On March 6, Alkemie will premiere WHAT’S YOUR SIGN? at the Jalopy Music Theatre in Brooklyn, a program curated by ensemble members Tracy Cowart and Ellie Sutherland that explores medieval German music inspired by the Zodiac. Along with early-music luminary Shira Kammen, we will explore music from Oswald von Wolkenstein, Hugo de Montfort, the Glogauer Liederbuch, and Carmina Burana that grapples with the timeless question – are we in charge of our own fates, or do the stars control our destinies?
With Tracy Cowart (voice, harps, percussion), Shira Kammen (vielle), Ben Matus (voice, recorders, medieval bagpipes, percussion), David McCormick (vielle, rebec), Sian Ricketts (voice, recorders, douçaines), Niccolo Seligmann (vielles), and Ellie Sutherland (voice, percussion). For tickets and more information, please visit alkemie.org/whats-your-sign.
Later this season, Alkemie looks forward to a new show, Eleanor, written by Alkemie member Niccolo Seligmann starring Elisse Albian about the historical trans figure Eleanor Rykener; the joyous return of our May Day festival; and a collaboration with the Brooklyn-based collective ChamberQUEER.
A restless collective of medieval experimentalists, the Flatbush-based band Alkemie recently gained recognition beyond Brooklyn with their soundtrack for the video game Pentiment (directed by Obsidian studios and published by Xbox) and their albums a fine companion and Love to My Liking. Comprised of singer-performers playing two dozen instruments–including vielles (early fiddles), harps, psaltery, scheitholt (early zither), recorders, douçaines & dulcians (early double reeds), bagpipes, and percussion, they have been presented locally and nationally by the Amherst Early Music Festival, Arizona Early Music Society, Brooklyn Public Library, Cambridge Society for Early Music, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Johns Hopkins Program in Arts, Humanities & Health, Music Before 1800, and the Berkeley Early Music festival. They have also presented educational and outreach programs in NYC in collaboration with the Morgan Library, The MET, and The Met Cloisters
