This holiday season, New York-based early music ensemble TENET presents “Candlelight Carols,” a wide-ranging selection of seasonal music spanning nearly a thousand years and hailing from over half a dozen countries. The intimate program, featuring a quintet of singers supported by solo lute, will be performed on two consecutive evenings, Friday, December 15, 2017 at the Upper East Side’s All Souls Unitarian Church, and on Saturday, December 16, 2017 at the Caramoor Center’s Rosen House, marking TENET’s first appearance at the Westchester estate.

The carol tradition has its roots in ancient times, when Europeans would observe the Winter Solstice and shortened days with songs, dancing and lighting torches. By the Middle Ages, carols were being introduced into Christian festivities, the precursors of today’s widespread celebrations.

Reminded of these age-old rituals, TENET’s Artistic Director Jolle Greenleaf devised a program of festive music that ranges from medieval carols of France and England, through the flourishing polyphony of the Renaissance, to contemporary odes of our own time. “As we move toward winter and the days are drawing in, I find myself turning to traditional carols,” remarks Jolle. “They provide warm memories from my childhood and give me pleasure as a professional musician. My colleagues and I devote a lot of focused energy performing carols during the month of December and we relish the chance to share our singing of these poignant melodies with our audiences.”

From the familiarity of the “Sussex” and “Wessex” carols, Greensleeves and There is no rose, to some inspired arrangements and the 20th-century compositions Lullaby for the Christ Child by Norman dello Joio, and Lullay my liking by Philip Lawson, “Candlelight Carols” highlights the distinctive clarity of five TENET singers – as individuals and in ensemble – their time-honored tunes accompanied by and interspersed with a selection of 16th century pan-European works for solo lute.

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For further information, image or interview requests please contact Melanne Mueller, MusicCo International, 917 907 2785, melanne@musiccointernational.com

For further information about TENET, please visit http://www.tenet.nyc  

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Candlelight Carols
Traditional English Angelus ad Virginem

Sir Charles H. H. Parry (1848 – 1918)
 Welcome Yule
Jan Pietersz Sweelinck (1562 – 1621) Hodie Christus natus est

Traditional Basque (arr. Willcocks) The Infant King Anonymous [16th century] A Toye

Traditional Irish Irish Carol

Anonymous 15th century There is no rose
Anonymous 14th century 
Veni mater gracie/Dou way Robin

Sir John Goss (1800 – 1880) See amid the winter’s snow Traditional English Sussex Carol

Laurencini of Rome (fl. 1550 – 1608) A Fantasy
Traditional Italian Tu scendi dalle stelle

Traditional Irish Wexford Carol: Good people all
Hans Leo Hassler (1564 – 1612)
 
Cantate Domino
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958) Wither’s Rocking Hymn
Peter Cornelius (1824 – 74) Three Kings from Persian lands afar

Philip Lawson (b. 1957)
 Lullay my liking
Norman dello Joio (1913 – 2008) Lullaby for the Christ Child

Robert Ballard (c.1570 – aft.1650)
 Volte
Traditional French Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle
Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621) Es ist ein Ros
J. S. Bach (1685 – 1750) O Jesulein süss

Francis Cutting (1550 – 1603) Greensleeves
Traditional English (arr. Stainer) What child is this?
Traditional English The old year now has fled away

Friday, December 15, 2017 – 7:00 pm
All Souls Unitarian Church
1157 Lexington Avenue (@ East 80th Street)
New York, NY 10075

Saturday, December 16, 2017 – 5:00 pm
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts
Rosen House
149 Girdle Ridge Road
Katonah, NY 10536

TENET
Jolle Greenleaf artistic director and soprano
Martha Cluver soprano
Kate Maroney alto
Owen McIntosh tenor
Andrew Padgett bass-baritone
Hank Heijink lute