of the Passion. In his compact St Matthew Passion, Sebastiani set an important trend with the addition of Lutheran chorales. The evangelist as tenor and Christ as bass will also sound familiar to anyone who knows Bach’s passions.

Sebastiani’s contemporary Johann Kaspar Kerll wrote a requiem mass ‘for the peace of my soul’. It was written for an ensemble of five voices, supported by a gamba quartet. This intimate requiem full of emotions perfectly completes this Baroque diptych.

Ensemble Vox Luminis & L’Achéron

Lionel Meunier, direction artistique

Œuvres du 17ème siècle

Matthäus Passion– Johann Sebastiani
Requiem – Johann Caspar Kerll

THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MATTHEW - JOHANN SEBASTIANI (1622-1683)

Daniel Johannsen, tenor (Evangelist)

Joel Frederiksen, bass (Jesus)

Bénédicte Tauran, soprano

Aco Alexander Bišćević, tenor

Martin Logar, tenor

Ensemble musica cubicularis:

Veronica Böhm, baroque violin

Domen Marinčič, viola da gamba

Christoph Prendl, viola da gamba

Dávid Budai, viola da gamba

Cristiano Contadin, viola da gamba

Tomaž Sevšek, positive organ

Johann Sebastiani was born in Weimar. He is said to have studied in Italy and moved to Königsberg on the Baltic Sea (now Kaliningrad) around the middle of the century, where he first became cathedral cantor and then Kapellmeister at the court of the Elector of Brandenburg. His St. Matthew Passion was written in 1663 at the latest. The work is considered one of the most important Passion settings of the 17th century and an important precursor to Johann Sebastian Bach's Passions. The Evangelist's narrative is accompanied by an ensemble of viols, Jesus' words are complemented by violins, the choruses are for five singers and the five-part chorales are performed by a soprano voice with viols.

Tickets

Tickets for individual concerts cost €10 each (€8 with a discount for children, students and pensioners). Season tickets can be purchased one hour before the concert at the box office in front of the entrance to the ZRC Atrium at 2 Novem trg in Ljubljana.

Ticket and season ticket reservations: hc@zrc-sazu.si

Three internationally acclaimed basses with virtuoso arias, duets & tercets – Joel Frederiksen, Thomas E. Bauer und Harry van der Kamp

Three or even ten tenors are no longer unusual, but three basses are a rarity! German Baroque music at the beginning of the 17th century was characterized by Italian influences. Heinrich Schütz, the first great German composer of this period, made two pilgrimages across the Alps to Venice, where he studied with Giovanni Gabrieli and certainly also became acquainted with the music of Claudio Monteverdi. Sacred works with dramatic text settings in the style of the "Nuove musiche" (New Music) found their own "German" expression through Schütz and other Baroque masters such as Franz Tunder, Christoph Bernhard and Johann Casper von Kerll. In the course of the program, this music unfolds in all its glory with expressive solos, duets and tercets for the basses as well as virtuoso instrumental pieces - sometimes melodic and dance-like, sometimes in the "stile recitativo".

Performers: Thomas E. Bauer - bass | Harry van der Kamp - bass | Joel Frederiksen - bass, lute, direction | Félix Verry - violin | Aleksandra Brzóskowska - violin | Axel Wolf - theorbo | Domen Marinčič - viola da gamba | Michael Eberth - organ, harpsichord

Especially in opera, which was still in its infancy at the beginning of the Baroque period, the bass singer is attributed an important role: He stands for nobility, wisdom and power, for good and for evil. And hardly any tragic piece of music could do without a bass, the deeper the more fascinating.

We are thankful for the cooperation of Thomas E. Bauer and the Blaibach Concert Hall.

This concert will be recorded by the Bavarian Radio.

Three internationally acclaimed basses with virtuoso arias, duets & tercets – Joel Frederiksen, Thomas E. Bauer und Harry van der Kamp

Three or even ten tenors are no longer unusual, but three basses are a rarity! German Baroque music at the beginning of the 17th century was characterized by Italian influences. Heinrich Schütz, the first great German composer of this period, made two pilgrimages across the Alps to Venice, where he studied with Giovanni Gabrieli and certainly also became acquainted with the music of Claudio Monteverdi. Sacred works with dramatic text settings in the style of the "Nuove musiche" (New Music) found their own "German" expression through Schütz and other Baroque masters such as Franz Tunder, Christoph Bernhard and Johann Casper von Kerll. In the course of the program, this music unfolds in all its glory with expressive solos, duets and tercets for the basses as well as virtuoso instrumental pieces - sometimes melodic and dance-like, sometimes in the "stile recitativo".

