VERDANT MEDICINE celebrates mystic, medic, and musician Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), a medieval polymath who expanded both Christian theology and the humoral theory of Galen to connect the viriditas (living greenness) of plants and the metaphorical viridity of spirituality directly to the human body and its functioning. Her beliefs are mirrored in the music she wrote for her community—ecstatic chants in which unfurling branches, earthbound roots, and medicinal spices are depicted in soaring melodies that swirl throughout an almost three-octave range.
This multi-media experience includes a set of hand-made intersensory cards that expand upon the music presented with quotes from Hildegard paired with physical materials featured in her mystical and medical writings.
With Tracy Cowart (voice, harps), Ben Matus (voice, bagpipes, lyre, percussion), David McCormick (vielle), Sian Ricketts (voice, winds), Niccolo Seligmann (vielles, scheitholt, psaltery), and Elisa Sutherland (voice, percussion).
This concert will be performed live in NYC at St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University on September 26 at 6 p.m. and at All Saints Episcopal Church in Manhattan on September 27 at 7:30 p.m. To reserve tickets and more information, please visit alkemie.org/events.
