Boston Camerata

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The Boston Camerata is an early music ensemble based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Narcissa Williamson, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as an adjunct to that museum's musical instrument collection. [1]

The Camerata incorporated as an independent nonprofit in 1974. [2] It was directed from 1969 to 2008 by Joel Cohen, who remains Music Director Emeritus. Since 2008, the company's artistic director has been French-born singer and scholar Anne Azéma. [3] Azéma has produced several new programs with the Camerata, featuring repertoire that spans eight centuries of music. The Camerata has a regular subscription series for Boston-area residents, [4] as well as tours in the United States [5] [6] and abroad. [1] [7] [8]

From 1992 onwards the Boston Camerata and Joel Cohen collaborated with the still-functioning community at Sabbathday Lake (USA) and recorded together two albums (Simple Gifts and The Golden Harvest) of Shaker songs.

In 2011, Camerata was in residence in Reims, France, contributing five programs of medieval French music to the 800th anniversary celebration of the Reims Cathedral. Recently, the ensemble has appeared in Paris at the Palais de Chaillot in collaboration with the Tero Saarinen Company of Helsinki, Finland (2014), [9] at the Théatre de Ville during its 60th anniversary season (2015), [10] and at La Philharmonie de Paris (2018). [11] The Night's Tale, Azéma's innovative staged production built around a medieval tournament in France, was first presented in France and Luxembourg in 2007. It has since been performed in Boston to great acclaim in Spring 2016 [12] and will tour in the US in 2020. [13] The company's South American début tour took place in Brazil in July, 2016. [14]

In 2017 and 2018, the Camerata toured in Switzerland, Holland, and France and Canada and the US Midwest, [15] including a reprise of the Play of Daniel, first presented to Boston audiences in late 2014. [16]

The Camerata's recordings include programs on Harmonia Mundi, Erato, Telefunken, and Warner Classics. Among the ensemble's awards are the Grand Prix du Disque (1987), awarded for a medieval version of the Tristan and Iseult legend. [17] Other media projects include two prizes at FIFA Montréal, 2014. [18] It has undertaken museum and educational projects including a visiting artist residency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, [19] Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, [20] and The Metropolitan Museum Cloisters Concerts. [21] It has collaborated with local choirs, both children and adults. [22] [23]

Related Research Articles

Joel Cohen is an American musician specializing in early music repertoires. Cohen graduated from Classical High School in Providence, Rhode Island in 1959, and Brown University in 1963. He continued graduate education at Harvard University. From 1968 to 2008, he was the director of the Boston Camerata, a prominent American early music ensemble. He remains connected to the Boston Camerata as Music Director Emeritus. Cohen founded the Camerata Mediterranea in 1990 and incorporated it as a nonprofit research institute in France in 2007. He plays the lute and guitar, as well as sings. He is best known as an organizer and creator of concert programs and sound recordings. He has also written extensively on musical topics. In recent years, Cohen's research and performance activities have centered on early American repertoires, as well as Southern European repertoires of the Middle Ages. Many of his projects in this latter category involve collaboration with Middle Eastern musicians.

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Anne Azéma is a French-born soprano, scholar, and stage director. She is currently artistic director of the Boston Camerata. She has been an important or leading singer of early music since 1993. She has created and directed programs for the Boston Camerata and is also noted as a music scholar. She is perhaps best known for performing music from the Middle Ages, lute songs from the Renaissance period, Baroque sacred music, Shaker song, and contemporary music theater. She is also a music educator and a researcher. She has performed in Japan, Germany, the US, Australia and elsewhere.

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References

  1. 1 2 Booking Contact Person:Annie Houston. "Boston Camerata | Early Music America". Earlymusic.org. Archived from the original on 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  2. ↑ "History". The Boston Camerata. Archived from the original on 2010-05-04. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  3. ↑ Worlds of Music: The Boston Camerata Series Archived March 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine , Continuing Education, New England Conservatory
  4. ↑ Weininger, David (2010-03-08). "Vibrant portraits of two icons in Boston Camerata's 'Maria Monologues' - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. Archived from the original on 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  5. ↑ Rockwell, John (1983-03-24). "Concert: The Boston Camerata - New York Times". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  6. ↑ Hughes, Allen (1985-02-21). "Concert: Boston Camerata Performs - New York Times". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
  7. ↑ Von Klaus Lipinski am 16. November 2009 17:30 Uhr. "Tage alter Musik in Herne beendet | Ruhr Nachrichten". Ruhrnachrichten.de. Archived from the original on 2009-12-02. Retrieved 2010-04-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ "Un pont sacré entre religions - Panier". Midi Libre. Retrieved 2010-04-01.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Home". Tero Saarinen Company. Archived from the original on 2019-09-06. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  10. ↑ "Home". Théâtre de la ville de Paris. Archived from the original on 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  11. ↑ "Philharmonie de Paris". Philharmonie de Paris. Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  12. ↑ "Boston Camerata and Longy tell 'The Night's Tale' - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  13. ↑ "MusicalAmerica - Boston Camerata Announces 2019-2020 Tours". www.musicalamerica.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  14. ↑ "The Boston Camerata in Brazil » Early Music America". Early Music America. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  15. ↑ "Past Performances". The Boston Camerata. 2014-11-02. Archived from the original on 2019-06-24. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  16. ↑ "Boston Classical Review » Blog Archive » Boston Camerata provides enchanting new take on "The Play of Daniel"". Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  17. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ↑ Wible, Tom (2014-04-03). "SHAKER FILM WITH CAMERATA MUSIC WINS TWO AWARDS". The Boston Camerata. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  19. ↑ "The Boston Camerata". Arts at MIT. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  20. ↑ "Treasures of Devotion: Spiritual Songs in Northern Europe, 1500–1540". Art Gallery of Ontario. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  21. ↑ "Cloisters Concerts in 2014–15 Season Feature Expanded Range and New Locations". www.metmuseum.org. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  22. ↑ "St. Paul's School | Chapel Music". www.sps.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  23. ↑ "Help the Children Benefit Concert". memorialchurch.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
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