The St. James Episcopal Church Concert Series opens the 2012-2013 Series with a presentation that is guaranteed to delight both the eyes and the ears. The Dallas Bach Society, playing period instruments and directed by Artistic Director and harpsichordist James Richman, and the New York Baroque Dance Company, under the direction of Artistic Director Catherine Turocy, will present a program of music and dance by the famed Italian Renaissance master, Claudio Monteverdi. Monteverdi composed nine books of madrigals, and the selections for this concert are taken from Book VIII known as the Madrigals of Love and War. This concert will be presented at Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center, located at 1202 Third Street in downtown Alexandria on Monday, September 17th at 7:00pm. Through a generous grant from The McCormick-Smith Fund, Inc., admission to this concert is free and open to the public.
The two featured works of the concert are Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (The Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda) and Il Ballo delle Ingrate (The Dance of the Ungrateful Ladies). The Combattimento occurs around the time of the First Crusade and tells the story of a Christian knight, Tancredi, who spars and ultimately kills a Saracen. The Saracen is his disguised lover, Clorinda. The Ballo relates the story of Venus and Cupid who visit Pluto, King of the Underworld, and complain that Cupid’s arrows are no longer effective on the Mantuan ladies who are scorning their lovers. Cupid coaxes Pluto to bring up the spirits of the ungrateful women residents of the Underworld who rejected love to show the fate waiting for those who spurn love and marriage. Interestingly, Monteverdi composed the Ballo for the wedding of the son of the Duke of Mantua, Monteverdi’s patron.
The lobby of the Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center will open at 6:00pm and the theatre will open at 6:30pm. Seating for 615 will be on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call the St. James Episcopal Church office at (318) 445-9845.
