From La to Mi: Josquin and the
Art of Renaissance Solfège
January 25, 2025
7:30 pm
Linehan Chapel
Nazareth University
Nazareth Campus Map
(Chapel is inside Golisano Academic Center, park in lots R or Q)
Google Map for Golisano Academic Center
January 26, 2025
3:00 pm
Asbury First United Methodist Church
1050 East Avenue
You're likely familiar with solfège from The Sound of Music, when Maria introduces it to the Von Trapp children with the song "Do-Re-Mi" (i.e., "Do, a Deer"), naming the notes in a manner handed down from the Renaissance that is still used today.
Musica Spei invites you to step back into the golden age of Renaissance polyphony, when solfège wasn’t just a tool for learning, but a gateway to a whole new world of musical expression. Together with special guests Holly Bewlay, soprano, and Bonnie Choi on harpsichord, we will take audiences on a journey through the complex, luminous soundscapes of the 15th and 16th centuries, where sacred music, modes, and intricate counterpoint come to life. This concert features Josquin des Prez’s Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi along with other solfège-based choral, solo, and instrumental works by Henry Purcell, Barbara Strozzi, Gaspar Fernandez, and more.
Free Will Offering- Suggested Donation $10
Join Musica Spei and St. Anne musicians, Alexander Little (organ) and vocalist Jack Leslie (bass), for a contemplative Good Friday program.
April 18, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
St. Anne Church, 1600 Mount Hope Ave.
The program features emotionally expressive sung works by Renaissance composers, including Lassus, Victoria, and Croce, as well as a soulful vocal solo composed by Hugo Wolf. Organ selections include compositions by Smyth, Brahms, and Barraine.
The concert ends with the sanctuary enveloped in darkness. Everyone is asked to depart the sanctuary in silence in observance of the solemnity of the day.