Joy, Light, & Everything Pumpkin Spice

Welp, we all know what’s about to happen, right? I’m gonna make a reference to the artificial jet lag created by the time change and that I kinda like it. And then I’m gonna say something like “it must be that time of year for another sweet potato curry, washed down with a pumpkin stout, and then chased by a slice of pumpkin cheesecake” or somesuch.

So let’s just cut to the chase, shall we?

Time’s a’wastin’ because I need to be finalizing the music for our Joy and Light concert in December and preparing for the Fall Texas Toot workshop in East Texas and trying to make time to watch our London City Limits concert video because we spent a lot of time on the concert and the audio/video editing and it’s pretty danged good! You should watch it. Details are on our website.

So, you see, rather than go on and on about not being able to find any pumpkin spice contact lens solution, I’m gonna get back to work! And think about the pumpkin spice ice cream I might have during a break.

See details about about our upcoming Joy and Light concert below!

And Happy Thanksgiving!
–Danny

P.S. Don’t forget: TEMP CDs make great holiday gifts! Purchase CDs at our concert venue or order from our Recordings page!

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Joy and Light: Delights of the Season

Saturday, December 9, 2023 at  7:30 pm
&
Sunday, December 10, 2023, 3:00 pm
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2111 Alexander Avenue

Hosted by Arts on Alexander on the campus of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 
2111 Alexander Ave, Austin, TX 78722.
Visit the Arts on Alexander 2023-2024 events on the AoA website.

Admission $35 general; $30 seniors (60+); $5 students with ID
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email info@early-music.org.

Join Texas Early Music Project for its annual multilicious feast of diverse holiday music through the ages. Cultures across the centuries have celebrated this season of expectation and rebirth, and we are contributing our share with medieval chant and joyous carols, magnificent motets, sweet Celtic songs, exuberant folk-tunes, and more.

 Much of the music for this concert comes from Southern Europe, including folk tunes from France that have remained popular through modern times as well as newly written pieces based on French chant. The enchanting Sephardic songs that we have chosen for the Chanukah section come from Turkey and Morocco. In addition, we will present music by the “newly discovered” Vicente Lusitano, a mixed-race Portuguese composer. Active in the 16th century, Lusitano has been described as the first published Black composer.

 In addition to the haunting motet for 5 voices by Lusitano, we have created a “medley” on the popular 14th-century tune In dulci jubilo (also known to modern carolers as Good Christian Men, Rejoice), using settings by different composers of the German Renaissance and Baroque: Michael Praetorius, Hieronymus Praetorius, and Dietrich Buxtehude. The settings range from verses for 2 parts, 3 parts, and so on, up to 12 different parts.

 The British Isles are represented by a variety of popular ballads and folk songs from England and Scotland, all penned by that long-lived composer, Anonymous. As usual, there will be a few pieces composed and arranged in the last few years using some of the styles of Medieval and Baroque repertoire.

 Tim O’Brien, David Lopez, Cayla Cardiff, Erin Calata, Page Stephens, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, Jenny Houghton, Ryland Angel, Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon, and Jenifer Thyssen are among the featured soloists, and we are happy to have both acclaimed harpist Therese Honey and kantele virtuoso Viktoria Nizhnik featured in our small orchestra.

 Join Texas Early Music Project for a splendid and enriching evening of music. Encompassing 700 years of festive creativity and beauty, this music is sure to delight your ears and warm your heart. We coined a new word to describe the concert: multilicious!

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

December needs another week!

So that we can all go to all the concerts we want to go to, perform in all the concerts we want to / need to, and still have a little time for, oh, I don’t know, maybe shopping/eating/visiting and the occasional nap! I know I’ve seen this idea proposed on other forums but no one seems to do anything about it. C’mon! Someone do something!

Because, as it turns out, we have our very own Christmas concert(s). NEXT WEEK. Three days in a row. So I’m too busy and having too much fun to start the 5-week-December campaign.

An Early Christmas is, by all accounts, one of our favorite concerts, because we cover so much territory, historically speaking, that we change the parameters of what early music is and even what Christmas music can be, and yet still tug at the heartstrings. So join us next week. And then, maybe after the New Year, get into gear with the 5-week-December campaign.

Read the full program description and listen to audio teasers below. 

See ya! It’s multilicious!
-Danny

Tickets for Saturday and Sunday's concerts are selling fast. Guarantee your seat by purchasing your tickets in advance. There is still plenty of room on Friday!

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AN EARLY CHRISTMAS

Friday, December 13, 2019, at  7:30 pm
St. John's United Methodist, 2140 Allandale Road
Saturday, December 14, 2019, at  7:30 pm
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Avenue
Sunday, December 15, 2019, 3:00 pm
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 8134 Mesa Drive

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

Take advantage of preferred seating and other perks by sponsoring a concert!

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email info@early-music.org.

Join Texas Early Music Project for its annual multilicious feast of Christmas music through the ages. Different cultures across the centuries have celebrated this season of expectation and rebirth, and we are contributing our share with medieval chant and joyous English and French carols, magnificent motets for 8 parts from Italy and France, and lively Celtic songs, dulcet Dutch carols, exuberant folk-tunes, and more.

Enjoy these audio teasers from our most recent CD, In dulci jubilo: Early Music of the Season:

Enjoy more selections from Gaudete: An Early Christmas, Swete was the Songe, Noël: An Early Christmas and Stella splendens: An Early Music Christmas.

Brett Barnes, Cayla Cardiff, Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, David Lopez, Jenny Houghton, Gil Zilkha, and Jenifer Thyssen are featured soloists, and acclaimed harpist Therese Honey, countertenor Ryland Angel, and Karelian chromatic kantele player Viktoria Nizhnik are featured as special guests.

