Holly Twyford Performs With Folger Consort For Valentine's Day Weekend Concerts
Offerings include a world-premiere commission by composer Juri Seo, inspired by medieval traditions, and readings from Chaucer by Holly Twyford.
Folger Consort, the award-winning early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, invites audiences to celebrate music, love, and poetry with four concerts of The Love Birds: Chaucer's A Parlement of Foules.
Performances take place Friday, February 14 through Sunday, February 16, 2025, blending medieval music with a bold world-premiere composition by acclaimed composer and Guggenheim Fellow Juri Seo and readings from Geoffrey Chaucer's 14-century poem by acclaimed DC actor Holly Twyford.
“Valentine's Day has inspired us to create a February program around Geoffrey Chaucer's The Parlement of Foules, with its timely (and original) reference to St. Valentine as the patron saint of lovers,” says co-Artistic Director Robert Eisenstein. “We've selected some of our favorite French and English songs featuring bird song from the period to accompany readings from the poem and commissioned Juri Seo, one of the most exciting and imaginative composers on the classical music scene today, to create new musical settings of Chaucer's dream vision.”
Juri Seo, whose compositions form the centerpiece of this program, is renowned for her ability to weave the textures and forms of early music into a modern musical language. An acclaimed composer and pianist, Seo has received prestigious awards, including the Rome Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her works are celebrated for their emotional depth and structural sophistication. For this concert, Seo has created a four-movement work (with movements interspersed among the poetry and period music) that complements Chaucer's A Parlement of Foules, capturing the wit and charm of his avian world through music.
“In the introduction to a 1914 edition Parlement of Foules, editor C.M. Drennan describes Chaucer as ‘above all a humorist,'” says Seo. “I found this humorous warmth that transcends disagreements, uncertainty, and desperation deeply resonant with my own artistic tendencies. Chaucer's vibrant vocabulary and flexible rhythms were a joy to set, because they ring beautifully with both the tongue and the ear.”
Seo's new composition, Fowles of Every Kinde sets five stanzas from the heart of Chaucer's A Parlement of Foules. The piece blends themes of love, nature, and politics through the antics of a parliament of birds. Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales and often called the father of English literature, paints a scene in which over 35 bird species gather to debate matters of the heart, each representing different facets of society. Seo's four-movement work captures the energy of Chaucer's feathered assembly.
“We are challenged and delighted with the music Juri has produced for A Parlement of Foules—to be interspersed with all manner of music from the period and recitation of the Chaucer. We can't wait to share it with our audience,” states co-Artistic Director Christopher Kendall. Folger Consort's lineup of guest artists includes Kristen Dubenion-Smith (mezzo soprano), Crossley Hawn (soprano), Brian Kay (medieval lute, citole), Dan Meyers (recorder, percussion, bagpipes), Margot Rood (soprano), and Mary Springfels (vielle and citole).
Holly Twyford, a stalwart of the DC theatre scene and four-time Helen Hayes Award-winner, will read passages from Chaucer's poem. Twyford previously performed with the Folger Consort for the 2007 staging of The Second Shepherds' Play, in addition to acting in seventeen productions for Folger Theatre including Hamlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Taming of the Shrew.
The program will also feature musical selections that Chaucer himself may have known, including English works from the 13th and 14th centuries. Among these are charming bird songs, engaging dances, and the famous Summer Canon. In tribute to Chaucer's connection to the French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut, Folger Consort will perform two of Machaut's songs—the lyrical chanson Rose, lis and the lively Gais et jolis. Rounding out the program are songs evoking birds and bird calls, along with Jacopo da Bologna's delightful 14th-century Italian piece celebrating the noble eagle.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.folger.edu/consort or by contacting the Folger box office at (202) 544-7077. Tickets are $20-$45, with discounts available for Folger members and subscribers, seniors, students, educators, military and their families, and groups.
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