This new program presents Alkemie’s creative arrangements of favorite works by Guillaume Dufay – considered the foremost European composer by his 15th-century contemporaries – alongside the compositions of modern medieval luminary Shira Kammen. Though written centuries ago, many of the texts on this program have a strong sense of place recognizable to us today – like a beloved home, a garden, or a place of spiritual worship. Alkemie is joined for this program by Corey Shotwell and Shira Kammen.
This concert will be performed live in NYC on Sunday, March 12 at 4:00 p.m. at the Brooklyn Public Library; it will also premiere online on Saturday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. and be available on-demand through May 13. Admission to the live concert is free; admission for the virtual concert is $15-$50. For tickets and more information, please visit www.alkemie.org/awesome-is-this-place.
About Alkemie
Alkemie exists to explore and share the life-affirming and alternative perspectives to be experienced in the sounds of centuries past. Comprised of singer-performers playing over a dozen instruments (including vielles, harps, psaltery, gittern, recorders, douçaines, and percussion), the ensemble has a particular interest in the porous boundaries between the court and folk music of the Medieval period. Grounded in historical performance practice and fed by a love of experimentation, Alkemie’s performance on the Indianapolis Early Music Festival in June 2018 was lauded as “enchanting” and “indicating [the] future health of the field of early music.”
Founded in 2013, Alkemie is based in Brooklyn and also performs nationally; since 2018 they have maintained a partnership with the Medieval Studies program at Fordham University. In addition to growing a series in NYC, Alkemie has been presented by the Amherst Early Music Festival, Arizona Early Music Society, Cambridge Society for Early Music, Capitol Early Music Series, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Johns Hopkins Program in Arts, Humanities & Health, Music Before 1800, and the European Early Music Network virtual Early Music Day festival. Alkemie also curated, recorded, and composed the music for the videogame Pentiment.
Later this season, Alkemie looks forward to debuting an indie-rock troubadour collaboration with Charles Mueller and his band table tennis (“Fine Companion” – live in NYC).