Join Texas Early Music Project for a splendid and enriching evening of music. Encompassing 700 years of festive creativity and beauty, this music is sure to delight your ears and warm your heart. And you can use our new word, multilicious!

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

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Here we go - the 42 days of Christmas! Wait - is that right?

There are only 12 days leading up to the first TEMP Christmas concert, and we at TEMP would like to give you our version of the 12 Days of Christmas! Each day, we will present you with an interesting fact, tidbit, or fun story about Early Music. Here we go! 
On the First Day of Early Christmas...

Today's treat, for the 1st Day of Christmas!

Today is Stephanie Prewitt’s birthday! Remember how many times you’ve heard her sing over the last 3.5 decades (and you always want to hear more!) with Texas Early Music Project, La Follia Austin Baroque, New Texas Music Works (later known as Conspirare), the St. Mary Cathedral Schola Cantorum, and many, many other local groups. And then there’s the festivals and ensembles around the globe that have profited from Stephanie’s talents! We are so lucky to have her with us! Maybe a wee blessing for every time she’s brought a little tear to your eye or a rush of thanks to your heart … I know what color she likes, so ask me! For this year’s Christmas concert, her solos include our revival of the Scottish lullaby Balooloo, my lammie and a trio with Meredith & Brett in the Buxtehude section of the In dulci jubilo suite. Here's an excerpt of Stephanie singing Balooloo, my lammie from our CD Stella Splendens: An Early Music Christmas.

Join us for An Early Christmas In 11 days!

More tomorrow!
-Danny

Click to buy tickets for our Christmas concerts on Dec. 11, 12, and 13!

Saint Nick & the Reindeer Games

A shout out to shoeboxblog.com for the reindeer humor!

I am actually happy Meredith didn't ask me what my favorite reindeer games were. (See Meredith's TEMP Holiday Interview!) I've kept it a secret all my life. But since you're wondering now, I'll tell ya: Cupid & Casper skydiving from Santa's sled at 35,000 feet and playing havoc with Norad / UFO watchers all over the world! Donner, Dancer, and Sneezy playing sky frisbee with errant toy drones and making goofy faces at the cameras all the while! Rudolph and Snoopy sneaking into the movies on Christmas Day for a much deserved day off. 

Ok, that's all I got. Now everyone knows. But seriously, check out Meredith's interviews with Scott, Therese, and Jenny and check out the concert listing below! We hope to see you there!

-Danny

An Early Christmas

8pm, Friday, December 11, 2015
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Ave., Austin, TX

 8pm, Saturday, December 12, 2015
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Ave., Austin, TX 

3pm, Sunday, December 13, 2015
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message, or email info@early-music.org.

It’s time for another Early Christmas! The TEMP Eurotour continues as we explore music and the intangible essence of Christmas from the cultural capitals of Europe from the 13th through 18th centuries. TEMP puts its unique stamp on joyful chants, carols, lullabies, motets, and ballads from Western Europe and the British Isles, where many of the musical traditions we hold dear at Christmastime originated, with innovative arrangements for solo voices, small chorus, harp, violin, flute, mandolin, viols, and lute.

The familiar theme of the Nativity from the shepherds’ perspective, including their wondrous and terrifying experience with the angelic host and their subsequent gathering around the manger to adore the Christ-Child, figures prominently in most early music Christmas repertoire. We will present several works with this focus, including our original arrangement combining elements of two Nativity pastorals from 1684 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier with soloists (Jenifer Thyssen & Meredith Ruduski) and choir with orchestra. Charpentier had a particular ease and love of this repertoire and the results are ravishingly beautiful. 

The theme of the Mother and Child is especially poignant, of course; among the Medieval pieces on the concert, one popular gem is Lullay, lullay: Als I lay on Yoolis night. Its transparent texture and gentle pacing makes the conversation between Mother Mary and the Christ-Child extremely touching, heightened by the polyphony of the choir of angels witnessing the event. Listen to this excerpt from the CD Noël: An Early Christmas:

The popular tune In dulci jubilo, which has origins in the 14th century, went through many variations and revisions in the next 300 years before it became the modern carol Good Christian men, rejoice. We will present a seamless suite with settings by the German composers Michael Praetorius, Hieronymous Praetorius, and Dieterich Buxtehude for 2, 3, 4, & 8 parts. Listen to this excerpt from the CD Swete was the Songe: An Early Music Christmas in Northern Europe & the British Isles:

Motets by Sweelinck and Victoria, and lively works from Spain and France round out our Eurotour before we turn our sights to the west: Our Christmas concerts are never complete without a little taste of Celtic and English influences! Our popular versions of the Christ-Child Lullaby (with its Scots Gaelic solo by Jenifer Thyssen and audience participation) and The Wexford Carol (Cayla Cardiff, soloist) and more are in the program this year, as well as other favorites from the Celtic traditions, including a few sung by the popular Irish Gaelic singer Abby Green. We are again proud to feature nationally acclaimed historical harpist Therese Honey along with featured soloists Jenifer Thyssen, Stephanie Prewitt, Meredith Ruduski, Jenny Houghton, Cayla Cardiff, David Lopez, Brett Barnes, and Daniel Johnson. Our instrumental soloists include Bruce Colson (violin), John Walters and Jane Leggiero (viols), Marcus McGuff (flute), Susan Richter (recorders), and Scott Horton (lutes). 

 Join Texas Early Music Project for a splendid and enriching evening of music.
Encompassing six hundred years of festive creativity and beauty, this music is
sure to delight your ears and warm your heart.