Performers: Thomas E. Bauer - bass | Harry van der Kamp - bass | Joel Frederiksen - bass, lute, direction | Félix Verry - violin | Aleksandra Brzóskowska - violin | Axel Wolf - theorbo | Domen Marinčič - viola da gamba | Michael Eberth - organ, harpsichord

Especially in opera, which was still in its infancy at the beginning of the Baroque period, the bass singer is attributed an important role: He stands for nobility, wisdom and power, for good and for evil. And hardly any tragic piece of music could do without a bass, the deeper the more fascinating.

3st concert of the subscription series XVI: "Between Mars and Venus".

Pre-concert lecture: 7 p.m.

We would like to thank the District of Upper Bavaria, the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art for their support of this series.

A joyful celebration of the season, with virtuoso voices and instruments performing magnificent Italian works of the Renaissance and early Baroque. Music ranging from intimate simplicity to sumptuous splendor including sacred songs of devotion, instrumental fantasias, and resplendent choral masterpieces of Venice’s Golden Age. Music of Monteverdi, Gabrieli, Cipriano, Marenzio and many more performed by voices, cornetto, viola da gamba, harp, brass and organ.

Christmas music from spain to the new world in the 16th and 17th centuries

Ensemble Phoenix Munich invites you on a musical voyage leading from Spain to Latin America. Under the direction of bass singer and vihuela player Joel Frederiksen, Christmas motets, instrumental works, and “Ensaladas”, a special form mixing textures and even languages in a sort of musical “salad”, come to vivid life.

Important sources for this program are four different “Cancioneros” or songbooks which contain compositions from two great Spanish composers of the Renaissance, Tomás Luis de Victoria (O magnum mysterium) and Francisco Guerrero (Los Reyes siguen l´Estrella). Works from Colombian composer José de Cascante (Oiga niño mio de mi corazón), active at the Cathedral of Bogotá in the 17th century, and of Gaspar Fernandez (Vaya la princesa, vaya) – a Portugese composer who worked in Guatemala und Mexiko – usher us safely into the New World.

The Instituto Cervantes asks that you pre-order tickets by email:  cult3mun@cervantes.es

Ticktets: 20 €, 10 € Reduced price (Students, Handicapped)

Ensemble Phoenix Munich:

Maria Andrea Parias – Soprano

Kamila Mazalová – Mezzosoprano

Colin Balzer – Tenor

Mateo Jumbo Porras – Vihuela, Lute

Domen Mariničič  – Viola da Gamba

Joel Frederiksen – Bass, Vihuela, Direction

The Iron Marquis - Award to Thomas Willmann

Laudatory speech: Matthias Bieber

It gives me great pleasure to make music for my friend, the critic and immensely talented novelist, at the Tukan Award ceremony!

""For books like this, literature was once invented!

cheers the Tukan jury about Thomas Willmann's new novel. ""The Iron Marquis" (Liebeskind Publishing) tells the story of how a young watchmaker flees 18th century Vienna to chase through the wonders and horrors of half the continent, through wars and dark entanglements in pursuit of the greatest of all human dreams: overcoming one's own finiteness. After his furious bestseller ""The Dark Valley"", Thomas Willmann presents an epic about which the jury said:

"There is no historic dust on the lines here; rather, every page seems to burn - for the language, for the imagination."

ADMISSION FREE // (please register at fridolin.schley@muenchen.de)

Organizer: Cultural Department of the City of Munich // In cooperation with the Literaturhaus Foundation

Festive music by Monteverdi and his contemporaries

Festive songs for Christmas by Claudio Monteverdi, his teacher Marc'Antonio Ingegneri (* 1567 in Cremona; † 29 November 1643 Venice).

With the virtuoso bass aria "Ab aeterno ordinate" sum we open a concert dedicated to Monteverdi's beginnings in his native Cremona. Furthermore, we hear "Hodie Christus Natus est" from his first publication "Sacrae cantiunculae" from 1582. On the title page, the

15-year-old Monteverdi proudly describes himself as a pupil of Marco Antonio Ingegneri, Maestro di Cappella. We continue our music for the Christmas season with Ingegneri's joyful motet "Noe noe psallite". We have unearthed other rarely performed musical gems from Cremona: "Ne timeas Maria" by Tiburtio Massaino and "Jubilate Deo" by Caterina Assandra - virtuoso motets and instrumental variations to announce the birth of Jesus.

