BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Music Center Madrigal Singers, directed by Douglas Frank, present a selection of the greatest hits of love, sex, and popular music that have endured over 400 years in a performance Sunday, June 24.
“Magical Madrigals & More: Love, Sex and Popular Music from the Renaissance” is set for 2 p.m. at the BMC, 72 Blanche Moyse Way, with a reception tea following. Tickets are $10 general admission and $15 for sponsors. Call the BMC at 802-257-4523 for ticket info or visit bmcvt.org.
The BMC Madrigal Singers debuted last December as a select group of performers drawn from across the area's singing community. Members have sung with the Brattleboro Concert Choir, Bach Festival Chorus, Blanche Moyse Chorale, and Hudson Valley BachFest Choir, among others.
Their focus is the madrigal, a form of secular vocal music that originated in Italy during the 1520s and through which composers attempted to express the emotion contained in each line and even individual words of a poem. By the late 1500s to early 1600s, the poetry used by the English madrigal school frequently focused on the foibles of love and romance, sometimes delivering more humor and fun than the earlier Italian works.
The English madrigal school of composers Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, John Bennet, Richard Dering, John Wilbye, and Giles Farnaby, among others, created a lively interest among the upper class in the singing of madrigals - and consequently a burgeoning market in the composing, printing, and selling of them.
The works of these later English composers in four-part a cappella polyphony will anchor the BMC Madrigal Singers' performance.
Director Douglas Frank was trained as a vocalist and conductor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He founded and directed the Oberlin Madrigal Singers as a student, and was also the founder and conductor of the Douglas Frank Chorale, a professional vocal ensemble in New York City.
In addition to his passion for conducting and directing, Frank has enjoyed performing as a tenor soloist for the Dessoff Choirs, the Oberlin College Choir, the Dalton Chorale and other outstanding ensembles.