BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) welcomes the return of In Stile Moderno Friday, March 3, as part of its Season Guest Concert Series.
The 7:30 p.m. performance at the BMC, titled “The English Orpheus,” derives its name from the moniker for Henry Purcell, a Baroque composer of the late 1600s. “If Orpheus charmed humans, animals, and even the gods of the Underworld with his lyre, then Purcell,” writes the BMC in a news release, “did the same for kings, queens, and commoners alike with his compositions.”
In his short 36 years, he created 850 works of music or more, “and they still captivate and enchant centuries later,” say organizers. In Stile Moderno's spring concert will be an intimate evening of songs that journey from the sublime to the irreverent and back again.
Performers include Agnes Coakley-Cox, Sophie Michaux, Corey Dalton-Hart, and Adam Jacob Simon, voices; and Nathaniel Cox, theorbo.
In Stile Moderno is an ensemble for early music, founded in Basel, Switzerland, in 2012 by soprano Agnes Coakley and lutenist/cornettist Nathaniel Cox. Named after the then-modern style of music which emerged in Italy around 1600, the ensemble “is dedicated to music of the 17th century, and combines fidelity to historical performance practice with a drive to make early music accessible and relevant to modern audiences,” according to the group's website.
Both as a lute and voice duo and in larger formations with cornetto, organ, voice, and plucked instruments, In Stile Moderno has performed in Boston, Vermont, and New York, as well as in concert series in Switzerland, Germany, and France.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door; students and seniors pay $10. Tickets are available on the Brattleboro Music Center website - bmcvt.org - or by calling 802-257-4523.