GRAMMY Winner Karim Sulayman Joins Piffaro In December

Piffaro's Popular Christmas Concert Celebrates The Holidays With A Visit To The Golden Age Of English Caroling featuring 2019 Grammy Award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman, soprano Nell Snaidas, and local lutenist Mark Rimple

Tydings Trew: Caroling in Early England

December 13 @ 7:30PM - St Mary's Hamilton Village

December 14 @ 7:30PM - Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill

December 15 @ 3PM - Christ Church Christiana Hundred (DE)

Tickets start at $29: 215-235-8469 or piffaro.org

Around 500 texts survive from the "golden age of the English carol," from around 1350 to 1550. Piffaro won't attempt to perform all of them but their annual holiday program will provide a broad sample, from the reverent to the raucous. The unique sounds of Piffaro's Renaissance instruments will be teamed with an audience favorite, soprano Nell Snaidas, and an artist new to Piffaro's stage: tenor Karim Sulayman, the winner of 2019's Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for his debut album, Songs of Orpheus.

"We're taking a bit of a break from the past several years, which have featured liturgical repertoire that was deeply spiritual and more serious," says artistic director Joan Kimball. "This December will very much be in a spirit of mixing sacred with secular and formal with fun."

Each half of the concert will open by telling the Christmas story through 15th c. carols, and motets by English masters like William Byrd and Thomas Ravenscroft. Then things lighten up, with instrumental numbers from the Henry VIII Songbook (containing music performed at the king's court) and popular songs & ballads from the 15th, 16th, and early 17th c. The bill of fare includes Green growth the holly, The Shrop-shire Wakes or Hey to Christmass, Variations on Greensleeves, The Old Yeare now away has fled, and much more.

All of this music will be performed with Piffaro's widely recognized mastery of period performance style on their one-of-a-kind collection of historical instrument reproductions. The audience for this bit of Christmas time travel has been steadily growing, and concerts typically sell out, so get your tickets early.

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