Bryn Mawr Renaissance Choir Performs Emotional Journey

For release: IMMEDIATE

BRYN MAWR RENAISSANCE CHOIR PERFORMS EMOTIONAL JOURNEY

Fall Concert Features “Songs of the Exiled Heart” Program

BRYN MAWR, PA – The Bryn Mawr Renaissance Choir is performing an unusual fall concert program developed by its director, John Andrew Bailey. Free and open to the public on Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 7:30 pm in the Thomas Great Hall of Bryn Mawr College, the concert features three movements of Orlando di Lasso’s Lamentations of Jeremiah, a lament on the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC and the subsequent Babylonian exile. Framing this work are the five movements of William Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices, which expresses the sense of exile felt by English Catholics whose religion was suppressed by Elizabeth I.

The 28-voice chamber group specializes in singing sacred and secular gems composed between 1300 and 1600 during the European Renaissance era. Singing without instrumental accompaniment, the a cappella group will also perform Giovanni Croce’s O Vos Omnes and a setting by Francisco Guerrero of the “Salve Regina,” which likens mortal life to exile from God.

About John Andrew Bailey

Appointed music director of the Bryn Mawr Renaissance Choir in 2013, Bailey is organist at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral and accompanist for the Chorale and Chamber Singers of Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges. He also teaches in the Intellectual Heritage program at Temple University and is a long-time faculty member of the Amherst Early Music Festival. An accomplished harpsichordist, Bailey has appeared as a concerto soloist with baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare and the Philadelphia Bach Festival series as well as in recitals with noted soprano Julianne Baird.

More Than Five Decades for the Bryn Mawr Renaissance Choir

Based in the cathedral-like Thomas Great Hall at Bryn Mawr College, the Renaissance Choir is beginning its sixth decade of continuous music-making. Following its very first concert on Nov. 1, 1963, the vocal chamber group has been performing several concerts annually for more than five decades. Comprised of students and professors from nearby colleges as well as experienced singers from surrounding communities, the Bryn Mawr Renaissance Choir is supported by the Ted Handy Fund for the Support of Renaissance Music. Contributions can be made through Dianne Johnson, director of gift planning in the development office of Bryn Mawr College.

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News media contact: Fred Heiler 201-919-8902 fredheiler@aol.com