LeStrange Viols to Perform French Music for Salon/Sanctuary Concerts

Salon/Sanctuary Concerts presents LeStrange Viols, part of Salon/Sanctuary Concerts' Bernini in Paris series, on Thursday, March 3rd at 8 p.m.

Featuring: Loren Ludwig & John Mark Rozendaal, treble viols; Kivie Cahn-Lipman & James Waldo, tenor viols; and Zoe Weiss & Douglas Kelley, bass viols.

The concert takes place at The Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium, 417 East 61st Street, New York, NY 10065. Tickets: $25 seniors, students, members of Early Music America; $35 general admission; $50 prime seating; $100 front row season supporter (tax-deductible). To purchase tickets, call 1 888 718 4253 or go to www.salonsanctuary.org.

Though often imagined as a primarily English ensemble, the viol consort had a rich history in France as another vehicle for that nation's characteristically colorful and expressive musical imagination. Our program will feature some wonderful examples of this gorgeous repertoire, from the intricate song settings for viols by Eustache Du Caurroy and singing polyphony by Etienne Moulinié to the majestic ensemble music of Charpentier and the Italian transplant Giovanni Battista Lulli, otherwise known as Lully.

LeStrange Viols was formed in 2014 to record the modern premier of William Cranford's consort music. By that time the musicians of LeStrange had already established themselves as a crack team of American consort players. Their many previous appearances together in diverse musical combinations and their experience in acclaimed American ensembles allow LeStrange to craft refined and vigorous performances of intricate gems of the consort repertory. Members of LeStrange Viols have been featured performers with ACRONYM, Arcadia Viols, Amherst Early Music Festival, The Newberry Consort, Folger Consort, The King's Noyse, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Trio Settecento, The Oberlin Consort of Viols, Helios Opera, Quaver, Hesperus, Sonnambula, New York Consort of Viols, Parthenia, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and Brandywine Baroque.

LeStrange's debut CD made the New Yorker's list of notable recordings of 2015. Since its CD release, the ensemble has thrilled audiences at summer festivals and in a triumphant NYC debut recital. LeStrange's 2016 engagements include a concert of French repertoire for the prestigious Salon Sanctuary series (New York); and a collaboration with early music legend, soprano Julianne Baird, for Amherst Early Music (New London, CT).

LeStrange Viols takes its name from an important manuscript collection assembled by the 17th-century English nobleman Nicholas Lestrange.

Photo of LeStrange Viols by Brian Hall