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Hesperus
History's Soundtrack
“Engaging stage presence,
backed by programs put together with exceptional imagination…irresistible!”
— The Washington Post
“Hesperus never ceases to astonish.”
— Dirty Linen
Hesperus, innovative, historically informed and multicultural, specializes
in fusions of historic and living traditions. Founded in 1979 and named for
Venus and the West Wind, the five-member group comprises several ensembles with
overlapping membership that perform three kinds of programs: Cultural
portraits featuring early and traditional music from a single culture,
crossover fusions of European medieval and Renaissance
music with American traditional styles such as Appalachian, Cajun, vaudeville
and the blues, and single-genre early music programs
of medieval, Renaissance and baroque music. 
Read a recent review.
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on image for hi-res version. |
Hesperus has toured nationally and internationally for more than two decades. Recently, the ensemble revisited the Misiones de los Chiquitos Festival in Bolivia and the Tage Alte Musik Festival in Regensberg, Germany. Hesperus has also made a five-week tour of the Far East for the United States Information Agency. For three seasons, Hesperus was a resident ensemble at the Carmel Bach Festival in Carmel, California, giving outreach concerts throughout the Monterey Peninsula. In the Washington, DC area, Hesperus continues to appear regularly at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, where it was ensemble-in-residence from 1989 to 1996. Hesperus can be heard regularly on PRI, NPR, CNN, CBS' Nightwatch, the Voice of America, and the Canadian Broadcast System. Read more ...
| Listen to Dorrington
Lads from Food of Love |
| Music of Hildegard von Bingen from Luminous Spirit |
| Read reviews - The Washington Post Nuvo.net |
CD Sampler available on request. |
History's
Soundtracks
Early Music + Silent Film
Download this flyer and tech requirements in PDF format
Early Music + Silent Film Get out your hankies and prepare to be enchanted! You won't find a more entertaining event than a screening of one of these silent film classics, accompanied by its own live soundtrack of period music performed on stage by HESPERUS, the globe-trotting, award-winning early music quartet. |
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The Robin Hood Project - Douglas Fairbanks' 1922 silent film, with a live score of English medieval and Renaissance music by Hesperus. Experience the pageantry of Richard the Lioheart's court, Prince John's sinister machinations, Robin and Marian's moving love story, and the Fairbanks' swashbuckling finale! With English Renaissance music by King Henry VIII, 16th century dances by Jacques Moderne and Tielmann Susato, lute songs by Robert Jones. Illustrated program notes, educational materials, workshops and residencies available as well as a Demo DVD. |
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Lon Chaney's 1923 silent film, with a live score of music from medieval France expertly performed by a quartet of musicians from Hesperus. Victor Hugo's classic brought to vivid life with a soundtrack from the time that Notre Dame was new. Featuring French medieval music by Guillaume de Machaut, Jehan L'Escurel, Guillaume Dufay and Robert Morton. Illustrated program notes, educational materials, workshops and residencies available. Read Pittsburgh press |
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The General - Buster Keaton's
fine film from 1925 with a live score of music from the American Civil War including Stephen Foster's Hard Times, Beautiful Dreamer & Camptown
Races, ballads, breakdowns and Irish Jiggs,
performed by Hesperus's Crossover Quartet. See it as it's never been seen
before, with 19th century ballads, marches, topical songs and breakdowns,
on a plethora of period folk instruments. Illustrated program notes, educational
materials, workshops and residencies available. Also from the Civil War era -The Unknown Lincoln: A Portrait in Song |
| More Hesperus Programs | |
| Early Music & the Spoken Word | |
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NEW! Digging Up Shakespeare (2-person) World-class storyteller Jon Spelman and multi-instrumentalist Tina Chancey mine a rich vein of
Shakespearean wisdom and whimsy in this duo program of personal
anecdotes, sonnets, stories, songs spotlighting the best of the Bard.
Includes scenes from: Richard III, Hamlet, The Tempest; selections
from Venus and Adonis, and the song 'Brush up your Shakespeare.' |
| Early Music and Mime | |
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The Wild Kingdom (3-5 person) |
| Early Music | |
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NEW! The Unknown Lincoln: A Portrait In Song. (4-6 person) Although he didn’t play an instrument and seldom sang in public, Abraham Lincoln loved music; it was frequently the only thing that could distract him from his cares and sorrows. He enjoyed everything from square dance tunes to opera, witty parodies to folk tunes of the North and South.
