Early Music Now, Milwaukee’s presenter of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, opens its 40th anniversary season with Relic Ensemble performing The Blood of the Rose, an instrumental concert based on the first opera ever performed in the Americas, Shepherd Express reported.
The 12-piece chamber orchestra performs on period instruments, using strings along with bassoon, recorder, guitar, theorbo and percussion to mimic the opera’s characters. The program recounts the tragic love story of Venus and Adonis in eight musical chapters punctuated by spoken excerpts from the libretto by Spanish poet Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
The music is a curated selection of Baroque works from Europe and Latin America, featuring composers including George Friderich Handel, John Blow, Roque Jacinto de ChavarrÃa and Juan de Araujo, according to the report.
Bassist Sue Yelanjian, who grew up in South Milwaukee, credits the school district’s music program and the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, formerly Music For Youth, for her start. She also cited tutelage from Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra bassist Laura Snyder. Yelanjian said the concert will be her first professional performance in Milwaukee since departing for Oberlin Conservatory decades ago.
Early Music Now Executive and Artistic Director Charles Grosz said the ensemble is on its first national tour with nine stops on the East Coast and Midwest, and the organization is pleased to present the group.
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