UW News

December 3, 2009

Old music, new buildings: Collegium Musicum performs three concerts

Three medieval music events will echo through the campus next week, with music written for a 12th century cathedral presented in two resonant 21st century campus spaces — the Allen Center and Mary Gates Hall. Another meeting of old music and new technology will occur when undergraduate music majors apply their contemporary performance styles to a 600-year-old song.


Tuesday, Dec. 8, from 2:50 to 3:20 p.m., singers of the Collegium Musicum, the School of Music’s early music ensemble, will present a free concert preview in the Microsoft Atrium of the Paul Allen Computer Science Center. The group will sing music written for another large space, the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris in the 12th century.


“The remarkable open design and resonant materials of the Microsoft Atrium are like a re-imagining of the altitude and stones of the Gothic cathedrals,” says music history professor JoAnn Taricani. “We are fascinated by the idea of hearing music written for a massive medieval space performed in such dramatic modern architecture.”


Thursday, Dec. 10, from 9 to 10:20 a.m. in the Brechemin Auditorium of the Music Building, undergraduate students of the medieval music course will present modern interpretations of one of the most famous pieces by the great medieval musician Guillaume de Machaut. After spending the quarter studying historical styles, the students have been given complete latitude to bring modern techniques to transform a medieval song into modern idioms. Ten different contemporary versions of the same piece will be performed as a final class project.


Saturday, Dec. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the Commons of Mary Gates Hall, the Collegium Musicum, will perform medieval music ranging from chant to early carols. All tickets are $5, and advance reservations are highly recommended, at taricani@uw.edu.