Lorelei Ensemble

Thursday, March 24, 2022 | 8:00 pm

Vocal Ensemble Series

Baldwin Auditorium

​​Lorelei Ensemble return to Duke Performances after their acclaimed 2018 performance of John Supko and Bill Seaman’s compelling THE_OPER&. Esteemed for their “full-bodied and radiant sound” (The New York Times), Lorelei bring an eclectic and refreshing program, fusing music from the Italian Renaissance and Baroque and the twenty-first century. Founded in Boston in 2007, Lorelei is a vocal ensemble renowned for virtuoso performance and bold programming; they are also committed to enriching the repertoire through collaboration, leading to a “new normal” for women in music.

Lorelei open with four selections by Italian madrigalists, from Luzzaschi to Strozzi, showing the dramatic range of the genre and touching on the themes of hidden passion and desperate hopes. Caroline Shaw’s Dolce Cantavi, a modern take on seventeenth-century madrigal music, offers a link to a set of modern selections. Lorelei offer a stunning rendition of Björk’s Solstice, and the weighty meditation on true love by Jessica Meyer, I long and seek after, setting poetry by Sappho. David Lang’s love fail comprises the program’s second half, retelling the story of Tristan and Isolde through medieval and modern authors and musical techniques.

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Current Duke Performances COVID-19 regulations

Program

"The successful eight-voice choir is the black belt of choral singing. When it is done right, it opens up a range of expressive possibilities that can be chilling. Here it is done superbly."