Performers: Maria Andrea Parias - soprano | Kamila Mazalová - alto | Colin Balzer - tenor | Sven Schwannberger - theorbo, lute, flute | Joel Frederiksen - bass, lute, conductor

2st concert of the subscription series XVI: "Between Mars and Venus".

Guided tour of the Nativity Collection: 2 p.m.

We would like to thank the Bavarian National Museum, the District of Upper Bavaria, the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art for their support of this series.

Festive music by Monteverdi and his contemporaries

Festive songs for Christmas by Claudio Monteverdi, his teacher Marc'Antonio Ingegneri (* 1567 in Cremona; † 29 November 1643 Venice).

With the virtuoso bass aria "Ab aeterno ordinate" sum we open a concert dedicated to Monteverdi's beginnings in his native Cremona. Furthermore, we hear "Hodie Christus Natus est" from his first publication "Sacrae cantiunculae" from 1582. On the title page, the

15-year-old Monteverdi proudly describes himself as a pupil of Marco Antonio Ingegneri, Maestro di Cappella. We continue our music for the Christmas season with Ingegneri's joyful motet "Noe noe psallite". We have unearthed other rarely performed musical gems from Cremona: "Ne timeas Maria" by Tiburtio Massaino and "Jubilate Deo" by Caterina Assandra - virtuoso motets and instrumental variations to announce the birth of Jesus.

Performers: Maria Andrea Parias - soprano | Kamila Mazalová - alto | Colin Balzer - tenor | Sven Schwannberger - theorbo, lute, flute | Joel Frederiksen - bass, lute, conductor

Neapolitanische Kurzoratorien zum Weihnachtsfest

Caresana-Consort, Leitung: Christoph Eglhuber

"Ich saz ûf eime Steine" - The wandering bard from Orpheus to Walther von der Vogelweide

Walther von der Vogelweide, the most important lyricist of the German Middle Ages, was a traveling musician; Orpheus, the greatest singer of Greek antiquity, almost certainly was as well. The bass and lutenist Joel Frederiksen, who is closely associated with the musical offerings at the Bavarian National Museum, presents songs of the Renaissance period, which was particularly fascinated by the figure of Orpheus, and of Walther von der Vogelweide, many of which have been scientifically reconstructed because texts, but not the melodies, have survived.

Following the concert, the curator will offer an optional short tour of the "Street Music" studio exhibition.

"Ich saz ûf eime Steine" - The wandering bard from Orpheus to Walther von der Vogelweide

Walther von der Vogelweide, the most important lyricist of the German Middle Ages, was a traveling musician; Orpheus, the greatest singer of Greek antiquity, almost certainly was as well. The bass and lutenist Joel Frederiksen, who is closely associated with the musical offerings at the Bavarian National Museum, presents songs of the Renaissance period, which was particularly fascinated by the figure of Orpheus, and of Walther von der Vogelweide, many of which have been scientifically reconstructed because texts, but not the melodies, have survived.

Following the concert, the curator will offer an optional short tour of the "Street Music" studio exhibition.

French Renaissance chansons meet songs by Leonard Cohen

Legendary are the songs of Leonard Cohen like Suzanne, So Long, Marianne or Bird on the Wire, but that they can be combined so perfectly with French chansons of the Renaissance is simply fascinating. Joel Frederiksen's arrangements are more than a tribute to the great troubadour; they show how seemingly effortlessly these different styles can be brought together and combined. Renowned viola da gambists Hille Perl and Domen Marinčič, French singer and lutenist Emma-Lisa Roux, and Echo Prize winner Joel Frederiksen celebrate Cohen's music.

Cohen, a self-described chansonnier, grew up in French-speaking Montreal, Canada. He is appreciated both as a poet and for his sensitivity in combining words with music. This project brings Cohen together musically and poetically with previous generations of songwriters. Orlando di Lasso's famous 16th century chanson Susanne un jour meets Cohen's Suzanne. Josquin des Prez's Adieu mes amours or dances by Pierre Attaingnant (Paris, 1529) combine with Cohen's songs and the eras converge. With knowledge of Renaissance music practices, new diminutions on Cohen's music emerge, including new chordal and ornamental accompaniments for viola da gamba or lute based on late 16th and 17th century models.

