This program features two works by the Italian Baroque composer Giacomo Carissimi. Carissimi tells a dramatic Old Testament story in one of the first oratorios in music history: Jephte. This oratorio leaves nothing to be desired, as it presents the full spectrum of emotions in the voices of the singers and instruments.
Carissimi’s twelve-voice mass L’Homme armé – a U.S. premiere – is based on the famous medieval tune “The Armed Man,” which is present in each of the five parts. It is the last of more than 40 masses composed on this popular tune. Singers and instrumentalists are divided into three groups, creating a musical dialogue in the Venetian polychoral style. The performers are Crescendo Vocal Ensemble of thirty singers, with Pablo Bustos (Jephte), tenor, Christina Kay (Filia), Jordan Rose Lee and Sarah Fay, sopranos, Tuesday Rupp, alto, and Douglas Williams, bass. Accompanied by Crescendo’s Period Instrument Ensemble, of recorder, three viola da gambas, dulcian, harp, and theorbo, the production is directed from the organ and virginal by Crescendo’s Founding Artistic Director Christine Gevert.