Author: Mia

 Valentine’s Concert at Brandeis

Amelia LeClair, a 2012-14 Visiting Scholar in Brandeis’ Women Studies Research Center, is presenting, with Cappella Clausura, a fascinating free daytime program on the connection between 12th century composer Hildegard and contemporary composers Hilary Tann, Patricia Van Ness and Emma Lou Diemer. 

Thursday, February 14, 12:30pm

Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Visiting Scholar Amelia LeClair will present a free lecture/demo with her women’s music ensemble Cappella Clausura on Thursday, February 14, 12:30PM, at Brandeis University.

Spanning the centuries, the presentation Hildegard von Bingen: Medieval, Mystical and Modern makes the connection between Hildegard (1098 – 1179), the medieval mystic of the Rhine, and contemporary composers inspired by her: Hilary Tann, Patricia Van Ness and Emma Lou Diemer. Live and recorded choral pieces will be interspersed within the lecture program.

The 12th century composer, Hildegard, was a remarkable German Benedictine abbess who experienced visions and wrote theological, botanical and medicinal treatises in addition to her poetry and music. She is known for her dramatic, soaring melodies and the close relationship she established between music and text in her compositions. Her Ordo Virtutum, a morality play, is widely considered the first opera (1150).

The free program will be presented at Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center, Epstein Building, 515 South Street. For further information call (781) 736-8100 or visit here.

Cappella Clausura brings to light works written by women from the 9th century to the present day: twelve centuries of “new” music. While this ensemble of sopranos, altos, and period instruments performs music solely by women composers, and champions living composers, it concentrates on repertoire by women in the cloister – clausura – during the Italian baroque period. During this extraordinary time, women were allowed to express themselves spiritually and artistically, and to publish their own music. Clausura’s intention is to dispel the notion that there are not now nor have there ever been gifted women composers.

History has been blind and deaf to these remarkable works; Cappella Clausura brings vision and voice to them.

The ensemble has recorded two CDs and premiered many works by women of the medieval, baroque and renaissance eras, in addition to contemporary composers: Hilary Tann, Patricia Van Ness, Abbie Betinis, Emma Lou Diemer, Dorothy Crawford and others. Their innovative programs have drawn critical acclaim: Ordo Virtutum, a contemporary version of the first opera ever written; A Chantar, chant by 9th century Greek nun Kassia; secular music such as that written by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, court composer to Louis XV; and many other programs. For more information on Cappella Clausura, visit: www.clausura.org

What the press is saying: “…eavesdrop on paradise… personal and inviting, extravagant and intimate.”

– Matthew Guerrieri, BOSTON GLOBE

“the cadences of each phrase and each piece were nothing short of exquisite. There were many divine moments of

perfect sonority…” – Boston Musical Intelligencer