Boston Recorder Orchestra in Concert, Friday, May 31

The Boston Recorder Orchestra, under the joint leadership of acclaimed recorder virtuoso John Tyson and harpsichordist/recorderist Miyuki Tsurutani, presents its fourth annual concert on Friday, May 31 at 7:30 pm in the resonant acoustics of First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Admission to the program is free; donations are gratefully accepted. A vegan reception follows the concert.

The Boston Recorder Orchestra's program features Renaissance madrigals and dances, African and popular music. Highlighted in this concert is composer Soren Sieg's Celebration, written in 2003 for 12 recorders. Sieg writes “Celebration expresses feelings of expectation, overwhelming exuberance and woefulness. However, the unusual instrumentation allowed me to write, almost orchestrally for an instrument we would otherwise really only associate with chamber music. From the piccolo to the contrabass, seven different recorders play in Celebration, enabling a surprising wealth of sound contrast and colour. For seven minutes, the piece follows virtually the same common-time theme with which it begins, while still changing and transforming and exploring a wide variety of rhythms, metres, pitches and harmonies. The piece is a big river and a big celebration; it is simple and complex, European and African at the same time.”

BRO is America's only Renaissance Recorder Orchestra. The ensemble brings together professional and amateur players performing on a handmade, matched set of nine sizes of Renaissance recorders — sopranino to contrabass — made by Italian master craftsman Francesco LiVirghi.

To learn more about the Boston Recorder Orchestra, please call 617-460-4653 or visit bostonrecorderorchestra.com.