Piffaro’s next concert performances – February 11 in Tucson, March 15-17 in Philadelphia and Wilmington, and streaming online March 29 to April 11 – will transport audiences to the court of Charles VIII of France (“the Affable”) and into the pages of the “Gutenberg Bible of music,” the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton. GRAMMY Award-winning tenor James Reese will join the ensemble to channel the spirit of the king’s favored singer & composer, Alexander Agricola. The season finale (May 10-12 in Philadelphia & Wilmington, streaming online May 24-June 6), an all-instrumental program of lush polyphony from the Iberian Peninsula, will showcase Piffaro’s versatile multi-instrumentalists and their remarkable collection of Renaissance shawms, dulcians, recorders, bagpipes, sackbuts, plucked strings, percussion and more.
Prior to the pandemic, one of Piffaro’s signature initiatives was its bi-annual National Recorder Competition for Young People, which alternated with a free community recorder festival. The festival migrated online in the first year of the pandemic, but as the city’s music classrooms struggled in subsequent years, both events went into hibernation. During this time, recorder players found inventive ways to continue making music together, mostly online. Piffaro’s reimagined festival returns on April 13 to celebrate that power to create connection through music. Recorder Fest 2024 will welcome musicians across every stage of life and ability to perform for and to play with one another. Registration for workshops, recitals and a new Community Play In, all taking place at Settlement Music School’s Mary Louise Curtis Branch in Center City, Philadelphia, is open until March 15.
The Indiana Early Double Reed & Sackbut Workshop ala pifaresca immerses participants in an intensive, weeklong study of Renaissance performance practice – the only workshop of its kind in the U.S. Piffaro “adopted” the festival from Early Music in Motion in 2023 and will host this year’s iteration May 12-19 in Morgantown, IN. Registration for intermediate to advanced players – amateur or professional – is now open.
Spring ’24 at a Glance
Tickets, Registration & Info: 215-235-8469 or piffaro.org
Concert: The French (Italian) Connection
- February 11 @ 3PM – St Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church, Tucson, AZ
- March 15 @ 7:30PM – Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral
- March 16 @ 7:30PM – Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, PA
- March 17 @ 3PM – Christ Church Christiana Hundred, Wilmington, DE
Free Community Event: Recorder Fest!
- April 13 @ 7PM: Settlement Music School, Mary Louise Curtis Branch, Philadelphia
Concert: Glory of the Wind Band: Music from Portugal & Spain
- May 10 @ 7:30PM – Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral
- May 11 @ 7:30PM – Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, PA
- May 12 @ 3PM – Immanuel Church Highlands, Wilmington DE
Workshop: Indiana Early Double Reed & Sackbut Workshop ala pifaresca
- May 12-19: Waycross Camp & Conference Center, Morgantown, IN
