After two sold-out performances at New Stage Performance Space, Alkemie’s queer Medieval chamber opera Eleanor is headed to the movies! Join us at Low Cinema, Ridgewood’s first new movie theater since 1927, for a special screening celebrating the film’s release.
Written by Alkemie’s Niccolo Seligmann and starring non-binary soprano Elisse Albian, Eleanor takes inspiration from the true story of Eleanor Rykener, whose arrest in London in 1394 left the authorities puzzling over how to categorize her gender—and what to charge her with. Blending Medieval music, contemporary composition, and a little creative license, Eleanor explores lives that don’t fit neatly into history’s boxes.
In collaboration with video artist Charles Mueller, we created this video from two live performances captured at the premiere of this work in April 2026. Join us in NYC or online to view and celebrate the culmination of this project!
This digital concert premiere will be screened on November 19 at 6:00 p.m. at the historic Low Cinema in Ridgewood, NY; the screening will be followed by a Q & A with music directors Tracy Cowart and Sian Ricketts. The evening will continue with a short musical set by Cowart and Ricketts at 8:00 pm and a screening of the 2001 classic A Knight’s Tale at 8:20 pm (tickets sold separately here).
The concert will be available to view online from November 19 through December 31. To reserve tickets and for more information, please visit alkemie.org/events.
with
Tracy Cowart (Justice, Elizabeth, Lawyer, Vendor, harps)
Ben Matus (hümmelchen, recorders, douçaines)
David McCormick (vielle)
Sian Ricketts (Rectitude, Anna, Chaplain, Vendor, winds)
Niccolo Seligmann (vielle, organistrum, gittern)
Ellie Sutherland (Reason, Joan, Courtier, Vendor, percussion)
and guest artists
Elisse Albian (Eleanor)
Harrison Hintzsche (Philip, Watchman, Blount, Vendor)
Seamus Ricci (Brother John, Mayor, Vendor)
Spiff Wiegand (Friar, Brother John, John Britby, Aide, Vendor, Percussion)
Music & libretto by Niccolo Seligmann; directed by Alyssa Weathersby; videography by Charles Mueller
About Alkemie
Alkemie delights in exploring and celebrating the vibrant sounds of the Medieval past. Moving freely among the worlds of court, cloister, and folk music, the ensemble brings historical traditions into conversation with the present through performances grounded equally in scholarship, curiosity, and experimentation.
Alkemie’s singer-instrumentalists perform on more than two dozen instruments, including vielles (early fiddles), harps, psaltery, scheitholt (early zither), recorders, douçaines and dulcians (early double reeds), bagpipes, and percussion. Known for its “characterful playing” (The New Yorker) and “superb ensemble skills” (Limelight), Alkemie’s performance for Indianapolis Early Music Festival was applauded for “indicating [the] future health of the field of early music.”
Since 2018, Alkemie has commissioned new works for early instruments and created projects including the dream-pop, shoegaze, and psychedelic-rock album A Fine Companion, which Early Music America praised for “skillfully transform[ing] troubadour texts into dreamily contemporary journeys.”
Based in New York City, Alkemie self-presents an annual concert series and has appeared at the Amherst Early Music Festival, Arizona Early Music Society, Berkeley Early Music Festival, Brooklyn Public Library, Cambridge Society for Early Music, Five Boroughs Music Festival, the Met Cloisters, the Morgan Library, and Music Before 1800, among others. Collaboration is central to the ensemble’s work, with partners including Chanticleer, InSeries Opera, Rose of the Compass, and TENET.
