CD Release Concert ! O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen
11 AM-12 PM Thursday, June 9
ST. CLEMENT’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
2837 Claremont Blvd., Berkeley, CA
Tickets available at the door. Suggested donation: $20.
Vajra Voices, directed by Karen R. Clark, with Shira Kammen, vielle & harp invite you to their CD Release Concert for their debut recording, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen. Released on May 13 on the Music & Arts label, the CD is distributed worldwide by Naxos, and, is available on Amazon.com. Highlighted on our program are effusive and contemplative vocal and instrumental selections from the CD with readings from Hildegard’s books that expound on the spiritual delights of music. Vajra Voices is glad to launch this recording during the Berkeley Festival. The concert is followed by a reception where CDs will be available for purchase. The women’s vocal ensemble, Vajra Voices, sings medieval to modern music in a singing style inspired by Hildegard von Bingen that is “clear, sweet, and strong.” Recently released, Vajra Voices debut CD with instrumentalist, Shira Kammen, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen, is called “stunning”. This season Vajra Voices performs works from their CD in Garrett+Moulton dance productions with the Oakland Ballet and in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center. KQED Arts writes, “Unearthly sounds of medieval hymns were thrillingly spun by Vajra Voices.” And, theologian and author, Matthew Fox, says, “”One cannot help but be deeply moved by the exquisite rendition of Hildegard’s music by Vajra Voices. Their singing brings Hildegard into the room with all her passion and power and the Spirit arrives too along with angels eager to wake us up. ” www.vajravoices.com
View the program here.
The women’s vocal ensemble, Vajra Voices, sings medieval to modern music in a singing style inspired by Hildegard von Bingen that is “clear, sweet, and strong.” Recently released, Vajra Voices debut CD with instrumentalist, Shira Kammen, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen, is called “stunning”. This season Vajra Voices performs works from their CD in Garrett+Moulton dance productions with the Oakland Ballet and in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center. KQED Arts writes, “Unearthly sounds of medieval hymns were thrillingly spun by Vajra Voices.” And, theologian and author, Matthew Fox, says, “”One cannot help but be deeply moved by the exquisite rendition of Hildegard’s music by Vajra Voices. Their singing brings Hildegard into the room with all her passion and power and the Spirit arrives too along with angels eager to wake us up. ” www.vajravoices.com
VAJRA VOICES: Sopranos: Allison Zelles Lloyd, Amy Stuart Hunn, Juliana Urban, Lindsey McLennan
Mezzo sopranos: Celeste Winant, Cheryl Shafer Moore
Contralto: Karen R. Clark (Director)
Vielle & harp: Shira Kammen
Karen Clark, director
Contralto Karen Clark’s opera studies in the Indiana University School of Music were greatly enhanced by her studies and performances with the early music maverick, Thomas Binkley. Her New York City and Berkeley Festival debuts were in Binkley’s reconstruction of the medieval Passion Play (Carmina Burana ms.) for which her rendering of the role of Maria Mater was lauded by the New Yorker and the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times later wrote “Karen Clark’s warm rich voice is one of the loveliest on the New York early music scene.”Karen has performed and recorded with many of the world’s leading early music ensembles, such as, Sequentia, Boston Camerata, Ensemble P.A.N., Waverly Consort, Pomerium Musices, New York Early Music (Fred Renz), and Joshua Rifkin’s Bach Ensemble. Outstanding is Karen’s 2010 new music recording with the baroque strings of the Galax Quartet, On Cold Mountain: Songs on Poems of Gary Snyder (Innova). As ensemble director of Vajra Voices, Karen brings her many years of experience as a vocal teacher, ensemble singer, and music director. In demand as a teacher, Karen has taught in association with the music departments of Swarthmore College, Sonoma State, Princeton University, the Thornton School of Music at University of Southern California, and, most recently, the University of California, Berkeley.
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