TENET’s celebrated Green Mountain Project returns this holiday season commemorating two significant anniversaries, the 450th birth year of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, and the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation. On December 30, 2017, TENET will perform selections from Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale (“Moral and Spiritual Forest”) at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village. Ringing in the new year, TENET will appear at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on January 3, 2018, collaborating with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Dark Horse Consort and the Sebastians for a Vespers performance with music by Michael Praetorious, the German baroque composer closely associated with music for the Protestant church.

Selva morale e spirituale is a vast anthology of Monteverdi’s sacred music, published in Venice in 1640, towards the end of the composer’s life. It is widely considered to be the most significant collection of Monteverdi’s liturgical works since his Vespers of 1610, the work with which the Green Mountain Project made its acclaimed debut in 2010, the work’s 400th anniversary year.

For TENET’s Selva morale program, Artistic Director Jolle Greenleaf chose selections that specifically fit the early music ensemble’s vocal and instrumental forces and include some lesser known pieces such as “Iste confessor” and “Sanctorum.” While some of the celebratory music could easily fit into a Vespers setting, Greenleaf was inspired by the idea of presenting the music for the occasion of a concert. Among the musicians are Canadian violinist Aisslinn Nosky, concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society, appearing with TENET for the first time, and harpsichord and chamber organist Jeffrey Grossman, who will co-lead the performance. Vocal numbers will be interspersed with instrumental works by Monteverdi’s Italian contemporaries.

Like Selva morale, Greenleaf’s Praetorius compilation does not follow a traditional Vespers format but includes key elements of a Lutheran Vespers, especially the important prayer “Our Father, Thou in Heaven Above” which was notably set as a hymn by Martin Luther, leading light of the Reformation. The performance of Praetorius’ 22-minute “Vater Unser” will be a North American premiere, and the ensemble will perform from a new edition specially made for the occasion that includes Praetorius’ own ornamentation. In addition, the Vespers features a selection of psalms, hymns and motets, and Praetorius’ large-scale Magnificat in 4 parts. The assembled forces brings TENET together with three other leading New York City early music ensembles, members of Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, brass ensemble Dark Horse Consort, and the Sebastians, under guest conductor David Fallis of the Toronto Consort.

TENET’s Green Mountain Project, “a treasured staple in New York” (The New York Times), gives annual performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, as well as other newly reconstructed Vespers that include music by Monteverdi, Giovanni Gabrieli, Antoine Charpentier and their contemporaries.

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For further information about this season’s Green Mountain Project, please visit http://tenet.nyc/2017-18/

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

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Saturday, December 30, 2017 – 7:30 pm
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643)
Salve morale e spiritual
Laudate Dominum omnes gentes Primo (SV 272)
O ciechi il tanto (SV 252)
Chi vol che m'innamori (SV 256)
Voi ch'ascoltate (SV 253)
Nicolò Corradini (1585 – 1646) Sonata la Golferamma Laudate pueri domino Primo (SV 270)
Confitebor (SV 267)
Giovanni Gabrieli (1554 – 1612) Sonata XXI con tre
Iste confessor/Ut queant (SV 279)
Salve Regina (SV 282)
Ab aeterno ordinata (SV262)
Sanctorum Primo (SV 277)
Giovanni Battista Fontana (1589 – 1630) Sonata VIII per due violini e basso continuo
Beatus vir Primo (SV 268)

Jolle Greenleaf soprano and artistic director
Molly Quinn soprano
Owen McIntosh tenor
Jason McStoots tenor
Sumner Thompson tenor
John Taylor Ward bass
Aisslinn Nosky violin
Beth Wenstrom violin
Kiri Tollaksen cornetto
Alex Opsahl cornetto
Hank Heijink theorbo
Charles Weaver theorbo
Jeffrey Grossman harpsichord

St. Joseph’s Church
371 Sixth Avenue
New York, NY 10014
Tickets $29, $40, $67, $76
http://tenet.nyc/2017-18/selva-morale

Wednesday, January 3, 2018 – 7:30 pm
Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621)
Vespers
Prelude: Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn, Heinrich Scheidemann
Deus in adjutorium
Motet: Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
Psalm: Jauchzet dem Herren (8pt), Schütz
Magnificat Part I
Hymn: Ein Kind geborn
Magnificat Part II
Hymn: Das alte Jahr ist nun dahin
Magnificat Part III
Hymn: Von Himmel hoch
Magnificat Part IV
Padouana #7 Vater Unser from “Polyhymnia Caduceatrix” Siefert Canzon à 8
Benedicamus
In Dulci jubilo a 16

Jolle Greenleaf soprano and artistic director
David Fallis guest director
Molly Quinn soprano
Margot Rood soprano
Anna Lenti soprano
Virginia Warnken-Kelsey alto
Doug Dodson countertenor
Owen McIntosh tenor
Jason McStoots tenor
Aaron Sheehan tenor
Sumner Thompson tenor
Donald Meineke tenor
Mischa Bouvier bass
John Taylor Ward bass
Steve Hrycelak bass
Daniel Lee violin
Beth Wenstrom violin
Jessica Troy viola
Dongmyung Ahm viola
Ezra Seltzer cello 
Wen Yang violone
Kiri Tollaksen cornetto
Alexandra Opsahl cornetto
Greg Ingles trombone
Erik Schalmz trombone
Liza Malamut trombone
Mack Ramsey trombone
Hank Heijink theorbo
Dan Swenberg theorbo
Charles Weaver theorbo
Jeffrey Grossman organ

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
3 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10023
Tickets $30, $40, $60, $80, $100
http://tenet.nyc/2017-18/praetorius-vesper