Planctus
Irish Medieval Music for Holy Week
United Church on the Green
Temple at Elm, New Haven
Free; no tickets required. The artists will present a symposium on March 31, also free and open to the public.
Planctus: Irish Medieval Music for Holy Week is a ccncert of Medieval Irish chant and song by the Irish female early music ensemble CANTORAL. The programme is inspired by the planctus, a medieval literary form for poetry and songs of lamentation. There are many types of planctus ranging from laments for historical figures (one of the oldest known planctus was written on the death of Charlemagne) to the laments of unrequited love made famous by the troubadours. The most widespread planctus was for the Virgin Mother on the death of her son on the cross. This lament tradition is also found in the ‘caoineadh’ or keening tradition of Irish spirituality. This concert features medieval Irish chant, polyphony and keens, as well as chants for Holy Week.
CANTORAL is an all female chant ensemble from the University of Limerick, Ireland. The ensemble specialises in Western plainchant and early polyphony, with a particular interest in medieval Irish repertoire. The ensemble was formed in 2008 at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick and had its first international appearance in March, 2009 at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. Other highlight performances include Imbolc, a programme of chant and Irish language song for St. Bridget premiered in New York in 2010, as well as a programme for the Galway Early Music Festival entitled …sed diabolus irrisit (‘…but the devil laughed’) in the same year. In April, 2011 CANTORAL sang for the Dalai during his visit to Ireland. The Artistic Director of CANTORAL, Catherine Sergent, is an acclaimed Paris-based singer who has performed and recorded extensively with several early music ensembles including Discantus and Obsidian. Catherine is a chant tutor for the MA Ritual Chant and Song programme at the Academy. The singers in CANTORAL are graduates, doctoral students and members of faculty at the Irish World Academy from Ireland, France, the United States and Mexico.
Catherine Sergent (Artistic Director)
Helen Phelan (Manager)
Batshèva Battu
Olivia Cantoral
Sydney Freedman
Sharon Lyons
Kathleen Turner