A choral ensemble, accompanied by some historic musical instruments, brings a mixture of very old and very new music to Wilmington Saturday.
Variant 6, a Philadelphia-based group, heads to Wilmington for a performance at First & Central Presbyterian Church. They’ll be joined by the Sylvan Consort of Viols, six musicians performing on Renaissance-era instruments that are a forerunner of modern string instruments like the cello.
The program pairs a piece from the 1500’s by Orlando di Lasso with new music written by a Philadelphia composer.
“Voices like ours do early music and new music really well, and so we kind of love both genres and we like to put them together," said Variant 6’s artistic director, Rebecca Myers.
Myers says the combination of viols and voices has a long musical tradition.
“The combination of viols - viola di gambas - and voices is very ancient, and one that goes back centuries," she said.
She says the new work, Kile Smith’s “Endless Morn of Light” uses a text from 17th Century poet John Milton and is heavily influenced by Renaissance music.
“He knows exactly what the Renaissance style is like, and often his writing is also influenced by it," Myers said. "He's just deeply entrenched in that world as well, which makes it really a great pairing.”
Variant 6 and the Sylvan Consort perform at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday March 15.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
