A restless collective of medieval experimentalists, the Flatbush-based band Alkemie explores and shares the life-affirming and alternative perspectives to be experienced in the sounds of centuries past as they resonate with and challenge our current expectations. Locally and nationally, they have been presented by the Amherst Early Music Festival, Arizona Early Music Society, Brooklyn Public Library, 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 opens its 10th season with the first live concert of music from the BAFTA award-winning video game Pentiment, created by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox. Curated, arranged, and recorded by Alkemie, the music of Pentiment was said by Gamereactor to “truly elevate the experience to a height normally reserved for angels and aircrafts.” In the score, which features acoustic and processed instruments, a medieval paean to wisdom swirls around the bristling invective of the Renaissance hit tune, “L’homme armé,” and the haunting sounds of a ruined cloister are filtered through a 15th-century love song as we follow a journeyman artist working in the bygone scriptorium of Kiersau Abbey in Bavaria. This performance features projected images of select scenes from the game, which mimic the illuminated and wood-block art style of the 16th century.
Alkemie is Tracy Cowart (voice, harps, percussion, Sian Ricketts (voice, recorders, douçaines, shawm), David McCormick (vielle), Niccolo Seligmann (vielles, viola da gamba, kantele, scheitholt, percussion), Ben Matus (voice, bagpipes, dulcian). Joined by Jim Hopkins (synthesizer), Loren Ludwig (viols, percussion), and Oliver Weston (viola da gamba). Technical direction by Charles Mueller.
Preview a sample of the music on their website: https://www.alkemie.org/pentiment
This concert will be performed live in NYC on Saturday, November 4 at 6:00 p.m. at Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn. General admission $25, Students $15, Livestream $10.
For tickets and more information, please visit https://www.alkemie.org/events.
