Lutes, recorders, Baroque and more
If you want to see the New London Early Music Festival, you’ll need to hoof it up to Amherst, Mass. Or you can just stay in New London and enjoy the Amherst Early Music Festival, which takes place Sunday through July 22 on the New London campus of Connecticut College.
(For the record, there’s no New London Early Music Festival taking place in Amherst, but the comical juxtaposition was, I believe, more than worth it.)
This year’s Amherst conclave will emphasize music from France and the Low Countries. Yes, while the festival features comprehensive classroom instruction and instrumental workshops, there will also be eight different, open-to-the-public concerts including a full Baroque opera as well as student concerts.
All featured concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. in Evans Hall unless otherwise noted:
Tuesday — 14th Century Avante-Garde, Les Delices in collaboration with Blue Heron July 12 — Amherst Baroque Soloists July 13, 8 p.m. — Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione July 14 — A Tapestry of Early Music including Baroque solos, Renaissance consorts and Medieval polyphony
July 16 — Flanders Records Quartet perform “Final Favorites” in this, their final season together July 19 — Benjamin Bagny’s “The Wanderer” July 20 — Hapsburg Choirbooks Project featuring pieces from Lambert de Sayne and Wim Becu
July 21 — A Second Tapestry of Early Music Amherst Early Music Festival, Sun.-July 22, Evans Hall, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., New London; concerts $25 general admission, $20 students/seniors, $150 series, $125 students/seniors, go to web site for a list of free students performances and workshops; amherstearlymusic.org.