By Valentin Radu,  Artistic Director & Conductor

 

December has always been a busy but exciting month! It is both happy and sad for me:  happy looking forward to Advent and Christmas, yet sad realizing the year is almost over, particularly because it was such a great one spanning two of our most exciting concert seasons with Bach B-minor Mass and Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the spring and the Missa Solemnis just a couple weeks ago, plus the wonderful Camerata concerts, including two Mozart performances with yours truly at both the keyboard and baton!   

 

 

But here we are already in December, and I wish to highlight just a few details of our exciting upcoming Christmas Season which includes concerts by all three Vox performing groups - Vox Renaissance Consort, the Ama Deus Ensemble, and the Camerata Ama Deus chamber orchestra!
 
First, this Sunday, we open the Holiday Season with a single performance of our longest annual tradition:  A Renaissance Noel - our Christmas tradition - featuring Vox Renaissance Consort celebrating Christmas with delights of both sight and sound in beautiful period costumes and instruments and the ethereal blending of acapella voices.
 
Then comes our second oldest annual tradition:  the famed and immortal Handel's Messiah, by Ama Deus Ensemble performed twice at the traditional locations of The Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square (Dec. 12th, 7pm) and Daylesford Abbey in Paoli (Dec. 14th, 4pm).  

 

Andrea Brown returns (arriving from Germany where she now lives) with her sparkling voice and exciting deliverance of the drama of the Christmas and Easter stories.  Also returning is Tatyana Rashkovsky, our Russian mezzo renowned for her soloist performances and recordings of  the Verdi Requiem and Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Ama Deus Ensemble at the Kimmel Center, bringing with her the warm and intriguing voice color so uniquely her own.  Timothy Bentch and Ed Bara, both veterans of Messiah performances, complete the stellar solo quartet with characteristic richness and passion you will not soon forget!  An all Baroque instrument orchestra of fabulous musicians drawn from near and far, and the powerful voices of the Ama Deus Ensemble chorus complete this spectacular presentation of the one and only 1749 Covent Garden version, Baroque instrument rendition in Philadelphia!
 
And to complete this exciting December, a double performance of a new kind of Christmas music: the Camerata Ama Deus' Baroque Christmas. Brand new this year, these concerts feature both well known and seldom performed seasonal gems on Baroque instruments, each one preceded by short 'live notes' of commentary by yours truly!  Camerata's Baroque Christmas is a 90 minute jewel you will not want to miss as 2008 draws to a close!
 
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous Happy New Year '09 - Come and be exalted with the sounds of Holiday '08 with Vox Ama Deus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to all who joined us November 14 at the Kimmel Center for our performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. 

 

For those who missed the concert or would like to recreate the experience, Vox Ama Deus is releasing a live recording CD on the Lyrichord label. 

 

The recording showcases Ama Deus Ensemble at its best conducted by Maestro Valentin Radu.

 

Our featured soloists Sarah Davis,  Jody Kidwell, Timothy Bentch and Ed Bara are radiant in this grand performance.  

 

And we are pleased to announce Beethoven's Egmont Overture will be included as a bonus on this one-of-a-kind recording!
  

 

Vox Renaissance Consort performs in period costume. Continuing our Christmas tradition with motets and songs celebrating the birth of Christ.

 

The program features gems from Old Europe by Byrd, Praetorius, Pachelbel, Victoria and Gabrielli for single and double chorus, solo voices and instruments- including the popular Carol sing-along. Come and be merry!