Folger Consort Announces 47th Season of Early Music

2024/25 SEASON FEATURES FOUR CONCERT PROGRAMS THAT EXPLORE THE DYNAMICS OF POLITICS BETWEEN THE 14TH AND 17TH CENTURIES

Folger Consort, the early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, announces its 47^th season featuring four concert programs that delve into the intersection of politics and melody during Folger’s 2024-25 season, themed “Whose Democracy?”. Joined by celebrated guest artists in the field of early music, the Consort season is led by Artistic Directors and founding members Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall. The performances offer much to explore for early music aficionados and newcomers alike. Each concert is preceded by an Early Music Seminar, where Robert Eisenstein shares historical and musical background information related to the upcoming performance.

Subscriptions to the 2024-25 season of Folger Consort are available by contacting the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077 or visiting www.folger.edu/tickets/subscriptions/. Single tickets will go on sale later this year.

“We are excited to announce our plans for the Consort’s season,” say co-Artistic Directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall. “As always, we’ll be joined by stellar musicians, new friends and old in a varied series of concerts featuring music from the 14^th century all the way up to the 21^st. We have already eagerly begun to work on these programs and hope you will join us for a veritable kaleidoscope of early and not so early music.”

A Tale of Two Cities begins the new season, featuring music associated with the Republics of Venice and Florence, and the writing of Machiavelli and his coterie. Charpentier’s Mass for Christmas Eve, based on a number of charming noëls, rings in the season with Folger’s annual holiday concerts inside the festively adorned Elizabethan-style theater. For Valentine’s Day weekend, the music of 14^th-century England and France is inspired by Chaucer’s narrative poem A Parlement of Foules. The season concludes in the Spring with Kings and Commonwealth, a program of music from the Jacobean court of 17^th century England, including court music, broadside ballads, and songs from the Commonwealth period.

Folger Consort’s 2024-25 Season:

A Tale of Two Cities
The Music of Florence and Venice
September 13-15, 2024

Both Florence and Venice were European power centers in the 16th and 17th centuries. Both also had exciting musical cultures. The Consort will offer pieces by important composers who worked in each city: Claudio Monteverdi and his colleagues who created at San Marco in Venice, and Florentine composer Francesca Caccini, among others.

Early Music Seminar: A Tale of Two Cities
September 11, 2024 at 6:00pm

Folger Consort co-Artistic Director Robert Eisenstein shares historical and musical background information related to A Tale of Two Cities: The Music of Florence and Venice. $20 in person, with light fare and refreshments; $10 to live-stream virtually, with special discount for Folger Members and Consort subscribers.

Mass for Christmas Eve
Music of Charpentier
December 6-15, 2024

Composed around 1694, Charpentier’s Messe de minuit pour Noël is based on lovely and folky Christmas noëls. Charpentier achieved a delightful balance of graceful dance rhythms and sophisticated harmony. The Consort will accompany the Charpentier work with rarely played Italian baroque Christmas music and other festive pieces to ring in the season.

Early Music Seminar: Mass for Christmas Eve
December 4, 2024 at 6:00pm

Folger Consort co-Artistic Director Robert Eisenstein shares historical and musical background information related to Mass for Christmas Eve: Music of Charpentier. $20 in person, with light fare and refreshments; $10 to live-stream virtually, with special discount for Folger Members and Consort subscribers.

The Love Birds
Chaucer’s A Parlement of Foules
February 14-16, 2025

Geoffrey Chaucer’s narrative poem A Parlement of Foules contains the first mention of Saint Valentine as a patron of lovers. Chaucer’s narrative poem will be framed with music from 14th-century England and France, and a newly-commissioned piece by composer Juri Seo.

Early Music Seminar: The Love Birds
February 12, 2025 at 6:00pm

Folger Consort co-Artistic Director Robert Eisenstein shares historical and musical background information related to The Love Birds: Chaucer’s A Parlement of Foules. $20 in person, with light fare and refreshments; $10 to live-stream virtually, with special discount for Folger Members and Consort subscribers.

Kings and Commonwealth
The English Civil War
May 2-4, 2025

Music from the Jacobean court and the period of the English Civil War, reflecting on the political and religious upheavals in England. The Folger Consort will highlight political ballads focused on Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, plus music from the courts of James I and Charles I, including political songs from Thomas D’Urfey’s Pills to Purge Melancholy.

Early Music Seminar: Kings and Commonwealth
May 30, 2025 at 6:00pm

Folger Consort co-Artistic Director Robert Eisenstein shares historical and musical background information related to Kings and Commonwealth: The English Civil War. $20 in person, with light fare and refreshments; $10 to live-stream virtually, with special discount for Folger Members and Consort subscribers.

Folger Consort Artistic Directors:

Robert Eisenstein is a founding member of the Folger Consort, and recently retired as director of the Five College Early Music Program in Massachusetts. There, he coached and directed student ensembles including the Five College Early Music Collegium and Euridice Ensembles and taught courses in music history and technology. In addition to his work with Folger Consort, he is a member of Arcadia Viols and performs regularly with colleagues around New England. Recognized for his contribution to the field of early music with the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, he has performed with many ensembles including the Washington Bach Consort, the Newberry Consort, the National Symphony, and Western Wind, and has appeared at Tanglewood, Amherst Early Music, and other summer festivals.

Christopher Kendall is founder of the Folger Consort. Dean (2005-2015) and professor emeritus of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, he was previously Director of the School of Music at the University of Maryland (1996-2005) and Director of the School of Music and Tanglewood Institute at Boston University (1993-1996). Prior to his academic career, he was Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony from 1987 to 1993. Kendall also serves as Artistic Director of the 21st Century Consort, new music ensemble-in-residence at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, where he has conducted the ensemble in scores of recordings and world premieres for almost 50 years.

Folger Consort recordings are available for purchase and digital download at iTunes and available for streaming on Spotify

About Folger Shakespeare Library:
       

The Folger Shakespeare Library makes Shakespeare’s stories and the world in which he lived accessible. Anchored by the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is a place where curiosity and creativity are embraced, and conversation is always encouraged. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from path-breaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger welcomes everyone to connect in their own way—from communities throughout Washington, DC, to communities across the globe.

Following a multiyear building renovation, the Folger’s historic Capitol Hill home will fully reopen to the public on June 21, 2024. Learn more at www.folger.edu

About Folger Consort:

For 47 seasons as the early music ensemble in residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Folger Consort has delighted audiences with a stunning repertoire of early music spanning roughly 800 years. With world-class guest artists, from virtuoso soloists to large choirs and orchestras, Folger Consort has performed masterpieces of the most renowned composers and hidden treasures from those who might otherwise be lost to history. Performing in the intimate setting of the Folger’s Elizabethan Theatre, as well as such grand spaces as Washington National Cathedral and the Kennedy Center, Folger Consort has also toured nationally and internationally to Shakespeare’s Globe and other prestigious venues.

Among other awards and critical acclaim for its performances and recordings, Folger Consort has received Best Classical Chamber Ensemble from the Washington Area Music Awards multiple times. For more on Folger Consort, please visit www.folger.edu/folger-consort.

# # #