Step into a world where the familiar is turned upside down, and where the traditional and the modern collide in a mesmerizing musical experience!
Mundus Inversus features a talented ensemble of early music specialists led by multi-instrumentalist Shira Kammen. Drawing inspiration from iconic Medieval sources like the Roman de Fauvel and the Carmina Burana, this unique performance blends timeless melodies with newly-composed pieces that explore the chaos and disarray of our modern times.
Shira Kammen, strings; Phoebe Rosquist, voice; Peter Maund, percussion; Gary Haggerty, oud, saz, Cretan lyra;
and Balkan-style singer Julie Graffagna
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 7:30 PM
First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street at Lincoln, Palo Alto
SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 7:30 PM
First Church Berkeley UCC (First Congregational)
2345 Channing Way
SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 4:00 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco
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In Bocca al Lupo (meaning “in the wolf’s mouth,” an Italian turn of phrase similar to “break a leg” as used in opera and theater) is a project spearheaded by medieval & renaissance music luminary Shira Kammen. The ensemble comprises a dynamic roster of multi instrumentalists and singers versed in historical and global performance practices.
Shira Kammen has spent well over half her life exploring the worlds of early and traditional music. A member for many years of the early music Ensembles Alcatraz and Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings, she has also worked with Sequentia, Hesperion XX, the Boston Camerata, the Balkan group Kitka, the King’s Noyse, the Newberry and Folger Consorts, the Oregon, California and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, and is the founder of Class V Music, an ensemble dedicated to providing music on river rafting trips.
About In Bocca al Lupo
Phoebe Jevtović Rosquist’s singing spans repertoire from the medieval to the contemporary. She has appeared as a soloist with the Waverly Consort, Voices of Music, American Bach Soloists, Musica Angelica, Bach Collegium San Diego, and North Holland Opera. In addition to numerous operatic roles, among her varied collaborations are medieval/modern group Vajra Voices; baroque ensemble La Monica; medieval ensemble Cançonièr; art song with celebrated pianist Robert Thies; and early music and dance with Italy’s visionary Art Monastery Project and Bologna-based Cappella Artemisia. Phoebe has also toured the US and Indonesia with Gamelan X, and sung Balkan & folk music with Kitka and VOCO.
A native of San Francisco, Peter Maund studied percussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and music, folklore and ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley. A founding member of Ensemble Alcatraz and Alasdair Fraser’s Skyedance, he has performed with early and contemporary music ensembles including Alboka, American Bach Soloists, Anonymous 4, Chanticleer, Davka, El Mundo, The Harp Consort, Hesperion XX, Kitka, Los Cenzontles, Musica Pacifica, Pacific MusicWorks, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Francisco Choral Artists, Tesserae, Texas Early Music Project, and Voices of Music, among others. He is the author of “Percussion” in A Performer's Guide to Medieval Music, Indiana University Press, 2000.
Juliana Graffagna fell in love with Balkan and Eastern European folk music in the late 80's and hasn't stopped singing it since. As a veteran vocalist and music director of the internationally acclaimed Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble, Juliana has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and Eastern Europe, appearing in projects as diverse as Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares 50th anniversary concert in Sofia, Bulgaria, and on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion". She has studied vocal technique with master singers Tzvetanka Varimezova, Mariana Sadovska, Merita Halili, Donka Koleva, Carl Linich and Christos Govetas and has been featured on numerous recordings and film soundtracks.
An extraordinary and soulful musician, Gari Hegedus (Gary Haggerty) plays violin, viola and a variety of stringed instruments from Greece and Turkey including lauoto, oud, saz and hand drums. Gari plays in the duo Teslim with violinist Kaila Flexer, and performs with world music group Stellamara and Persian vocalist Hamed Nikpay. He has studied with oud master Naseer Shamma and has recorded and performed with Ross Daly. He has toured with the Mevlevi Dervish (Sufi) Order of America and continues to participate in Turkish ceremonial and devotional gatherings around the country.
About Mundus Inversus
Mundus Inversus (The World Turned Upside Down) combines Medieval and Renaissance music contrasted with newly composed pieces regarding the state of all gone awry and topsy-turvy. Medieval sources include the Roman de Fauvel (Gervais de Bus, 1310–1314) and the Carmina Burana. Artists include early music specialists Shira Kammen (early strings), Phoebe Rosquist (voice), Peter Maund (percussion), Gary Haggerty (oud, saz, Cretan lyra) and Balkan-style singer Julie Graffagna.
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