June 2, 7:30 pm doors
8:00 pm concert
Jalopy Theatre
Brooklyn, NY
This venue is accessible
CONCERT DESCRIPTION
FINE COMPANION is a program of newly-composed settings of troubadour songs and texts, written in a dream-pop /shoegaze/ psychedelic rock style for an amplified combination of medieval and new instruments. The texts of this project were chosen by Charles Mueller (composer) and the ensemble, with a focus on troubadour lyrics that expand or refute the standard tropes of chivalrous love by choosing poems from a feminine perspective, and by delving into the metaphysical and spiritual subsets of the genre. Mueller has used pre-existing troubadour music as a melodic and modal prompt on a number of pieces, with direct quotations organically morphing as if in an inspired game of telephone.
Listen to excerpts from two of our new pieces! "Seguin + Valensa" is our version of the Comtessa de Dia's hit song "A chantar m'er de so," which invokes these two legendary lovers. "I know a lady" is based on the quixotic text "Farai un vers de dreyt nien" by the grandfather of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
ALKEMIE
Tracy Cowart (voice, electric harps, percussion), Ben Matus (voice, medieval bagpipes), Niccolo Seligmann (vielles, scheitholt, gittern, psaltery), Sian Ricketts (voice, recorders, douçaines), and Spiff Wiegand (percussion, guitar)
- with -
CHARLES MUELLER
Composer & Recording Engineer
Electric guitar, electric bass
Alkemie's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