Selected CD Reviews:

... a triumph in creative play and thoughtful synthesis ... an extremely rich listening experience. That Frederiksen sings while playing the lute – a confident nod to the troubadour tradition – is at the heart of why many of the performances sound so organic. I desperately wish Cohen could have heard just how beguilingly fabulous his songs sound with two violas da gamba and the gentle plucking of a lute.

Mark Seow, Gramophone, 10 March 2023

It’s intellectual catnip, but it’s also a simple pleasure to hear these arrangements performed.

Olivia Giovetti, Van Magazine, 2 February 2023

CD available on SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

Musicians: Emma-Lisa Roux – soprano, lute | Giovanna Baviera — viola da gamba | Domen Marinčič — viola da gamba | Joel Frederiksen — bass, lute, direction

French Renaissance chansons meet songs by Leonard Cohen

Legendary are the songs of Leonard Cohen like Suzanne, So Long, Marianne or Bird on the Wire, but that they can be combined so perfectly with French chansons of the Renaissance is simply fascinating. Joel Frederiksen's arrangements are more than a tribute to the great troubadour; they show how seemingly effortlessly these different styles can be brought together and combined. Renowned viola da gambists Hille Perl and Domen Marinčič, French singer and lutenist Emma-Lisa Roux, and Echo Prize winner Joel Frederiksen celebrate Cohen's music.

Cohen, a self-described chansonnier, grew up in French-speaking Montreal, Canada. He is appreciated both as a poet and for his sensitivity in combining words with music. This project brings Cohen together musically and poetically with previous generations of songwriters. Orlando di Lasso's famous 16th century chanson Susanne un jour meets Cohen's Suzanne. Josquin des Prez's Adieu mes amours or dances by Pierre Attaingnant (Paris, 1529) combine with Cohen's songs and the eras converge. With knowledge of Renaissance music practices, new diminutions on Cohen's music emerge, including new chordal and ornamental accompaniments for viola da gamba or lute based on late 16th and 17th century models.

Selected CD Reviews:

... a triumph in creative play and thoughtful synthesis ... an extremely rich listening experience. That Frederiksen sings while playing the lute – a confident nod to the troubadour tradition – is at the heart of why many of the performances sound so organic. I desperately wish Cohen could have heard just how beguilingly fabulous his songs sound with two violas da gamba and the gentle plucking of a lute.

Mark Seow, Gramophone, 10 March 2023

It’s intellectual catnip, but it’s also a simple pleasure to hear these arrangements performed.

Olivia Giovetti, Van Magazine, 2 February 2023

CD available on SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

Musicians: Emma-Lisa Roux – soprano, lute | Giovanna Baviera — viola da gamba | Domen Marinčič — viola da gamba | Joel Frederiksen — bass, lute, direction

This concert is in part made possible by the generous support of the Goethe Institute.

Sweet memory of joy, so fulfilled, O happy age that brings such cheerfulness to light....

"Doulce mémoire" - so begins Pierre Sandrin's four-part chanson on an epigram sometimes attributed to Clément Marot, but more likely penned by François I, King of France (1494-1547). Sandrin's chanson was one of the most popular of the Renaissance and served Orlando di Lasso as the basis for a parody mass as well as countless instrumental variations, including solo intabulations for lute. In this concert, we will take an in-depth look at 16th-century chansons, from the first printed chansons in lute tablature, published by Pierre Attaingnant in 1529, to the exquisitely composed airs de cour (court songs) of Pierre Guédron around 1600.

Performers:: Emma-Lisa Roux - soprano, lute | Giovanna Baviera - mezzo, viola da gamba | Sven Schwannberger - flute, lute, tenor | Joel Frederiksen - bass, lute, conductor

1st concert of the subscription series XVI: "Between Mars and Venus".

Pre-concert lecture: 2 p.m.

We would like to thank the Bavarian National Museum, the District of Upper Bavaria, the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art for their support of this series.

French Renaissance chansons meet songs by Leonard Cohen

Legendary are the songs of Leonard Cohen like Suzanne, So Long, Marianne or Bird on the Wire, but that they can be combined so perfectly with French chansons of the Renaissance is simply fascinating. Joel Frederiksen's arrangements are more than a tribute to the great troubadour; they show how seemingly effortlessly these different styles can be brought together and combined. Renowned viola da gambists Hille Perl and Domen Marinčič, French singer and lutenist Emma-Lisa Roux, and Echo Prize winner Joel Frederiksen celebrate Cohen's music.

