Ensemble S.P.A.M: La Danse du Cleves May 26, 2012

Shira Kammen (vielle, harp, voice)
Peter Maund (percussion)
Allison Zelles Lloyd (voice, harp)
Marsha Genensky (voice)

Top-hit songs and dances of the 13th and 14th centuries, and sacred and secular vocal music inspired by them.

Popular song and dance music were likely as much enjoyed during the Middle Ages as they are today. Countless visual images and written descriptions of musicians and their instruments survive from the Middle Ages. But much of their music has been lost; while many of its makers may have been virtuosic singers and players, what they sang and played was never written down.

Ensemble S.P.A.M. will perform 13th-century French, rondeaus and caroles, and motets from 13th-century France containing both sacred and secular/popular elements; secular ballades and virelais by French ars nova composers Guillaume de Machaut and Guillaume Dufay; 13th-century Italian sacred laude, caccie and ballate by the Italian composers Magister Piero and Francesco Landini, a fractal canon by Johannes Ciconia, and a saltarello contained in an anonymous Italian manuscript owned by the British Library.

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About Ensemble S.P.A.M.

Individually, we have appeared as members of Anonymous 4, Bimbetta, Ensemble Alcatraz, and Ensemble Project Ars Nova, and as guest artists of American Bach Soloists, Altramar, Boston Camerata, Chanticleer, Hesperion XX, the Newberry Consort, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Sequentia, Theatre of Voices, and more. Together, Shira, Peter, Allison, and Marsha are Ensemble S.P.A.M.

Official Website: http://www.stbedesmenlopark.org