HESPERUS’s performance of Lincoln’s favorites is accompanied by contemporary comments and quotations from the President, his friends and family, giving audiences a special insight into one of America’s most memorable public figures. Instruments: banjo, guitar, harmonica, fiddle, mandolin, limber jack, hammered dulcimer and mouth bow, with soprano and baritone singers. In celebration of the upcoming 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth on February 12, 1809. |
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LUMINOUS SPIRIT: Chants of Hildegard von Bingen “Terrific!” San Francisco Examiner |
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NEW! 'I Love Lucette' is a 16th century romance, brought to life in a collection of bawdy, sentimental, satirical and pastoral songs and dances from the French Renaissance theater. From the songs' texts, Hesperus Director, Tina Chancey has created a story about a fictional Lucette; a refugee from Germany living in France, orphaned at a young age and driven to marry the ancient town butcher; hopelessly in love with a dashing soldier, abandoned and sunk into depression; revived by the joys of springtime. Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux is Lucette, and she acts and sings with an honesty and verve that will surprise and delight. She is ably assisted by Tina Chancey and Hesperus performers on viols, recorders, and lute. |
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Early
American Roots An inspiring panorama of music from the Pilgrims' arrival through the signing of the Constitution. Hesperus' instrumental trio may be joined by resident folk musician, Bruce Hutton, to explore the transition from these colonial American roots to the old-time/Appalachian folk music of today. |
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Hesperus Education/Residency Offerings
Singing the News: Write a Broadside Ballad
One-hour classroom workshop
1-3 HESPERUS members
Audience participation: active creation
5th grade through adult
May also be presented as a 3-hour teacher training workshopFrom the 16th century through Colonial times, ‘patterers’ took a breaking news story, made a poem out of it, and set it to a common tune that everyone knew. After a short introduction to the historical context, students duplicate the process: they choose a story from their weekly reader or a local newspaper, list the salient points, agree upon a tune, create a poem to fit the tune, and then sing it together. Good for schools without a music teacher; no written music is necessary.
Create your own Film Soundtrack
3-Day Residency (1 ½ hours per day)
1-3 HESPERUS members
Audience participation: active creation
5th grade through adultIn this three-day residency, students work with the 4-minute 1921 silent film classic ‘Lobster Dreams,’ a mixture of live action and animation about a late-night snack that literally runs amok. After a discussion on the use and character of film music, student groups will 1) assemble their ‘orchestra’ made up of standard musical instruments, Orff instruments, voices, hand-made instruments (plans included) and ‘found’ instruments made from objects from their classrooms and kitchens, 2) invent music for selected moods such as discomfort, fear, and anger; and sound effects for such actions as galloping beds, howling dogs, clattering ladders and sling-shot hits, and 3) develop and perform their own soundtracks under the baton of a student conductor. Good for schools without a music teacher, no written music is necessary.
String Instruments through the Ages
One-hour lecture/demonstration
1 HESPERUS member: Tina Chancey
Audience participation: Q & A
Pre-K through adultHESPERUS ’ Director Tina Chancey, a specialist in early bowed strings, takes the audience on a magical musical history tour to find the ancestors of our modern violin family. Using copies of authentic instruments, quoting real historical figures, and playing period music, she engages the audience’s imagination to bring the past vividly alive.
Back Story (in conjunction with film programs)
60-90 minute lecture/demonstration
4 HESPERUS members
Audience participation: Q & A
Pre-K through adultWithin the desired timeframe, HESPERUS spends a third of the session discussing silent films and their music, how the chosen film was made, and how social and political issues of the day influenced the film’s subject matter and presentation. The next third of the session features an instrument demonstration and discussion of how HESPERUS chose and set the music for the film. The last period is devoted to a 10-15 minute live demonstration of a scene from the film with HESPERUS accompaniment.
Toot-Whistle-Plunk-Boom! The History of Musical Instruments
60-90 minute lecture/demonstration
4 HESPERUS members
Audience participation: Q & A
Pre-K through adultAn in-depth exploration of the medieval and renaissance instruments we use in HESPERUS. The ancestors of our modern guitar, violin, flute and trumpet are discussed and demonstrated, using musical examples from the featured concert. Special performance techniques, improvisation and ornamentation, are touched upon. Instruments are selected from:
• Wind instruments: recorder, shawm, cornetto, pipe & tabor, sordune, krumhorn
• Plucked strings: renaissance guitar, lute, vihuela, saz
• Bowed strings: viola da gamba, vielle, fiddle, rebec, kamenj
• Percussion: dumbek, riq, finger cymbals
Community Residencies: A Weekend of Fun
If your community has an active public library or community center, you may want to partner with it to present a Saturday Renaissance, Medieval or Colonial American Festival to launch our Sunday HESPERUS performance. Local scholars and celebrities, student musicians and dancers, crafters, local restaurants, community choruses and historical re-enactors could join HESPERUS to present a low-cost, wide-reaching event that spotlights your presenting organization, and our concert. For suggested events, schedule and sample publicity contact HESPERUS through Class Acts on Tour.
Additional Programs
Instrument demos
Master classes
Group coaching
Lecture-demos on a particular genre or theme (i.e. Abraham Lincoln’s Music, Medieval dance).
Luminous Spirit High-Resolution Photos - Click on images to download.
