Renaissance Men
Boston’s acclaimed male vocal chamber ensemble
29 August 2016
BOSTON, MA — Renaissance Men, Boston’s professional male vocal chamber ensemble, announces their 2016-17 season:
RenMen On This Island: From rarely-heard hymn-lining using 15th century Scottish psalms, to today’s rollicking Irish folk songs with the signature ‘RenMen’ in-house band. Beloved English part songs by Vaughan Williams, Bairstow, and Bantock will precede Benjamin Britten’s The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard. Irish and Welsh composers, including Michael McGlynn, Paul Mealor, and Hilary Tann will be highlighted. Folk song selections from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Shetland Islands, and Guernsey, sung in the traditional Sean-nós style, will connect the program into one continuous concert experience. The Fellas, Boston City Singers young men’s ensemble under conductor Daniel P. Ryan, will provide an opening set. [October 2016]
A Very RenMen Christmas: Now an annual tradition, Renaissance Men will feature cherished carols and seasonal songs, arrangements of Christmas favorites in close harmonies from groups like the Beach Boys and Gas House Gang, and new favorites by some of today’s hottest composers – Saunder Choi, Paul John Rudoi, and the U.S. premiere of a new work for men’s voices by composer-in-residence, Daniel E. Gawthrop. A cocktail hour and a full evening of food and libations will be served. [November 2016]
RenMen Night at the Opera: A celebration of rarely-performed men’s ensemble repertoire by composers known primarily for their contributions to the operatic medium. Featuring works by Meyerbeer, Rossini, Janacek, Richard Strauss, Wagner, and more. [February 2017]
RenMentality: In their season closer, RenMentality will featuring dramatic works by composers who suffered from mental and behavioral disorders, including Schubert, Schoenberg, Berlioz, Bruckner, Hovhaness, and more. American composer Jay Mobley will premiere a major work for male voices based on texts written by victims of mental health disorders in critical psychological moments. Musical interjections from pop and rock’s early departed due to substance abuse will bind the program together. [May 2017]
Individual tickets and season subscriptions will go on sale on September 7, 2016.
In addition to their mainstage series, Renaissance Men will reprise last season’s musical retrospective concert, RenMen 1965, in their debut at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Calderwood Hall in Boston on Sunday, October 30th 2016, as part of the museum’s Sunday Concert Series. They will also embark on their first tour of college and university concerts across the Eastern United States throughout the season. They have also officially appointed nationally-acclaimed composer Daniel E. Gawthrop as their Composer-In-Residence for the 2016-17 season. Gawthrop’s newest work for ten male voices, The Promises of Isaiah the Prophet, was premiered by Renaissance Men last season, and will be featured on RenMen’s first commercial release, to be recorded in the summer of 2017.
More information, including specific dates and ticket purchasing options, can be found at www.renmenmusic.com.
About Renaissance Men
The Boston choral scene is a vigorous one, teeming with artistic outlets for those singers passionate about ensemble performance. Therefore, it was strange to discover that so few groups existed in the area devoted to the wealth of repertoire written throughout the centuries for men’s voice. A few trips to the bar, many email chains, and some truly horrible group name suggestions later, Renaissance Men was formed in January of 2014. From their beginnings as a sextet, the group expanded to nine in their first official season. In November of 2014, they shed, somewhat, from Boston bred early music backgrounds in favor of a program of American religious and folk music entitled RenMen Roots. The audience may have been shocked to see erstwhile Bach specialists strumming away on banjo and upright bass, but their hooting and hollering validated RenMen’s first major attempt to push repertoire boundaries. In February 2016, The Boston Globe highlighted RenMen for their groundbreaking musical retrospective, RenMen 1965, which juxtaposed traditional choral music and rock/pop songs of the year. It also included the world premiere of Five Clippings from 1965, a multi-movement work for men’s voices using texts from Boston Globe articles published in 1965, by Charles Stacy III, then a student at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In less than three years, Renaissance Men has paved their way into Boston’s cultural landscape with seven constructed concert series, the performance of several U.S. and world premieres by internationally-celebrated composers such as Patricia Van Ness and Daniel E. Gawthrop, and the garnering of a devoted following in their concerts, broadcasted live-streams, and social media outlets. Dedicated to the art of collaboration, RenMen has partnered with Boston City Singers, Ensemble Musica Humana, and in October of 2016 will be featured in a talkback session on ensemble marketing and branding co-hosted by Boston Singers Resource and Greater Boston Choral Consortium. Renaissance Men is a proud member of Chamber Music America.
Renaissance Men is comprised of Boston and New York’s most active chamber musicians, educators, and music aficionados – founded in 2014 by Anthony Burkes Garza, General Manager, Eric Christopher Perry, Artistic Director/Conductor, Will Prapestis, Social Media Consultant, Peter Schilling, Business Manager, and tenor, Alexander Nishibun. RenMen’s 2016-17 roster will also feature Gene Stenger, Francesco Logozzo, Kilian Mooney, Dominick Matsko, Brian Church, and Benjamin Pfeil.
CONTACT
More information and media selections can be found at www.renmenmusic.com.
General Manager: Anthony Burkes Garza
Artistic Director: Eric Christopher Perry
Electronic Press Kit: http://www.reverbnation.com/rpk/renaissancemen
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