Cohen, a self-described chansonnier, grew up in French-speaking Montreal, Canada. He is appreciated both as a poet and for his sensitivity in combining words with music. This project brings Cohen together musically and poetically with previous generations of songwriters. Orlando di Lasso's famous 16th century chanson Susanne un jour meets Cohen's Suzanne. Josquin des Prez's Adieu mes amours or dances by Pierre Attaingnant (Paris, 1529) combine with Cohen's songs and the eras converge. With knowledge of Renaissance music practices, new diminutions on Cohen's music emerge, including new chordal and ornamental accompaniments for viola da gamba or lute based on late 16th and 17th century models.

Selected CD Reviews:

... a triumph in creative play and thoughtful synthesis ... an extremely rich listening experience. That Frederiksen sings while playing the lute – a confident nod to the troubadour tradition – is at the heart of why many of the performances sound so organic. I desperately wish Cohen could have heard just how beguilingly fabulous his songs sound with two violas da gamba and the gentle plucking of a lute.

Mark Seow, Gramophone, 10 March 2023

It’s intellectual catnip, but it’s also a simple pleasure to hear these arrangements performed.

Olivia Giovetti, Van Magazine, 2 February 2023

CD available on SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

Musicians: Emma-Lisa Roux – soprano, lute | Giovanna Baviera — viola da gamba | Hille Perl — viola da gamba | Joel Frederiksen — bass, lute, direction

Princely wedding of 1568 - Works by Orlando di Lasso et al.

Franz Vitzthum, Discantus

Bernd O. Fröhlich, tenor

David Munderloh, tenor

Joel Frederiksen, bass

dolce risonanza, direction Florian Wieninger

More Info Soon:

www.alte-musik-saarland.de

French Renaissance chansons meet songs by Leonard Cohen

Attention, New Location: Heilig-Geist-Kirche, Passau

Legendary are the songs of Leonard Cohen like Suzanne, So Long, Marianne or Bird on the Wire, but that they can be combined so perfectly with French chansons of the Renaissance is simply fascinating. Joel Frederiksen's arrangements are more than a tribute to the great troubadour; they show how seemingly effortlessly these different styles can be brought together and combined. Renowned viola da gambists Hille Perl and Domen Marinčič, French singer and lutenist Emma-Lisa Roux, and Echo Prize winner Joel Frederiksen celebrate Cohen's music.

Cohen, a self-described chansonnier, grew up in French-speaking Montreal, Canada. He is appreciated both as a poet and for his sensitivity in combining words with music. This project brings Cohen together musically and poetically with previous generations of songwriters. Orlando di Lasso's famous 16th century chanson Susanne un jour meets Cohen's Suzanne. Josquin des Prez's Adieu mes amours or dances by Pierre Attaingnant (Paris, 1529) combine with Cohen's songs and the eras converge. With knowledge of Renaissance music practices, new diminutions on Cohen's music emerge, including new chordal and ornamental accompaniments for viola da gamba or lute based on late 16th and 17th century models.

Selected CD Reviews:

... a triumph in creative play and thoughtful synthesis ... an extremely rich listening experience. That Frederiksen sings while playing the lute – a confident nod to the troubadour tradition – is at the heart of why many of the performances sound so organic. I desperately wish Cohen could have heard just how beguilingly fabulous his songs sound with two violas da gamba and the gentle plucking of a lute.

Mark Seow, Gramophone, 10 March 2023

It’s intellectual catnip, but it’s also a simple pleasure to hear these arrangements performed.

Olivia Giovetti, Van Magazine, 2 February 2023

Order SONY/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi CD HERE!

Musicians: Emma-Lisa Roux – soprano, lute | Giovanna Baviera — viola da gamba | Domen Marinčič — viola da gamba | Joel Frederiksen — bass, lute, arrangements, direction

Missa in Labore Requies - Georg Muffat (1653 – 1704)

