Piffaro, the Renaissance Band, Reveals Fall 2024 Season

Piffaro, the Philadelphia-based Renaissance wind band considered a standard bearer for the music of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, brings two of New York City's most eminent vocal ensembles to the region in October and December. Concerts take place in Philadelphia and Wilmington and will stream online. For tickets and information, visit piffaro.org.

Triomphi

October 11 - Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral

October 12 - Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia

October 13 - Christ Church Christiana Hundred, Wilmington, DE (no projections)

October 18 - St Paul Cathedral at Columbia University, NYC

November 1–14 - Streaming online

Support for these concerts is provided by the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.

In October, Piffaro will collaborate with TENET Vocal Artists and projection designer Camilla Tassi to mark the 650th anniversary of Francesco Petrarch's death with a multimedia interpretation of his Triumphs. Petrarch, the “father of humanism” and the most influential poet of the Italian Renaissance, grappled with fundamental themes of human experience - Love and Death, Fame and Time, the consolation of Eternity. The program will draw upon the artists and composers inspired by Petrarch's texts, running the gamut of 16th century Italian musical styles. Projections of text and art will transform the architecture of the historic churches hosting the concerts.

Director Jolle Greenleaf “established TENET as an independent force on the city's early-music scene, among the most important outside major institutions like Trinity Wall Street and the Juilliard School,” according to The New York Times.  “I am very excited to be working with TENET,” says Piffaro artistic director, Priscilla Herreid. “There are many excellent vocal ensembles that perform a lot of different genres, but Jolle has spent many years studying Renaissance music and working with other singers who speak that musical language. It's a really good fit for Piffaro, and for this program in particular.”

Nova! Nova!

December 20 - Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

December 21 - Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia

December 22 - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, DE

January 3–16 - Streaming online

Two-time Grammy-nominated male vocal ensemble New York Polyphony will join Piffaro for a concert of English music for the Christmas season. The selections will span centuries: fragments of medieval music discovered in book bindings at the Worcester Cathedral Priory, music sung by Tudor choirs, carols like There is no rose and Green groweth the holly (written by Henry VIII) and two new pieces written for New York Polyphony by Andrew Smith. “This music is so ethereal that it sounds timeless,” says Herreid.

Critically acclaimed for a “rich, natural sound that's larger and more complex than the sum of its parts,” (NPR) and as “singers of superb musicianship and vocal allure” (The New Yorker), New York Polyphony's innovative programming spans Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions. “When NYP proposed the idea of an English Christmas program, I was immediately on board,” says Herreid. “These four guys are wonderful, and their approach to this particular repertoire is so beautiful.” 

About TENET Vocal Artists

Under Artistic Director Jolle Greenleaf, TENET Vocal Artists has won acclaim for its innovative programming, virtuosic singing and command of repertoire that spans the Middle Ages to the present day. 

Highlights from the past decade involve performances of all of J.S. Bach's vocal masterworks including St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Christmas and Easter Oratorios, Bach's motets, and Mass in B Minor. TENET has offered multiple performances of Handel's Messiah and has appeared on tours of Italy, Germany, and the UK. Other special projects featured Schütz's Musikalische Exequien, a three-year cycle of Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories, a staged production of Charpentier's Les plaisirs de Versailles, works by Purcell and his contemporaries celebrating music's patron St. Cecilia, two surveys of medieval music, commissioned works by Reena Esmail and Caroline Shaw, and original theatrical performances highlighting works composed by, for, and about women in 17th century Italy.

Renowned for their interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, TENET Vocal Artists' distinguished soloists have been praised for their pristine one-voice-to-a-part singing “to an uncanny degree of precision” (The Boston Globe). From 2010-2020, TENET's highly praised Green Mountain Project gave annual performances honoring Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 and other reconstructed Vespers featuring music by Monteverdi, Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Giovanni Gabrieli, Antoine Charpentier, Michael Praetorius, and their contemporaries. The project's final appearance in 2020 culminated in several concerts in Venice, Italy.

About New York Polyphony

Critically acclaimed for a “rich, natural sound that's larger and more complex than the sum of its parts,” (NPR) and as “singers of superb musicianship and vocal allure” (The New Yorker), New York Polyphony is one of the foremost vocal chamber ensembles active today. Their innovative programming spans Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions, and their focus on familiar and rare works of the 12-17th centuries has helped bring early music to modern audiences. 

Founded in 2006, New York Polyphony's growing discography includes two GRAMMY-nominated albums, and many of their releases have topped the “best of” lists of The New Yorker, Gramophone, and The New York Times. BBC Music Magazine hailed And the sun darkened (2021, BIS) “imaginatively programmed” and “immaculately sung,” and Klassik Heute applauded New York Polyphony's “flawlessly pure sound that amazes the listener.” Lamentationes (2019, BIS) was a finalist in the 2020 Gramophone Awards and praised by Classics Today as “perfect ensemble singing, ideally recorded.” 

The quartet tours extensively, performing in some of the world's finest concert halls and participating in major festivals at home and abroad. Engagements have included Wigmore and Cadogan Halls (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Stavanger Kammermusikkfestival (Norway) in 2018 and 2023, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston) in 2017 and 2022, Heidelberger Frühling (Germany), and Early Music Vancouver. As of 2023, the quartet has performed in all but eight US states.

Looking ahead

All Excellent and Esteemed: The Bassano Family

January 21–February 8: On tour

March 21 - Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral

March 22 - Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill

March 23 - Christ Church Christiana Hundred (DE)

April 4–17 - Streaming online

The wind players of Piffaro look at one of the most potent examples of musical immigration in 16th century Europe - the story of the Bassano family. "They are four brethren, all excellent and esteemed above all others in this city in their virtue," was the report from Edmond Harvel, King Henry VIII's agent in Venice, upon hearing the Bassanos. Many members of this Italian (and likely Jewish) family of wind players and instrument builders moved to Henry VIII's court while others remained in Italy as important members of the Venetian musical scene. Over the next few decades, this family extended the frontiers of instrumental music. 

Now is the Month of Maying

May 9 - Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral

May 10 - Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill

May 11 - Immanuel Church, Highlands (DE)

May 23–June 5 - Streaming online

Bird songs, love songs, and May dances will be vehicles for Piffaro's rich and varied instrumentarium: reeds, brass, recorders, plucked strings, and percussion of all shapes and sizes. 

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