New York Polyphony (Geoffrey Williams, countertenor; Geoffrey Silver, tenor; Scott Dispensa, baritone; Craig Phillips, bass) will perform Music of Crecquillon, Ockeghem, and Desprez on the Midtown Concerts series at Immanuel Lutheran Church. The music of Thomas Crecquillon (1505-1557), Johannes Ockeghem (1410-1497), and Josquin Desprez (1450?-1521) is considered the pinnacle of Renaissance Franco-Flemish polyphony. Founded in 2005, New York Polyphony has garnered critical acclaim for their exciting programming and "expert musicianship." Gramophone called their debut CD "one of the season’s best."

M A Y 19

ARTEK

More Monteverdi: Madrigals Book 5

ARTEK will perform More Monteverdi: Madrigals from Book V. The fifth book of madrigals, published in 1605 by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Baroque music; Monteverdi's use of basso continuo and unprepared dissonance in these five-part madrigals was considered daringly radical in the composer's own time. The acclaimed American early music ensemble ARTEK, founded in 1986 by Gwendolyn Toth, specializes in the music of Monteverdi and the early Baroque. Singers for the madrigals will be Laura Heimes, soprano, Barbara Hollinshead, mezzo-soprano, counter-tenor, Philip Anderson, tenor, Michael Brown, tenor, and Peter Becker, baritone.

M A Y 26

Trefoil

Flower of Flowers: A Medieval Bouquet

Marcia Young (soprano and harp) and Mark Rimple (countertenor and lute) of Trefoil will perform Flower of Flowers: A Medieval Bouquet.  This program will feature English Medieval music. Trefoil has received great acclaim for their recordings and virtuosic live performances which have been described as "eerily beautiful [and]…otherworldly." Trefoil is a trio of singer-instrumentalists long active in early music, with experience in such ensembles as Concert Royal, Les Arts Florissants, New York's Ensemble for Early Music, Pomerium, Clarion Music Society, Piffaro, My Lord Chamberlain's Consort, and other groups. The trio debuted in New York and Philadelphia early in 2000 with a program of 14th-century French ars subtilior song. The Philadelphia Inquirer tagged the performers as "a hearty trio of medieval music specialists" and their work as "an intricate, enigmatic vocal art." Trefoil has appeared in concerts and master classes at The Cloisters, Temple University, Vassar College, Middlebury College, Franklin and Marshall College, Duke University, Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, University of North Carolina Pembroke, the Vermont Millennium Arts Festival, the Museum Series of Providence, Boston College, the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH, the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, the 2008 Connecticut Early Music Festival, the Howland Chamber Music Circle, the 2002 Amherst Early Music Festival, the New York Early Music Celebration, the Washington D.C. Early Music Festival, the 37th International Congress on Medieval Studies at the University of Western Michigan at Kalamazoo, The 2009 Boston Early Music Fringe Festival, Bargemusic, and Early Music Columbus, The Echo Festival of Asheville, NC. The trio has also made joint appearances with Piffaro, the Renaissance Band in Philadelphia, the Folger Concert in Washington, D.C. and The Newberry Consort in Chicago, Illinois.