Opening Concert of the Residenzwoche

Chamber Choir of the Augsbug Children’s Choir

Le cornets noirs

Soren Richter, Tenor

Richard Resch, Tenor

Wiard Witholt, Bass

Joel Frederiksen, Bass

Stefan Steinemann, Direction

Ruhrtriennale - Festival of the Arts

»Why, oh chaos, do you try to bring the world into disorder?« asks Love in Leonhard Lechner’s prophetic 24-part wedding song Quid, Chaos. Wherever the Huelgas Ensemble performs under Paul Van Nevel, acoustic spaces seem limitless and chaos is guided into ordered lines. Barbara Frey’s term as Artistic Director of the Ruhrtriennale opened in 2021 with a concert at dawn in Zeche Zweckel. Three years later, her artistic era reaches its conclusion with a nocturnal concert devoted purely to the human voice. The celebrated Belgian vocal ensemble – guests at the Ruhrtriennale once again after 2021 – opens almost otherworldly spheres of sound to the audience. In flowing, apparently never-ending harmonic developments, the art of polyphony is displayed in all its facets: ranging from Josquin Desprez’s Qui habitat, a supreme work of canonical composition, in which the 24 voices create a magical, hovering sound space, to a perpetuum mobile by Pieter Maessins and the sonic splendour of Robertus Wylkynson to the masterful counterpoint of Claudio Monteverdi.   The centrepiece of this journey through Renaissance polyphony is Antoine Brumel’s spectacular mass Et ecce terræ motus. Even at the time it was written, this work was famed for its remarkable boldness. Around the year 1500 Europe experienced a similarly radical shift in values to the present day. In his 12-part »Earthquake Mass« Brumel wrote a type of music of the future that outlines the vision of a better world. And ultimately Love in Lechner’s Quid, Chaos is persuaded to remain on Earth despite all the miseries the world must endure because there must always be a place for Love. 

Paul van Nevel - Huelgas Ensemble

HARMONIA CONCERTANS - Early Music at the New Square (13th season 2023, fourth concert)

General information

Monday, 04 September 2023 at 20:00

ZRC Atrium, Novi trg 2, Ljubljana

Description

You are cordially invited to the fourth concert of the 13th season of the concert series 2023

MOTECTA BONA & FAVOURABILIA - Popular motets from the Ljubljana Cathedral

Clemens non Papa, Phinot, Lupi, Gombert

Joel Frederiksen, bass and musical direction

Vocal ensemble musica cubicularis:

Tanja Vogrin - soprano

Bernd Oliver Fröhlich - alto/tenor

Manuel Warwitz - tenor

Raitis Grigalis - baritone

Joel Frederiksen - bass, direction

Tomaž Sevšek Šramel - organ

Tickets at the price of 10 € each (8 € for children, students and pensioners), payable in cash at the box office in front of the ZRC Atrium two hours before the concert.

Music in Old Cracow Festival

Motets for Bass of Michal Zieleński - Opera Omnia (selection)

Collegium Zieleński

Stanislaw Krawczynski conductor

Joel Frederiksen bass profondo

ticket prices: PLN 30 regular, PLN 20 concession.

SPOTIFY LINK to the CD with Emma Kirkby, Joel Frederiksen, et al

Orpheus, I am - The Myth of Orpheus in Renaissance and early Baroque Song

Musical treasures from England, Italy, and France for Bass Voice, Lute and Archlute

A fascinating journey into the world of English, French and Italian music from the Renaissance to the early Baroque. Songs that deal with the most important issues of life — with love and war, to a rapturous praise of tobacco! The musical mood of the evening is set in the opening song, "Orpheus, I am" by Robert Johnson, in which the bass voice descends to the depths on the word "Hell" and thus warns the careless lovers of the dangers of blind passion. High poetry is offered, passionately set to music by the best composers of the time. Virtuoso art songs by Italian Giulio Caccini contrast touching ballads like "Fortune, my foe". Early songs in Old French with their delightful rhythmic nuances are often deeply moving, but sometimes hilariously funny, as in the drinking song "Qui veut chasser une migraine". Thomas Campion is represented with a song about the girl who never says "no" and a touching lament about a man unable to run away from love.

This program brings the mythical Greek figure of Orpheus to vivid life. Orpheus, powerful singer and player of the lyre, charmed and transformed through the power of his song. As a singer and player of the lute, Joel Frederiksen, recreating ideals put forth in the Renaissance and reaching back to the Greeks, seeks to move the affections of the listeners, to reach the very soul, in concerts of unique intensity. Embodying the character and aesthetic of the Orpheus myth, he accompanies himself in a manner emphasizing sensitive text declamation united with the power of rhetorical principles. Renaissance and early Baroque composers often travelled internationally for study and the furtherance their careers. John Dowland (1563-1626), the "English Orpheus", sojourned to Italy, made important stops in Germany, and eventually procured a position as court lutenist in Denmark. As an American living abroad, Joel Frederiksen looks back to Renaissance and Early Baroque musicians such as Dowland for inspiration, and offers here a program, international in scope, of music from England, Italy and France.

SOLO: Joel Frederiksen — bass, lute, archlute

Free admission, donations are requested